FRIENDS FOR THE EAST COBB PARK is a non-profit volunteer organization formed in 1998 to create a community gathering place in East Cobb County. An executive Committee, a Board of Trustees, and a Board of Advisors work with Committee members to support and improve the park, its facilities, and programs.

Mission Statement

To create, enhance, and continue to develop the East Cobb Park as a community asset, which heightens the sense of connectedness in East Cobb, preserves green space, and provides a safe and beautiful place for children of all ages to gather, learn and play.

Friends for the East Cobb Park

2014-FECP-logo-transparentIn 1998, a group of individuals associated with the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce joined together to form the non-profit Friends for the East Cobb Park. Their unifying vision was to create a passive Park that would serve as a community gathering place. Their goal was to raise funds sufficient to purchase an appropriate property and deed it to Cobb County who would develop and maintain the Park.
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Almost from the beginning, the Friends enjoyed the support of Cobb County Government. The County’s public acknowledgment of the Friends’ mission added credibility to the effort and their challenge and commitment to support the project allowed the formation of a powerful Public-Private Partnership.

Working as a team, Cobb County and Friends for the East Cobb Park funded the professional design of the park, which includes open grass fields, walking trails, stream overlooks, a “destination” playground, picnic pavilions, an outdoor classroom and an outdoor stage.

Construction of this initial phase began in 2002, and the official Dedication Ceremony was held on June 28, 2003. East Cobb Park was an immediate success in the community, and has surpassed both Cobb County’s and the Friends’ greatest expectations for attendance and public satisfaction.

10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
On Saturday, July 13, 2013, Friends for the East Cobb Park celebrated the 10 year anniversary of East Cobb Park! Guests included founders of the park, East Cobb Civitan Club, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, Georgia State Attorney General Sam Olens, Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee, and Commissioner Bob Ott. An anniversary presentation was followed by games, jumpys, face-painting, refreshments, live music and DJ entertainment!

History of Tritt Property, courtesy of The Friends for Tritt Park

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The Tritt property on a map from 1869 (land lots 965 & 966 in red box)

The Tritt property is now 53.7 acres, but it was once 80 acres, all of Land Lots 965 and 966 in the 16th District of Cobb County.  When Norris Tritt, the late husband of the current owner, Wylene Tritt, inherited the land in 1948 from his aunt, Odessa Tritt Lassiter, it was still 80 acres.

Odessa Tritt Lassiter willed the Tritt property to Wylene Tritt’s late husband, Norris Tritt, in 1948, and the property was in the family for at least 80 years before that.  Odessa Tritt Lassiter’s will and testament was unique in that she wrote that the trees of the Tritt property should always be preserved:  Odessa’s will stipulated “No timber is to be cut off of either place except for building and repairs on these farms.”  This was part of Odessa Tritt Lassiter’s legacy to her family.


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Item 3 from the will of Odessa Tritt Lassiter, “No timber is to be cut off of either place except for building and repairs on these farms.”

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Barn built by Norris Tritt over 50 years ago

In 1950, Norris and Wylene Tritt moved onto the Tritt property, and the Tritt’s honored Odessa’s wish in how they built their current home. Wylene Tritt said ‘the wood that framed the current house was sawed right from the trees on the property’.

The original barn from the time when Odessa Tritt Lassiter lived on the property still stands as a testament to a simpler time, when people rode in horse-drawn carriages and farmed the land.

By 1965, the Tritts had sold all the land west of Sewell Mill Creek (called Little Williow [Willeo] Creek in the 1869 map, above).  Norris sold some of his land to the Bowles family, who in turn sold their land to the Friends for East Cobb Park in 2001; this was the first 13 acres of the park.

Today, almost all of the land west of the creek that was sold by the Tritts is part of East Cobb Park, except for a 1.5 acre parcel that is part of Fullers Park, and a 6 acre parcel which was developed into the Manor Oaks subdivision.  So, of the 80 acres inherited by Norris Tritt in 1948, only 6 acres have ever been substantially developed.  That leaves 74 acres!  We hope to see the Tritt land remain undeveloped, as park or green space!

