GSU Magazine

The Secret Sanctuary

William Inman — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:47:37 +0000

As noted Atlanta historian Franklin Garrett wrote in Atlanta and Environs, Oakland Cemetery is “Atlanta’s most tangible link between the past and the present.” Helen Davis (M.Ed ’80) and her husband, Ren, have produced a clear and concise guide to Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery with the publishing of their recent book, Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery: An Illustrated History and Guide. Opened in 1850 as Atlanta’s first municipal burial ground, “Historic Oakland is a Victorian treasure,” Helen Davis says. Among the many notable Atlantans interred here are author Margaret Mitchell and golfer Bobby Jones.

Interview by Dave Cohen (B.A. ’94)

What is it about Oakland Cemetery that prompted you and Ren to take on this project?

In 2009 when we had just finished being characters in the annual Spirits of Oakland Halloween Candlelight Tour, and we had talked to the director of volunteer services about a poster that we wanted to do of Oakland and she said, “Well, what we really need is a coffee table book.” Ren and I both retired in 2009 and we had written a number of books before together and he chirped up and said, “Oh, that would be great! Let’s do it.” So, out of that late evening conversation we talked with a number of people and it led us to a contact with the University of Georgia Press and they said, “Oakland? We want a book on Oakland.” We had the opportunity to work with a number of people that were authorities on Oakland; different aspects, restoration, history, gardening, symbolism… and so we thought it was more an idea that we would pull together the expertise of so many people and put it into a book form. Two and a half years after we started the project the book was on the market.

Have you always had an interest in the history of Atlanta?

Well, no. I became interested in the history of the city when I met my husband, who was a history major and a third-generation native Atlantan. He opened my eyes to Georgia history and specifically Atlanta history but especially the fact that we would go out and see the sites. You know, when you walk through Oakland one of the things that’s fascinating is so many names you see that are names of streets in Atlanta. Then you see how some of the familiar family names have often married other well-known family groups. Atlanta was a very small town when Oakland was the first public cemetery and to see some of these names marrying one group after another over and over again was just fascinating.

Are you and Ren working on another book?

Yes, we have another one we are working on right now. While we were working on the book Our Mark on this Land: A Guide to the Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps in America’s Parks, we were in the National Park Service archives looking at photographs of men who were in the CCC and there were some photographs that just kept popping up and we said, “The work of this person was extraordinary,” and we came to learn that it was George Grant, who was the first chief photographer for the National Parks Service from 1929 to 1954. As we searched more to find out about George Grant we came to realize that he was one of those great landscape photographers that very few people know about because all of his work always had the byline of U.S. Parks Service, never George Grant. In our opinion his work is equal to that of Ansel Adams and he was a contemporary of Ansel Adams. As we did more and more research we realized that there was a need for a book about George Grant, and we’re doing a retrospective of his works and including a biography of the man and all the things that he went through when he worked for the Parks Service. We expect to have it out in the fall of 2015 and that will then coincide with the National Parks Service centennial celebration of 2016.

Your book’s introduction has a Georgia State connection as it was penned by (professor of history and Director of the The Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies) Tim Crimmins. How did that come about?

This was an opportunity that came to us through the University of Georgia Press. They had asked Dr. Crimmins to review the book and, in so doing, he was very interested in it and they asked him if he would write the introduction. His knowledge and expertise was a great addition. So, I think it’s exciting that this book has two Georgia State connections.

In Memoriam

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:57:21 +0000

1940s

Thomas Wheeler (B.C.S. ’49) St. Simons Island, Ga., Jan. 5, 2011

1950s

F. N. Boring (B.C.S. ’52) Stone Mountain, Ga., Oct. 18, 2010

Fred Hollingsworth (B.A. ’59) Lilburn, Ga., Oct. 8, 2010

Bernard Merritt (B.B.A. ’54) Atlanta, Oct. 18, 2010

Jimmye Miller (B.C.S. ’51) Jacksonville, Fla., Dec. 8, 2010

David S. Thomas (B.B.A . ’57) Douglasville, Ga., Dec. 15, 2010

1960s

Louis Armer III (B.S. ’62) Chamblee, Ga., Oct. 8, 2010

John C. Moore III (B.B.A. ’69) Suwanee, Ga., Jan. 19, 2011

Ted O’Callaghan (M.B.A. ’68) Decatur, Ga., Oct. 16, 2010

John C. Parris (B.B.A. ’63) Stone Mountain, Ga., Dec. 26, 2010

1970s

Susan W. Carson (M.Ed. ’78) Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 6, 2011

