Atlanta Intown - April 2020

NEW TO MARKET

Morningside: 1261 University Drive. Outstanding all-brick, five-bedroom Morningside home in covenant Springdale Elementary. Beautiful serene creek setting on an oversized lot-. This wonderful home is in moveright-in-condition and loaded wow factor. The entrance leads to an outstanding top-of-the-line kitchen/great room combination with a separate breakfast room. 5BR / 5BA $1,375,000

NEW TO MARKET

Morningside: 791 San Antonio Drive NE. Morningside at its absolute, very best. San Antonio Drive is one of Morningside’s best-kept secrets with ideal walkability to restaurants, shops, and parks. This 8-years young home is in pristine, move-right-in-condition with an outstanding level, flat backyard with Astroturf design for maximum enjoyment. 5BR / 4.5BA $1,595,000

PRICE IMPROVEMENT

Morningside: 1740 West Sussex Road. Homes Are Seldom Available on this Street with an Outstanding, Level, Almost Half Acre. Features Include: All Brick, Move in Ready, 5 Bedrooms, 5.5 Baths, 2 Story Foyer Staircase, Paneled Library/Office, Finished Basement with High Ceilings, Large Deep Back Porch, Enjoys Total Privacy, 2-Car Attached Garage, Tremendous Expansion Possibilities. 10++ 4 BR / 4 BA $1,849,000

NEW TO MARKET

Morningside: 1374 Pasadena Avenue. Outstanding five bedroom Morningside/ Johnson Road Estate home. Located on quiet, low traffic Pasadena Avenue in Coveted Morningside school district. This move-in ready home enjoys gourmet, top-of-the-line kitchen with breakfast bar connecting to the family room and large dining room. 5 BR / 4 BA $1,095,000

NEW TO MARKET

Morningside: 1715 Lenox Road. Morningside home loaded with character, charm and function in Coveted Morningside School District. Handsome red tile roof and center courtyard. 4 BR / 4 BA $859,000

Candler Park: 1381 Euclid Avenue. Perfect Location on Two Parks in Heart of Candler Park! Double Your Square Footage with Inlaw Suite, Big Media Room, Kitchenette & Bonus Room. 5 BR / 4 BA $1,275,000

UNDER CONTRACT

Morningside: 1262 Pasadena Ave. All brick Tudor home located on quiet, low-traffic street in Morningside that is loaded with charm.

5 BR / 4.5 BA $949,000

UNDER

COMING SOON

Virginia Highland: 700 Elkmont Dr. Fully renovated. 3 beautiful finished levels, just steps from Orme park.

5 BR / 3.5 BA

MORNINGSIDE’S MOST TRUSTED REAL ESTATE ADVISOR FOR OVER 20 YEARS

COMING SOON

House.

Morningside: 1026 Robin Lane. Rare six bedroom Morningside home on 1.97 acres. Open floor plan and full finished basement on a quiet cul-de-sac street. Ideal for a growing family. 6 BR / 5 BA

COMING SOON

Morningside: 1097 Mclynn Ave. Total package. 5 bedrooms with open floor plan, with fresh modern vibe, coach house & pool.

5 BR / 5 BA $2,150,000

“Ken Covers has an amazing reputation but our trust in him is primarily from personal experience. He has helped us buy and sell in the past and there was no question when we put our house on the market that we would list it with Ken. No one knows Morningside and the surrounding neighborhoods better than Ken and his commitment is 100%. I’d say he’s got a gift except that I know how hard he works. I would and have recommended Ken to anyone looking to buy or sell and my advice to them is ‘listen to him. He’s worthy of your trust and he know what he’s talking about.”

- Johanna Norry

Your Life. Your Home. Your Realtor®.

5 BR / 4.5 BA COMING SOON Atlanta Ken Covers Private Office Advisor direct: 404.664.8280 office:

CONTACT US

Editorial Collin Kelley

INtown Editor

collin@atlantaintownpaper.com

(404) 917-2200, ext. 102

Contributors

Sally Bethea, C. Cleo Creech, Kathy Dean, Clare Richie, Asep Mawardi, Jacob Nguyen, Kelci Sleeper, Tim Sullivan, Mark Woolsey

Submissions

Article queries and calendar submissions should be emailed to collin@atlantaintownpaper.com.

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On The Cover

Back row, from left: Khadijah

Norris Broyles III, Betsy Lane,

McCauley, Blakely Doyle, Scarlett Wills, and Courson Doyle. Photo by Asep Mawardi.

