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Favorite Atlanta Parks


Andrea

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I've always been a big fan of Centennial Olympic Park and Grant Park, but I also haven't had too much experince with most of Atlanta's other parks. If I can, I'll probably be going to Centennial for pictures next weekend.

If it weren't for the ideas already in place to be used there, Ft. McPherson would make a great park since it will be closing.

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Andrea, I'm a big fan of the Chattahoochee Nature Preserves also.

When I was in high school I used to go to the Chatt. nature preserve on Azalea Dr. This place was so relaxing. You are right though. Even though the one on Azalea and Willeo Rds are smaller, you could walk a few steps into the park and feel like you were in the middle of nowhere...yet Roswell Rd was less than a mile away. It was up the street from school and you could easily.....ummmmm....miss first period....and show up for homeroom. Hey, I was a senior and had already been accepted to at least one school by October of my senior year. It was time for me to goof off.

I also like the one at Jones Bridge and Medlock Bridge....I guess I like all of them.

As far as standard park, I would Piedmont Park is probably my favorite. The yearly festivals, Lake Meer. the meadow area and the midtown skyline are all great attributes of a park. Once they open the northend of the park, it will only be enhanced.

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When I was in Atlanta a few months ago, I really enjoyed Centennial Olympic Park. I was only there for 2 days, so I didnt get to see any other parks or areas of the city, but COP was very nice.

Centennial Olympic Park has always been good for those afternoon sports like a little friendly game of football. The Park is also pretty well known for its Olympic Ring Fountains. The park itself seems a little more recreation-oriented than Piedmont or Grant Park.

Some pics from the Westin Peachtree that I took of the Park:

Centennial Olympic Park

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The Centennial Olympic Park Fountain

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I know it's your opinion, and I'm not saying you are wrong for having said opinion, but how do you figure that Centennial is more recreation-oriented than Piedmont or Grant?

Well, I saw a lot of people playing those friendly ball games and tossing frisbees and so on. there's not really much else other than the fountain, the bricks and the various little pavillions. There's not really much else to the park other than the fountains, the open "field" and those couple of pavilions. Doesn't really make much for a romantic stroll although I have seen a few couples relaxing on the grass there.

It's kind of hard for me to say much because I haven't been toPiedmont in such a long while that I can't remember too much about it.

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Don't get me wrong, I love Centennial Olympic Park and your pictures are a class A effort. They are brouchure quality in my estimation. I have to agree with you that there are usually people in Centennial at most times. I can see that once more of the highrise residential buildings and other tourist attractions are added to the mix, Centennial will be an even more monumental place.

I wasn't disagreeing with you hun.....I just needed clarification on your statement. Once those parking lots on the easst side of the park are filled in, I can only imagine the buzz that will take place. I wish they would have an outdoor cafe overlooking Centennial. Oh well, only time will tell.....but your pictures are great.

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I really appreciate the Chattahoochee line of parks - I've taken advantage of the hiking in Roswell, Columns Dr (Cobb), Paces (Cobb) & the very overlooked but at times difficult (after some beers) Nancy Creek (ATL side).

Cobb County gets an easy ride in terms of park space - the government brags about all the greenspace, but it's mostly federal: Chattahoochee & of course Kennesaw (which might still be my favorite natural park in the Atlanta area.)

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Another great urban park in Atlanta is Chastain. It's the city's largest park (about 250 acres, I think), and perhaps its most developed. We walk there quite a lot, and just off the top of my head I can think of the following goings-on there:

- The PATH system that encircles the park. In particular, we like the woodsy area on the north side and the small lake behind the amphitheatre. I met Steve Earle, one of my favorite country singers, fishing out there one day.

- Chastain Horse Park. An especially cool facility for children with disabilities and disadvantaged inner city kids. I love to watch the horsies out exercising. A friend of mine who grew up near the park back in the 1940s says that a number of families used to board their horses there, and there's no telling how many local kids have learned to ride there.

- The bathhouse and pool. Those big old pools are neat. It's my understanding that this one dates back to the 1940s as well.

- The Amphitheatre. Still, in my opinion, the City's premier venue for outdoor concerts even after 60 years.

- Chastain Tennis Center.

- Galloway School.

- North Fulton Golf Course. I think I read that this is Georgia's busiest golf course. It was designed by Walter Hagen and the great Bobby Jones himself.

- Chastain Gymnasium.

- The Northside Youth Organization ball fields. Deluxe.

