Table of Contents
Connections

The Guest List

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:

by Richard Laub | Photography by Meg Buscema

Share |
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Van Winkle Gin and Machine Works
    The sprawling complex of late 19th and early 20th century cotton gin buildings is slowly becoming a ruin. 
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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."
  8. Tanyard Creek Park
    The site of the Civil War Battle of Peachtree Creek in July 1864.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.