Your Home for Women’s Health

A Note To Our Readers

As this issue went to press, the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic was affecting all aspects of life in our community. Because this issue was produced in a shortened deadline, some of Atlanta INtown’s regular features and coverage are not included or will be moved online in the days ahead.

Our editorial team is covering events on a daily basis, posting breaking news and updates at AtlantaIntownPaper.com (which has experienced a surge in online readership). Check the website often for new stories and announcements and subscribe to receive daily and weekly emails from us.

Deanna Tyson

Springs Publishing’s mission is to provide hyperlocal news and information that connect our readers to their neighborhoods and communities. To that end, please share your stories and experiences with INtown editor Collin Kelley or let him know of others who deserve recognition by emailing Collin@atlantaintownpaper.com.

Thank you to our readers and advertisers for continuing to rely on our publications for their community connection.

Steve Levene, Publisher Springs Publishing LLC Atlanta INtown/Reporter Newspapers/Atlanta Senior Life

Coronavirus: Covering a global story with an Intown focus

This is not quite the issue of INtown we expected to be publishing in April. And this isn’t the letter I expected to be writing to you. As the staff began gearing up to produce our annual “Go Green” issue – jampacked with editorial about sustainability, Earth Day, spring events and home tours – the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Atlanta.

Sophisticated and tastefully updated, enjoy historic charm and bespoke cabinetry throughout this immaculate and move-in ready home. Details include a gracious entertaining living room and dining room, a welcoming foyer and staircase, a custom kitchen open to the family room with a fabulous walkout porch and fireside terrace, perfect for parties or relaxing.

Once the first two cases of COVID-19 in Georgia were diagnosed in Fulton County, what had seemed to be a faraway concern was suddenly on our doorstep. Overnight, our coverage at AtlantaINtownPaper.com and on social media switched almost exclusively to the impact of coronavirus. There were days when the situation was so fluid that we’d post news and minutes later have to update it. To say that the barrage of emails, phone calls, press conferences, event cancellations, and closure notices was overwhelming would be the understatement of the new decade.

You’ll find quite a few mentions of COVID-19 in this abbreviated April issue, but we also wanted it to be a distraction from the boredom and uncertainty of being homebound. There are inspiring stories about the ever-evolving Blue Heron Nature Preserve, Trees Atlanta’s commitment to our canopy, and the lifesaving work of Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Missing from this issue is The Studio, our monthly section on arts and culture happenings around Intown. In less than a week, every story we had planned fell apart due to event cancellations and venue closures. Similarly, the News You Can Eat section was rejiggered in light of restaurants shuttering or switching to take-out. The businesses and organizations that make up the fabric of Intown’s arts and culture community need your support now and in the future. If you can, please make a donation or patronize these organizations and businesses financially struggling due to the pandemic.

The cliché about the road ahead being uncertain doesn’t seem like such a cliché as I’m writing this. What I am certain about is that INtown will be here to shine some light through the fog. I encourage you to bookmark AtlantaINtownPaper.com, follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@ATLINtownPaper), and sign-up for our alerts. We will get through this, and INtown will do our part to help weather this crisis.

And to slightly modify a slogan made famous by the Brits: Keep Well and Carry On.

Collin Kelley collin@atlantaintownpaper.com

Lillian Schapiro, MD, FACOG

Kathryn Garren, WHNP

A Note from Jim

These are truly uncharted times as we navigate COVID–19. Kindness, family, community and selflessness have never been so paramount. Take this time to pause, reflect and support your neighborhood restaurants and small businesses—they need all the help we can give right now. Stay healthy and safe, and know that we are all in this together.

Sustainability

BLUE IN GREEN

Blue Heron Nature Preserve celebrates 20th anniversary with new milestones

By Collin Kelley

Blue Heron Nature Preserve has plenty to celebrate in April. Not only will the North Buckhead environmental center mark its 20th anniversary on Earth Day, but also the arrival of a new executive director and the opening of phase one of the Blueway Trail.

The Roswell Road environmental center installed two new bridges connecting 30 acres of greenspace with a three-mile walking trail known as the

Blueway Trail. The project took three years to complete and Blue Heron raised over $750,000 for trail construction and improvements.

“Visitors can now travel seamlessly to all three Blue Heron properties. It’s a significant milestone as we continue to grow and evolve,” outgoing executive director Kevin McCauley said. “Plans for Phase 2 include linking Blue Heron’s trails to nearby Chastain Park and PATH400.”