James Edee (M.B.A. ’71) Marietta, Ga., Oct. 30, 2010

Robert Fay (M.Ed. ’75) Marietta, Ga., Oct. 27, 2010

Larry D. Keith (B.S. ’77) Palmetto, Ga., Dec. 7, 2010

Shirley G. Lamb (M.Ed. ’77) Spartanburg, S.C., Dec. 11, 2010

Judy Malone (M.Ed. ’73) Vero Beach, Fla., Dec. 18, 2010

Robert Northcutt Jr. (M.B.A. ’70) Marble Hill, Ga., Oct. 15, 2010

Dannie Ogletree (B.B.A. ’77) Woodstock, Ga., Jan. 18, 2011

Pembroke Rees (Ph.D. ’77) Athens, Ga., Nov. 24, 2010

Robert T. Shepherd (M.P.A. ’76) Flowery Branch, Ga., Dec. 3, 2010

Douglas Southern (B.A. ’77) Greensboro, Ga., Dec. 15, 2010

Jimmy L. Wolfe (M.B.A. ’76) Fayetteville, Ga., Nov. 21, 2010

Louise Uhl (B.B.A. ’72) Atlanta, Dec. 27, 2010

Nell Wooten (M.Ed. ’71) Marietta, Ga., Nov. 17, 2010

1980s

Joanne Hardy (M.Ed. ’80) Conyers, Ga., Oct. 4, 2010

Jerry M. Johnston Jr. (M.B.A. ’86) Marietta, Ga., Oct. 15, 2010

Rhetta Mears (M.Ed. ’80) Atlanta, Nov. 27, 2010

Ofelia Neel (B.A. ’81) Norcross, Ga., Nov. 27, 2010

Valerie Panter (B.S. ’88) Fairburn, Ga., Jan. 20, 2011

Holly Thillet (B.B.A. ’85) Alpharetta, Ga., Oct. 31, 2010

Cynthia Uhl-Hartley (M.S. ’82) Tucker, Ga., Jan. 13, 2011

Gladys Wallace (S.Ed. ’80) Atlanta, Jan. 13, 2011

1990s

Donna M. Arena (Ph.D. ’99) Stone Mountain, Ga. Dec. 22, 2010

Mark Henderson (M.S. ’98) Ball Ground, Ga., Oct. 1, 2010

Jean E. (McAdams) Miles (B.A. ’97) Sugar Hill, Ga., Nov. 13, 2010

Sheryl Lyn York (B.S. ’90) Hampton, Ga., Nov. 13, 2010

2000s

Madison (Roarabaugh) McLester (B.B.A. ’07) Atlanta, Oct. 31, 2010

Faculty James E. Sligh (B.C.S. ’51) Stone Mountain, Ga., Associate Provost for Academic Programs, Nov. 29, 2010

Class Notes

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:56:09 +0000

Class notes are the perfect way to share your news with friends and classmates. Read about your classmates in this issue of GSU Magazine, then share your own news, achievements, accomplishments and photos. Mail your class notes to GSU Magazine, P.O. Box 3983, Atlanta, GA 30302-3983 or e-mail them to winman@gsu.edu.

1960s

Ed H. Bowman Jr. (B.B.A. ’68) was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He was a 2010 Regional (Southwest) Award winner and is president and chief executive officer of SOURCECORP Inc.� He and his wife, Betty Jean Bowman (B.B.A. ’85), live in Dallas.
Joel F. Fletcher (B.A. ’61) has authored “The Great Atlanta Bike Race of 1948,” a story of youthful adventure that recaptures a wonderful time and place in the 1940s.
The Georgia Municipal Association awarded Eva Galambos (Ph.D. ’69), mayor of Sandy Springs, Ga., its “People, Place and Purpose” award during its annual meeting this summer in Savannah. Forbes magazine has named Sandy Springs one of its “Top 25 Towns to Live Well” under her leadership.