The history of the Tritt land goes back much further.  In 1832, Georgia held the Gold Lottery, to give away several thousand parcels of 40 acres each.  The Cherokees had recently been forced from the area (the Trail of Tears), and there was the belief that much of their former land had gold, including the present area of East Cobb.  There was so much demand for the gold land, that the state divided the area into 40 acre parcels (called Land Lots), rather than the usual 160 acre parcels.   The Land Lot system is still used today to describe land in Cobb County.  In 1832 Cobb County was formed from the former Cherokee land.

We know from available tax lists that Jackson Delk (1814-1897) owned the land by at least 1864.

PictureJackson Delk was the brother of Emily Delk (1823-1891), who was the wife of William Tritt (1820-1906), and these were the great-grandparents of Norris Tritt; in fact, William Tritt and Emily Delk are the ancestors of all the Tritt family in Cobb County.  Jackson Delk owned the land until his death in 1897, and then it was inherited by his son John Delk, who moved to Texas and sold the land to his brother Robert Delk in 1907.  Robert Delk in turn sold the land to his first cousin David Tritt in 1916.  David Tritt sold the land in 1917 to his niece, Odessa Tritt Lassiter, who owned the land until her death in 1948.


Odessa Tritt married Henry Lassiter, and they had one son together in 1901. Tragically their son John died while just an infant. A few years later, Henry Lassiter passed away from illness in 1905.  Odessa never remarried, and in her will, she gave her properties to her nephews, Norris Tritt and his brother James Tritt.

Norris Tritt received from his Aunt Odessa’s the 80 acres on Roswell Road, which is the now called the Tritt property located next to East Cobb Park.  Interesting to note, the original 80 acres willed to Norris included all of East Cobb Park! The Tritts sold that land to the Bowles who sold the land to Cobb County as a park.

Wylene Tritt spoke at the East Cobb Park dedication in 2003 about how special the other part of her property would be for this community.  The Bridge at East Cobb Park was named in Norris Tritt’s honor in 2005 after Wylene donated a portion of her property to connect East Cobb Park and Fullers Park.

Odessa’s nephew James Tritt, father of country music singer Travis Tritt, inherited land from Odessa in other areas in Cobb County.

Many of the families that shaped East Cobb are involved in the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park:  Delks, the Dickersons, the Lassiters, the Sewells, and the Tritts.   East Cobb schools and roads have been named in honor of these families, and the families are interconnected by marriage.

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August 2012 edition of Around Walton magazine
The August 2012 edition of Around Walton magazine had a good story on Mrs. Wylene Tritt (p.56).

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A view from the Tritt property

Mrs. Wylene Tritt has lived at the 53.7 acre Tritt property next to East Cobb Park since 1950.  She and her late husband, Norris Wilson Tritt,  raised three children there.  (She is the aunt of country music singer Travis Tritt.)

We all appreciate how Mrs. Tritt has cared for the land over the years.

The land is bounded on the west by Sewell Mill Creek, which makes a nearly 90 degree curve west before turning south again.  The land is in two parcels, the first more-or-less rectangular, and containing about 40 acres where Mrs. Tritt’s house sits, and the other shaped like a backwards capital “L”, bounded by the creek.  7 acres of the land lies in the flood plain.

There are two smaller creeks that run across the land into Sewell Mill Creek.  The first is visible from Roswell Rd, and has been lined with stones.  There is a larger creek arising in the Hidden Hollow subdivision to the south of the Tritt property, and flowing through the woods into Sewell Mill Creek near the back of East Cobb Park.

There is also a permanent easement to connect East Cobb and Fullers Park – when you cross the bridge at East Cobb Park, and follow the trail to Fullers Park, you are on Mrs. Tritt’s land for a couple hundred feet.

The adjoining properties are, going counter-clockwise, East Cobb Park, Fullers Park, Hidden Hollow subdivision, Robinson Walk subdivision, Wyntergreen subdivision, and Glenside subdivision.  Across Roswell Rd, there are some low-rise office buildings, a day care on the corner of Providence Rd., and the Wellstar development.