A free festival is planned to introduce the new trail network to the public during the annual Earth Day Celebration on April

25. Highlights will include music, food, art, and family-friendly activities.

The nature center is also celebrating the arrival of award-winning architect and environmentalist Melody Harclerode as its new executive director. Harclerode’s credentials include stints as director of the Sandy Springs Conservancy and program coordinator at Arabia Mountain.

“We are thrilled to welcome Melody to Blue Heron,” McCauley said. “She has a passion for the natural world and brings a wealth of experience to expand the opportunities for us to bring an

understanding and appreciation for this special place.”

“Blue Heron Nature Preserve has inspired children and adults about nature through the arts, education, conservation, research, and innovative projects for twenty years,” Harclerode said. “Building upon Kevin McCauley’s accomplishments, I am honored to work with the staff, board members, and volunteers, as the new executive director, to boost the impact, support, and appreciation of this amazing

Continued on page 8

Mark Wills walks his dogs, Freud and Frida, along the Blueway Trail at at Blue Heron Nature Preserve in Buckhead. (Photos by Asep Mawardi)

REAL ESTATE. REAL PEOPLE.

have

green space in Atlanta.”

Blue Heron Nature Preserve shares its facilities at 4055 Roswell Road with the Atlanta Audubon Society and The Amphibian Foundation, making the preserve an environmental asset unlike any other in metro-Atlanta.

“We are 20 years young; I want to stress that!” Harcelrode proclaimed. “As a City of Atlanta park, Blue Heron has been nurtured and grown through community support.”

Blue Heron’s unique focus on education means thousands of student have benefitted from the park’s programs, field trips and summer camps. There’s also a strong connection to the arts community with five murals and ongoing fine arts initiative. “I say the park is ‘recre-educational,’” Harclerode said.

Harclerode said her training as an architect has given her a unique perspective on how people use indoor and outdoor space. “As an architect, I work collaboratively to create spaces that inspire, inform and educate. It’s placemaking. I’m taking that idea of placemaking and moving outdoors to create space that inspires.”

For more about Blue Heron Nature Preserve, visit bhnp.org.

Visit

Atlanta Gynecology & Obstetrics includes you in the healthcare decisions surrounding your birth experience. Women have been having babies for centuries — our physicians, midwives and nurse practitioners have worked as a team for years, guiding women along their birth journey. We meet you at the crossroads of collaboration, choice, and safety. Our goal is for you to have the birth experience you’ve dreamed of — planning WITH you, not AT you, guiding you to the best birth possible. Decatur Office

Gwinnett Office 449 Pleasant Hill Rd, Suite 200

Lilburn, GA 30047

404.299.9724

770.923.5033

…you should

a say in how you get her to come out.

You had a say in getting your baby in there...

Blue Heron staff, volunteers and supporters gather on the newly-installed bridge that is part of the Blueway Trail through the 30-acre preserve.

By Mark Woolsey

Richard Sussman not only appreciates Atlanta’s nickname of ‘a city in a forest,’ he brings that catchy phrase right back home.

“I have no grass,” he said of his home in the city of Atlanta. “Our landscaping is trees and shrubs and raised beds. I have completely eliminated grass.”

Sussman had plenty of opportunities to get up-close and personal to sturdy trunks and leafy branches during a career with the U.S. Forest Service. Now retired, he’s taken that knowledge and his expertise as a University of Georgia Master Gardner and put it to good use with Trees Atlanta, the non-profit which over the last 35 years has worked tirelessly to protect Atlanta’s existing tree canopy and help grow new green space.

During April, the group plans to take part in the 50th observance of Earth Day on April 22 by doing a tree planting project and educational programs. But understandably, the group’s bigger push has historically come on Arbor Day. In addition to that, a much bigger and decade-long offensive has just launched.

Sussman is one of a strong corps of volunteers that helps with various aspects of the group founded in 1985. They perform tasks ranging from actual plantings to leading tours along the wildly popular BeltLine Trail—which Trees Atlanta has dubbed an arboretum, a botanical garden devoted to trees—to handling various datacollection and administrative tasks.

Older adults are key to that effort, according to volunteer coordinator Susan Pierce Cunningham. She said many of the project leaders who helm various group initiatives are older volunteers. They work with staffers who are site coordinators—and Pierce Cunningham indicated that they are infinitely valuable.