1970s

Seals Burdell (B.B.A. ’76), a CPA with 34 years of finance experience in the poultry industry, will helm financial operations at the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association as controller.
Bruce Cook (M.P.A. ’78), chaplain for the Crime Victims Advocacy Council in Atlanta, recently wrote a book, “Redeeming the Wounded,” that was published by Xulon Press.
Lynn Coulter (B.A. ’76) recently published a new book titled “Little Mercies: Celebrating God’s Everyday Grace and Goodness” with B&H Books, a division of Lifeway.
Douglas Daniel (B.B.A. ’75) has been named senior vice president of corporate development and finance for GeoBio.
Sister M. Susan Harms, (M.E. ’74), Religious Order of Sisters of Mercy, is celebrating her 50th year as a Sister of Mercy and her 36th year as a first-grade teacher in Savannah, Ga., first at the Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School, and now at Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic School on Wilmington Island.
William “Marvin” Toliver (M.P.A. ’77) is the manager of community relations for the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
Krista Webb (B.A. ’79) has been selected Cherokee County School District’s Teacher of the Year for 2010. Webb teaches social studies at Woodstock High.
David M. White (M.Ed. ’75) has been named campus vice chancellor for Troy University’s Phenix City Campus. White has worked in teaching and administrative roles at Troy since 1996. He most recently served as director of Troy’s Southeast Region, which includes 21 campus sites in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

1980s

Hamid Bastin (Ph.D. ’89) is a professor of economics at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught since 1989.
Susan E. Claxton (B.S. ’88, M.S. ’92), associate professor and coordinator of the Human Services program at Georgia Highlands College, was awarded the Miriam Clubok award by the National Organization of Human Service Education.
Eddie Ellis (M.Mus. ’86), director of bands at S.C. State University, has been awarded the Dr. G. Johnson Hubert and Cleophus Johnson Award for Distinguished Achievement in Music.
Judson L. Hawk (B.A. ’85) was appointed by Dolce Hotels and Resorts to general manager of the Aspen Meadows Resort – home of The Aspen Institute, a nonprofit policy organization.
Thomas Jackson (M.B.A. ’81) will serve as senior vice president and commercial lender for Verity Bank in Winder, Ga. Prior to joining Verity Bank, Jackson served as city president of Georgia Bank & Trust in Athens, Ga. Jackson, a 32-year career banker, has served 22 years in the Athens community.
Grady W. “Skip” Philips III (M.B.A. ’87, M.H.A. ’89) has been named CEO of Memorial Hospital in Martinsville, Va. He most recently was president and CEO of Houston Healthcare in Warner Robins, Ga.

1990s

Angela Douglas (M.P.A. ’98) is lecturer and master’s of public administration program coordinator at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington.
Tom Harbin (M.B.A. ’91) an ophthalmologist, recently wrote the book “What Every Doctor Should Know…But Was Never Taught in Medical School,” published by FEP International.
Christopher R. Koeneman (M.B.A. ’96) has joined Bluesocket, a supplier of virtual wireless LAN networking, as vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing. He has held senior leadership positions at AT&T, Data Com Systems and Cisco.
Suzanne Shields (B.B.A. ’96) has been named resident vice president of the Nashville, Tenn. office for Harleysville Insurance. In this position, she will oversee Harleysville’s property/casualty operations in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Roger (Rong) Zhang (M.A. ’93, M.P.A. ’96) has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of China TransInfo Technology Group Co., Ltd.�

2000s

Grant Black (Ph.D. ’01) is an associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, where he directs the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education.
Robert David Black (B.S. ’02), a student in Cal State Los Angeles’ doctoral program in educational leadership, was recently honored as one of two 2010 CSU Trustee Ali C. Razi Scholars. The award, which includes a $10,000 scholarship, is given by CSU trustees to a select group of CSU William Randolph Hearst Scholars.
Jae Brown (B.S. ’04), an emergency response coordinator for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, was named the 2010 Atlanta Urban League Young Professional’s-Heineken Rising Star. The Rising Star award is given to a talented young professional leader from across the metro area between the ages of 21-40 who has demonstrated a commitment to community and leadership in the area of economic development.
Maria McDaniel Dikin (M.Mus. ’07) won the Grand Prize Oxnard Gold Medal Award in the 2010 American Traditions Competition for Singers held during the Savannah (Georgia) Music Festival. Dikin sang opera, art song, jazz and musical theater repertoire to win the $12,000 first prize. She also sang the role of Second Lady in the Atlanta Opera’s April 2010 production of “The Magic Flute.”
Sandra Francis (M.S. ’05), an office manager at Georgia Perimeter College, is a contributing writer for Winsome Way Children’s Magazine and has authored the books “Kenya: At First Impression” and “South Africa: Looking Through the Eyes of Compassion.”
Daniel T. Hall (M.A. ’06, Ph.D. ’10) was recently hired as assistant professor of economics in the Earl N. Phillips School of Business at High Point University in High Point, N.C.
Andrew E. Lovejoy (M.B.A. ’05) has been promoted to president of Civil Engineering Consultants, a civil and environmental engineering firm specializing in water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
Mary-Kate Murray (B.S.W. ’07, M.P.A. ’10) has been named director of youth leadership and engagement for GUIDE Inc. in Lawrenceville, Ga.
Lindsay R. Romasanta (M.P.A. ’09) joined Arizona State University Health Services’ Wellness and Health Promotion staff as a health educator.
Robert F. Salvino (M.S. ’04, Ph.D. ’07), assistant professor of economics at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., was recently named research economist with the BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development in the university’s E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration.
Rebecca Serna Woiderski (M.S. ’07), executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, has joined the board of EarthShare of Georgia, which raises donations for environmental organizations through employee giving.
Magdalena Wór (B.Mus. ’03, B.A. ’05, M.Mus. ’05) gave her debut performance in the title role in “Carmen” with Palm Beach Opera in April and received a stellar review from the Palm Beach Arts paper. Wór also sang the “Vivaldi Gloria” with the National Philharmonic and “Tisbe” for Washington Concert Opera’s production of “La Cenerentola” in May.

2010s

Sidnei Alferes (M.Mus. ’10) serves as an affiliate artist at Agnes Scott College, teaching voice and opera workshops for the 2010-2011 academic year.
James Burch (B.Mus. ’10) recently won the Atlanta Music Club’s Scholarship Competition. He is attending graduate school at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School for the Arts.
Will Corbin (M.P.A. ’10) is a project associate for Market Street who was previously an assistant project manager in the DeKalb County Office of Economic Development.
Steven Gooden (B.Mus. ’10) is attending Northwestern University as a graduate award recipient in the Master of Music (clarinet) program.
Heather N. Hammonds (J.D. ’10) has been named an associate in the litigation department with the Savannah law firm of Oliver Maner LLP. She concentrates her practice in the area of medical malpractice litigation.
Jennifer Zuiff (B.Mus. ’10) won the Courtney Knight Gaines Silver Medal Award in the 2010 American Traditions Competition for Singers held during the Savannah Music Festival in Savannah, Ga.

The Guest List

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:54:18 +0000

Richard Laub, director of the Heritage Preservation Program in the Department of History, has been working with his students to identify and help protect historic sites along the proposed Atlanta Beltline. He shares 10 of his top historic sites along the 22-mile Beltline:

Sears and Roebuck Company Building
Built in 1926 as a catalog center and retail store on Ponce de Leon Avenue, at 2 million square feet, the former City Hall East is still the largest building in Georgia.
Excelsior Mill
One of the oldest buildings on the Beltline, circa 1900, the former site for the manufacturer of wood chips on North Avenue has found new life as the Masquerade nightclub.
Van Winkle Gin and Machine Works
The sprawling complex of late 19th and early 20th century cotton gin buildings is slowly becoming a ruin.
Tunnel
An immense brick tunnel faced in stone, it cuts under the intersection of University Avenue, Hank Aaron Drive and McDonough Boulevard on Atlanta’s south side.
Atlanta and West Point Railroad Freight Depot
This handsome brick building on Memorial Drive features a terra cotta tile roof with wide overhanging eaves. It is one of the few depots left from Atlanta’s rich railroad past.
Washington Park
The first park in Atlanta to provide recreational space for the African-American community was completed in 1928. The Beltline defines its western boundary.
Booker T. Washington High School
The elegant facade of the first public high school for blacks in Atlanta is a worthy setting for the dramatic statue of Washington “Lifting the Veil of Ignorance.”
Tanyard Creek Park
The site of the Civil War Battle of Peachtree Creek in July 1864.
Bellwood Quarry
The quarry was first worked by inmates from the nearby Fulton County Jail. Now over 400 feet deep, it is anticipated to hold a 30-day supply of water (2.4 billion gallons) for Atlanta and be surrounded by a 300-acre park.
Piedmont Park and the Park Drive Bridge
The Beltline passes under the elegant 1916 concrete bridge and creates the eastern boundary of beautiful Piedmont Park, which served as the site of the Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895.