- Chastain Arts Center. Housed in the old county almshouse, and always buzzing, it seems to me.

Chastain Park Conservancy

Here's a photo looking south from the park I took this morning.

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Andrea - that is so cool meeting Steve Earle while he was fishing!

Years ago my wife & I slummed in Sandy Springs, our only option for any outdoor activity was of course Chastain - we used to walk there daily. But we never walked around the ampitheater, we stuck to the loop.

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Andrea - that is so cool meeting Steve Earle while he was fishing!

Yeah, teshadoh, Steve was in town for a concert with Jackson Browne. He said he loves to fish and always carries a rod with him on tour. When he stepped off the bus, he said looked down the hill and saw the lake, and couldn't resist wetting a line.

girly, it's a tie for me, too. Piedmont and Chastain both have a lot to offer. To me, Piedmont has a more reserved "adult" feel, whereas Chastain seems a bit more bustling and casual.

You know, I also enjoy Candler Park a lot. In the 80's you could play golf there for $7.00 -- what a deal! I worked downtown when we lived over there, and at that time it was one of the few neighborhoods from which you could feasibly walk to the station and ride MARTA to work.

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Of course there is wonderful Grant Park, the city's oldest, and the home of Zoo Atlanta and the Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum. When I was a child we used to have family reunions in one of the big concrete pavilions out there. My, was all that fried chicken, sweet potato souffle, fresh tomatoes and pecan pie delicious! At sundown it was also one of the best places in the city to chase lightning bugs. The site of the old battery way up high on the southeast corner still provides some of the most spectacular views of Atlanta you can find.

Images of Grant Park

Gene Talmadge, givin' em' hell in Grant Park 1940

Young people eating watermelon

Aerial View

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I don't know if you meant "urban" Atlanta but Stone Mountain Park is one of my favorites. It's in the middle of the suburbs but feels like you're out in the country. But, I can remember when I was about 9 years old and going to Centennial Park and playing in the Olympic Rings water geysers while on vacation.

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Thanks for sharing those Pullen Library pictures, there are some great ones, as these are of Grant Park. What I like about GP is that it continues to be a family oriented park, now it appears to be the preffered park for Black families to picnic on the weekend.

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I don't know if you meant "urban" Atlanta but Stone Mountain Park is one of my favorites. It's in the middle of the suburbs but feels like you're out in the country. But, I can remember when I was about 9 years old and going to Centennial Park and playing in the Olympic Rings water geysers while on vacation.

Well, I guess it's not urban in the strict sense but I certainly think of Stone Mountain as an "Atlanta" park. For out of town visitors, it's undoubtedly associated with the city.

One of my favorite strolls in Atlanta is a hike around the base of the mountain. I'm going to guess that's about five miles, and there are surprising vistas at nearly every turn.

As long as I'm doing park tours, here are a few views of Le Montagne Massive de Granit

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Well, I guess it's not urban in the strict sense but I certainly think of Stone Mountain as an "Atlanta" park. For out of town visitors, it's undoubtedly associated with the city.

One of my favorite strolls in Atlanta is a hike around the base of the mountain. I'm going to guess that's about five miles, and there are surprising vistas at nearly every turn.

As long as I'm doing park tours, here are a few views of Le Montagne Massive de Granit

One of my favorite memorys with my friends will be when my mom and dad trucked a few of us us down there this past summer for a getaway and we went up Stone Mountain on the lift and when we got there we snapped some pictures and then just got a crazy idea and decided to walk down the whole mountain while wearing sandals and polos. Everybody going past us was wearing jogging outfits and tennis-shoes. That'll be a memory! my feet still hurt!

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  • 5 weeks later...

How old is that tower and what is it there for?

I don't remember it.

Great pics. Oakland is a beautiful place.

That's because I'm losing my mind, ironchapman. It's no wonder you don't recall the tower at Oakland -- it's not there. The tower and the Confederate statue are at Westview, Atlanta's other great historic cemetery. Sorry about that, I don't know where my brain was.

:shades:

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Westview Cemetery is one of Atlanta's most beautiful spaces. We happened to be out that way one fine fall afternoon and snapped a few photos:

Necro... much Andrea? I don't know, usually I can appreciate all forms of great spaces but cemeteries (no matter how spruced up they are) give me the chills. When I was looking for an apartment here, I crossed off a couple of places just because when I looked them up with google maps, they were too close to a cemetery or graveyard. All those Living Dead and zombie movies I was exposed to at a tender age have warped my mind. :unsure:

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