“Just like in all aspects of life, they have more life experience with everything,” she said. “That means they understand more quickly what we’re trying to accomplish. Also, by that stage in life, they have a better idea of what they’re interested in, so they come to us with a passion for tree preservation. And if they’re retired, they have more time to devote.”

That raises the questions: just what has Trees Atlanta accomplished since its modest founding aimed at planting trees in downtown Atlanta? And what’s yet to come?

The short answer to both queries isquite a lot. It’s like the old saying about mighty oaks growing from little acorns.

“Trees” has broadened to include community tree planting programs in Atlanta and a number of suburbs, the ambitious BeltLine Arboretum, ongoing tree care, a kids’ program, workshops and educational events and advocacy efforts aimed at preserving and possibly expanding Atlanta’s tree canopy. The group said the city’s tree coverage stands at around 47% and is slowly dropping.

Sussman is one of the docents who leads tours along the BeltLine, having joined the initial phase of the program back in 2012. He seems to delight in expounding on the value of the hundreds of graceful magnolias, oaks, evergreens and other species thrusting skyward along with shrubs and native grasses. He’s also quick to point out how the plantings create a transportation route for invaluable pollinators—birds, bats, insects and the like.

The longtime volunteer said the native grass plantings proved controversial in some quarters but added that “native grasses

Celebrating the Great Outdoors Trees Atlanta’s Mission Extends Beyond Earth Day

survive very well in difficult conditions. That’s different from putting in a lawn that requires pesticides and herbicides.”

Lawrence Richardson, another senior volunteer, pointed out that shade helps to moderate temperatures in the midst of highdensity urban development and that trees benefit the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Richardson also leads BeltLine tours and speaks to community groups—and he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Some of the trees planted along the BeltLine bear his touch.

Elaborating on his path to involvement: “After moving here in 2007, I wanted to do some planting and gardening, and being from up north I really didn’t know a lot about southern soil and plants. I thought (getting involved with the group) would be

a good way to learn.”

Learn he did, as he took the group’s “Treekeepers” course and then built on that knowledge. He was named Volunteer of the Year in 2014.

Co-executive director of the group

Above, Trees Atlanta volunteer Lawrence Richardson takes part in a tree planting. Opposite page, Richardson regularly leads tours along the Atlanta BeltLine, now dubbed an arboretum by Trees Atlanta.

Right, the One Million Trees Initiative, led by Trees Atlanta, is a plan to save and plant 1,000,000 trees in the Atlanta metro area by 2030. All photos courtesy of Trees Atlanta.

Greg Levine is also bullish about the help older adults have provided. He said they helped plant about 7,000 trees last year in 70 different neighborhoods in Atlanta and nearby cities. Volunteers also aided in reforestation in some 30 green spaces, wading into such tasks as removing aggressive and invasive species such as Chinese Privet.

Sussman, for his part, does data collection on the city’s urban forests to answer such questions as, “Are trees previously identified or planted still standing and are they properly marked?”. Others serve on teams giving at least two years of followup care to relatively new plantings.

And “we have a senior who is helping us write and communicate our strategic plan,” said Levine.

Then there’s the advocacy piece.

Richardson is a member of the Atlanta Tree Conservation Commission, whose website outlines a role in assisting in “the protection, maintenance and regeneration of the trees and other forest resources of Atlanta.” The group also oversees educational and other programs and hears and decides appeals of administrative officials’ decisions.

With a rewrite of the city’s tree ordinance pending, he has firm ideas on what he’d like to see done, calling “disjointed” the current process for appeals from city decisions on how new and existing trees should be handled in the course of residential and commercial construction.

“By the time the city arborist gets involved on whether trees should be removed, plans often have already been approved,” he said, adding he’d like to see a more “team-focused” effort. He said he understands that the city has recently gotten the arborist division involved earlier

in the process, but more work needs to be done.

Levine’s thinking lies along similar lines.

He believes regulations should reduce disturbance on residential lots; he’d like to see the allowance for disturbance maxed out to 60-65%. Levine also wants better regulations for planting trees in parking lots that includes a goal of 50% canopy coverage, as well as better protection for longer-lived native species. That protection would require creative solutions to design around existing trees.

Levine said he’s been involved for 24 years and with a degree in landscape architecture, his passion has long been for nature and forests. He lamented that “a lot of projects remove forests for not-the-most attractive buildings and designs. I want to make urban areas better working with landscape architects.”

Preservation is indeed one goal of the group’s “One Million Trees” initiative launched on Feb. 20, but it’s far from the only facet. The effort will also include trees planted on both city land and public projects and others installed by residents and businesses on private property.

