Atlanta: Civil Rights Legacy, Olympic Park and the BeltLine Loop
Walk the MLK birthplace and King Center tomb in Sweet Auburn, ride the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail through Ponce City Market, see whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium, explore the 1996 Olympic Park bombing and legacy, relax in Piedmont Park, and learn the complex history of Stone Mountain granite dome.
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Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood preserves a two-block historic district including the birth home of Dr. King at 501 Auburn Avenue, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he and his father served as co-pastors, and the King Center where his tomb is located in a reflecting pool. King was born on January 15, 1929. The Ebenezer Baptist Church Heritage Sanctuary, built in 1922, is where King was baptized, ordained, and delivered his first sermon. The church across the street, built in 1999, continues as an active congregation. The National Park Service manages the birth home and visitor center. The King Center, founded by Coretta Scott King in 1968, operates independently and houses the largest collection of King papers and artifacts, including his Nobel Peace Prize medal awarded in 1964.
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Atlanta Beltline
The Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile loop of multi-use trails, parks, and transit corridors being developed along a historic railroad corridor encircling the urban core, is the largest urban redevelopment project in the United States. The initiative began as a graduate thesis by Ryan Gravel at Georgia Tech in 1999. The Eastside Trail, the most developed section, runs 2.5 miles through Inman Park, Ponce City Market, and Old Fourth Ward and draws an estimated 3 million visits annually. Ponce City Market, a 2.1 million square foot former Sears distribution center converted to mixed-use development and opened in 2014, anchors the Eastside Trail corridor. When complete, the full loop will connect 45 neighborhoods and create an estimated 30,000 units of housing within a half-mile of the trail.
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Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium at 225 Baker Street Northwest, opened in 2005 with a founding donation of 250 million dollars from Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, was the world largest aquarium when it opened and remains one of the largest, holding 10 million gallons of water. The aquarium is one of only a few facilities outside Asia to house whale sharks, the largest fish in the ocean. The Ocean Voyager exhibit, containing 6.3 million gallons, is the largest indoor marine habitat in the world. The aquarium houses over 100,000 animals representing over 700 species. Adjacent to the aquarium, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights presents the story of the American civil rights movement alongside global human rights struggles in parallel galleries.
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Centennial Olympic Park and 1996 Games Legacy
Centennial Olympic Park, a 22-acre greenspace in downtown Atlanta, was built as the gathering place for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the centennial celebration of the modern Olympic movement. On July 27, 1996, a pipe bomb exploded in the park during a concert, killing two people and injuring 111. Security guard Richard Jewell initially identified as a suspect was later completely exonerated; domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph was convicted for the bombing in 2005. The park remains a central gathering place anchoring the museum district that includes the Georgia Aquarium, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, World of Coca-Cola, the Children Museum of Atlanta, and the College Football Hall of Fame. The Olympic rings fountain in the park is the most popular photo location in Atlanta.
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Piedmont Park and Midtown Arts
Piedmont Park, a 189-acre public park in the Midtown neighborhood, was the site of the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition that introduced Atlanta to national audiences and was the occasion for Booker T. Washington famous Atlanta Compromise speech. The park is bounded by the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which opened in 1976 and received a major expansion in 2010. The park hosts Atlanta Pride, one of the largest LGBTQ+ festivals in the American South, and the Atlanta Jazz Festival each Memorial Day weekend. Midtown Atlanta around the park contains the Woodruff Arts Center, which houses the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Alliance Theatre, and the High Museum of Art. The High Museum, housed in a 1983 Richard Meier-designed building and expanded in 2005, holds over 18,000 works across American, European, and African art.
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Stone Mountain Park and Georgia History
Stone Mountain, a 3,200-acre state park 16 miles east of Atlanta, contains the largest exposed piece of granite in the world, a 1,686-foot dome rising 825 feet above the surrounding plain. The Confederate Memorial Carving on the north face of the mountain, depicting Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson on horseback, is the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, measuring 90 by 190 feet. The carving was commissioned in 1915 and completed in 1972. The park and carving have been the subject of ongoing debate about Confederate memorialization. The summit is accessible by cable car or hiking trail and provides views extending 60 miles on clear days. Stone Mountain was declared the starting point of the original Ku Klux Klan revival in 1915, adding complexity to its status as Georgia most visited attraction.