Local Historic Preservation Group Gets Bench Honoring Enslaved Residents of Cobb

A project to honor former enslaved residents of Cobb, Toni Morrison Society’s “Bench By the Road” project, has been awarded to a local organization. The recipient is Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge, an organization specializing in the preservation of the Concord Covered Bridge.

The Cobb-based historic preservation group plans to install a commemorative bench in the Concord Covered Bridge neighborhood as part of this project. Pat Burns, a board member of Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge, mentioned that no specific installation date has been selected, and the exact location for the bench is still to be determined.

Founded in 1993 by Carolyn Denard, a former professor of English at Georgia State and Emory universities, the Toni Morrison Society administers the Bench by the Road Project. This project seeks to provide readers and scholars with a reflective space to remember the enslaved, their forgotten lives, and the writings of Toni Morrison, the acclaimed author after whom the society is named.

The commemorative bench in Cobb County will honor all previously enslaved people in the region, with a particular focus on the family of Matilda Ruff and her children—Calvin, Zieda, and Rhoda—who lived and worked in Marietta. This project also pays homage to Toni Morrison, who passed away in 2019. According to historical records, the Ruff family was among the 3,819 enslaved individuals in Cobb County as noted in the 1860 slave schedule and detailed in the book “First 100 Years” by Sara Blackwell Gober Temple.

Pat Burns expressed the group’s deep honor in receiving this award, emphasizing that it would be a significant acknowledgment of enslaved families who resided in the area. The placement of the bench will mark the 33rd location worldwide and the first in Cobb County as part of the Bench by the Road Project. 

Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District has a history of contributing to the preservation of Cobb County’s Concord Covered Bridge Historic District. 

For more information about the project, individuals can contact Pat Burns at 770-653-1955.