LaFayette Hgh School art students Jayro Benitez, left, and CJ Pledger scrape grout from between the tiles of a mosaic built for Barwick-LaFayette Airport.

"I've had people tell me they come to LaFayette just to walk in the city cemetery when the dogwoods are blooming."

- Catherine Edgemon, city's MainStreet and economic development director

Location: About 30 miles south of Chattanooga in the heart of Walker County, Ga.

Size: 8.1 square miles

Population: 7,121

Founded: Sept. 30, 1835

Government: H. Neal Florence is mayor. City Council members are Andy Arnold, Ben Bradford, Chris Davis, Judy Meeks and Wayne Swanson.

Schools: Rock Spring Elementary, North LaFayette Elementary School, Gilbert Elementary, Naomi Elementary, LaFayette Sixth-Grade Academy, LaFayette Middle, LaFayette High

Attraction: Chattooga Academy. Built in 1836, it's believed to be one of Georgia's oldest brick schoolhouses still standing. It served as Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's headquarters during the Battle of Chickamauga in the Civil War.

Fun fact: Country superstar Johnny Cash said he stopped doing drugs after being jailed in LaFayette in 1967 for knocking on doors in the middle of the night while drunkenly searching for Civil War relics. Cash said the talk he had with then-Walker County Sheriff Ralph Jones was the "turning point of it all." (Cash was treated for drug addiction later in life.)

Famous resident: Golfer Andy Bean, who won 11 PGA Tour victories.