Adventures in Service

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:49:03 +0000

If not for the encouragement of her GSU Spanish professor, Lee Hitchcock Lacy (B.A. ’70) might never have traveled abroad after graduation – and if not for that experience, she might never have embarked on a 30-year career with the Peace Corps.

“I had such excellent professors … they gave me the confidence to buy that first ticket to Barcelona,” Lacy recalls. “I traveled through Spain and Europe and realized that I wanted to know more about different countries and cultures.”

Since then, Lacy has worked in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Pacific. Her career began in Samoa, where she lived in a thatch-roofed house and taught English to middle-schoolers.

“That experience changed the way I view the world and informed my personal and professional choices until now,” Lacy says.

After she completed her two years in Samoa, she moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Corps’ evaluation unit. From that point forward, she mostly operated out of the States, with occasional long-term assignments abroad.

One of her favorite sojourns was in Nepal. “It is such a beautiful country, and the people are so warm and open,” Lacy says. And while each country offered its own unique culture, she saw that people everywhere “want the same basic things – security, stability and a chance to work for a living.”

As her most recent assignment as director of the Armenia Peace Corps was winding down, Lacy planned to retire, but then “one more great adventure” beckoned. She began working for USAID in Afghanistan. “I am working as part of President Obama’s civil surge and helping manage programs to stabilize the country,” she says. “It is a great opportunity and a huge challenge.”

But after this, she says, she’s coming home for good. “I am a new grandmother and I want to be closer to family.”

Going the Distance

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:47:41 +0000

For April Gellatly Burkey (B.A. ’07), becoming a triathlete was originally a way to heal.

When her father died in 2003, she left Youngstown State University where she had a swimming scholarship to move closer to family in Atlanta. Her new university, Georgia State, did not have a swimming program.

“I just needed something, and triathlon, it allows you the ability to self-heal a little bit,” she recalls. “Long rides and long runs, it was what I needed at the time to help get over the loss.”

Burkey was a founding member of the GSU Triathlon Club and has since competed in more than 100 triathlons, including 11 grueling Iron Man competitions. When Burkey was at Georgia State, she says, she used skills learned as a marketing major to sell her professors on excusing her from class for competitions. “I would create very formatted and sophisticated permission sheets and give one to each of my professors,” she remembers. “Some would think it was pretty cool.”

Now, as an elite-level triathlete and a USA Triathlon-certified coach, Burkey trains others in swimming, biking and running. In the winter of 2010, she got a call from CNN – on the recommendation of a Georgia State connection, actually – to help train chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, along with six producers, as part of the network’s Fit Nation segment.

One of the biggest problems for the producers, she says, was time. “If you are so absorbed in your work that you don’t allow yourself the time it takes to work out, that’s a challenge,” she says. “I had a hard time impressing upon them, ‘We’ve got to get moving, guys, we’ve got to get in the water, we’ve got to get on our bikes!’”

Burkey has been invited to work with CNN Fit Nation producers and select viewers again in 2011.

Branching Out

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:46:02 +0000

Suspended by ropes in a 60-foot tree at Blackburn Park in Atlanta is how Adrian Sasine (M.B.A. ’03) enjoys spending time.

Sasine is a tree climbing facilitator for Tree Climbers International, and he has been climbing trees ever since he saw the company on television around 2006.

“I’ve always been an outdoorsy person and I used to do a little camping and rock climbing in high school,” Sasine said. “Tree climbing has a mixture of all the things that I like: it’s outdoors in nature and you get a little bit of adrenaline rush, but not too much. It also gets you in shape, but it’s not too much wear and tear on your body.”

Up to 25 people can go up in the “Teaching Tree” with Sasine as he teaches topics such as tree inspection and how to tie a series of knots that enable the climber to attach a waist harness to their rope, which can then be used to ascend and descend.

“Tree climbing is for anybody ages 5 to 95,” Sasine said. “We work a lot of birthday parties and boy’s and girl’s scout troops, but there are a lot of people that use it for therapy for disorders. I think everybody should get outside whenever they can, and this is just one more way to do it. It’s a great bonding experience.”

In the business world, Sasine spent 10 years in marketing and promotions for Allstate Insurance. He

Scientific Achievement

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:44:32 +0000

Haoxing Xu (Ph.D. ’01) wants to know how cells work.

By understanding how cells sense what’s going on around them, he’s helping to uncover better treatments for ailments like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and even skin cancer.

