[This is an evergreen article that we occasionally expand and republish as we discover more information on the topic]
In the March 2, 1899 issue of the Marietta Journal (one of the previous names of the Marietta Daily Journal), a letter appeared from a high school student who seemed very advanced for her age and highlighted the condition of roads in Cobb County at the turn of the century.
I found the letter while searching the Georgia Historic Newspapers site to find the earliest digitized reference to the automobile in an Atlanta or Cobb County newspaper…