Thanks to this groundbreaking work, the scientist who honed his skills in GSU labs has been honored with one of the highest awards a young researcher can receive. In November, Xu, assistant professor of biology at the University of Michigan, was named by President Barack Obama as a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. It’s the highest honor given by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers in the early stages of their research careers.

He credits his current achievements in science to the support he received and the training he gained here.

“I was given all the freedom to think like a scientist,” Xu explained. “It was at GSU when I developed one of the most important traits of being a good scientist: learning how to deal with frustration and failure.”

Key to his research program is understanding how cells use signals to sense what’s going on in the environment and how they respond. The insights gained may lead to better drugs with fewer side effects.

Life in the Lab: Catie Jensen

mjones124 — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:42:23 +0000

Catie Jensen

Catie Jensen is a post-baccalaureate student who graduated from GSU in 2010 with a B.A. in biology. She works in the laboratory of George Pierce, professor of applied environmental microbiology, who studies life at the molecular level.

My project is to help in vaccine development, particularly one that will, we hope, lead to a vaccine for the Ebola virus. We don’t work directly with Ebola, but instead, we work with the proteins that would be necessary to create the vaccine.

I’m really excited to do this kind of work. While molecular biology is challenging, it is real-life stuff, very relevant, and something the general public can understand. I’ve enjoyed working in the lab at GSU. I’ve had a great opportunity to flourish here in a welcoming environment. We have fun together, and we work as a team. Undergraduates, master’s, Ph.D. students and post doctoral researchers are not separated. We all share with one another.

I’m going to veterinary school at the University of Missouri after I’m finished here. Being in the lab has allowed me to learn more and learn faster, and it has helped me to get into veterinary school. At Missouri, I’m going to apply what I’ve learned here to the veterinary field.

The Guest List

mjones124 — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:06:46 +0000

Helen Davis and her husband Ren

Helen Davis (M.Ed. ’80), and her husband Ren, authors of two hiking guidebooks, share their top 10 urban walking areas in Atlanta

Atlanta Heritage Trail and Sweet Auburn-Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic District
One walk traces the growth of Atlanta from a railroad construction camp to the seat of state government and an international city, and a second path reveals the childhood home and final resting place of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Inman Park
Two decades after pivotal Civil War Battle of Atlanta in 1864, the land, a site of the some of the battle’s fiercest fighting,� became Atlanta’s first planned residential community. It boasts excellent examples of Victorian architecture.
Historic Oakland Cemetery
Opened in 1850 as Atlanta’s first municipal burial ground, Historic Oakland is a Victorian treasure. Among the many notable Atlantans interred here are author Margaret Mitchell and golfer Bobby Jones.
Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Botanical Garden
Often called the city’s “common ground,” Piedmont Park has been a gathering place for Atlantans since 1895. Adjoining the park, the Atlanta Botanical Garden features rare, exotic, and native plants; the Fuqua Conservatory; and the Storza Forest Preserve.
Ansley Park
Atlantans humorously call this neighborhood, designed for early automobilists, Atlanta’s “Bermuda Triangle” as the winding lanes conspire to get the unfamiliar driver lost. Ansley is noted for its beautiful pocket parks and elegant homes.
Fernbank Forest
A woodland path meanders through an old-growth forest only a few miles from downtown.� Adjacent to the forest is the popular Fernbank Science Center, planetarium and observatory.� Nearby is the Fernbank Natural History Museum. A great destination for families.
Druid Hills
Developed in the early 20th century, this park-like neighborhood of elegant homes reflects the garden-like designs of Frederick Law Olmsted.
Virginia-Highland and Morningside
These� two� residential areas preserve vintage World War I era Craftsman-style architecture and� notable examples of the works of Atlanta’s finest early and mid-20th century architects.
Peachtree� Battle Avenue and Atlanta Memorial Park
Elegant pre-World War II estates face tree-lined Peachtree Battle, while more modern homes border Atlanta Memorial Park, where Union troops crossed Peachtree Creek in 1864.
Atlanta History Center and Buckhead’s Beautiful Homes
Atlanta’s most prestigious neighborhoods surround the Atlanta History Center, which features a museum, the recreated Tullie Smith farm complex, the elegant Swan House and pocket gardens.

Helen and Ren Davis are the authors of “Georgia Walks: Discovering Hikes Through the Peach State’s Natural and Human History” and “Best Hikes Near Atlanta.”