“Trees” plans to fold in ten nonprofit groups in what’s billed as uniting diverse communities and approaches in a fight against climate change as well as environmental stresses stemming from urban growth. They aim to finish the farreaching campaign within 10 years.

Older adults helping with the group said that above and beyond such lofty goals, getting involved is just plain fun.

“You meet a lot of great people from all walks of life,” said Richardson. “There’s a common purpose, exercise and fresh air. You learn a lot about the city and the people and neighborhoods.”

“

The

for

lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

— Maya Angelou

Earth Day Connections

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of this year’s Earth Day events are likely to be cancelled. However, there are many area organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting our natural landscapes and resources that still need your support. Please visit the links below for updated event information and to make a donation.

Green Oasis

Aluma Farm providing fresh fruit and vegetables in food desert

Chattahoochee Nature Center chattnaturecenter.org

Chattahoochee Riverkeeper chattahoochee.org

EarthShare Georgia earthsharega.org

Hands On Atlanta handsonatlanta.org

Nature Conservancy in Georgia nature.org

Piedmont Park Conservancy piedmontpark.org

Wylde Center wyldecenter.org

Keep Atlanta Beautiful keepatlantabeautiful.org

Georgia Institute of Technology Brain Research Study

SEE YOUR BRAIN AT WORK!

We are conducting a memory and stress study to examine spatial navigation techniques used during a computerized virtual navigation game.

Th is is a two-day study and eligible participants will perform some of the navigation tasks while receiving magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans.

*Non-MRI option available.

We are looking for men and women volunteers who are:

• 65 – 80 years of age

• In good physical health

You will be compensated for your participation. If you are interested please contact us at: maplab@gatech.edu or call our lab at (404) 385-0798.

By Clare S. Richie

With the coronavirus (COVID-19) potentially disrupting supply chains, local urban farms may become an even more precious resource. Aluma Farm, located in Southwest Atlanta on 3.8 acres along the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail, will offer its bounty at a plant sale on Saturday, April 11, weekly Farmstand starting Thursday, April 16, and is exploring a vegetable preorder/pick-up before April 16 (be sure to check alumafarm.com or @alumafarm for updates on these events).

“Small urban farms are really providing a service to the community - green space, engage with nature and access to healthy foods/healthy eating,” said Aluma Farm co-owner and farmer Andy Friedberg.

Plant sales include starter plants like tomatoes, peppers, melons, and herbs for individual gardens. The Farmstand, which runs Thursdays 4-8 pm through November features vegetables, fruits, cut flowers and honey. Spring crops include greens (kale, arugula, collards, chard), carrots, green onions, green garlic, strawberries and more. About 125 shoppers visit the Farmstand each week.

“Over the years, we’ve been able to get a feel for what people want,” said Aluma Farm co-owner and farmer Andrea Ness. Based on a 2018 survey, 85% of the farm’s retail customers live within a two-mile-walking distance.

“That was really exciting for us, because that means we are serving the community that’s right here,” Ness said. One that the USDA designated a food dessert with no grocery stores, markets or food co-ops.

Aluma Farm also offers Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) options, in which members buy a harvest share before the spring/fall season and then receive weekly produce for 15-weeks. Options include: a full share of six weekly vegetables, a salad share of four weekly vegetables and a new prepaid gift card.

For the gift card, “you choose how much to pay, in advance. It’s more flexible if you travel a lot or have busy schedules,” Ness said. The farm still receives an upfront investment and cardholders use as often as desired.

To promote greater access, Aluma Farm offers a sliding scale CSA and partners with Wholesome Wave to double EBT dollars for customers receiving SNAP benefits.

“Last year 50 households (participated in the CSA). This year hoping to get up to 75,” Ness said.

Ness and Friedberg bring more than a decade of farming experience to this work. In California, Ness learned “beyond sustainable” practices of using farming to restore damaged ecosystems. During law school summer breaks, apprenticed at the Serenbe farm and later worked on urban farms in Massachusetts. The co-owners met Bamboo Creek Farm, Global Growers’ 15-acre incubator farm in Stone Mountain, while farming separate plots. Ness sold microgreens and specialty crops to local restaurants. Friedberg sold produce at farmer’s markets. They looked out for each other’s plots.

Park Pride parkpride.org

Aluma Famer co-owners Andy Friedberg and Anna Ness.

Their “natural partnership” led them to respond to the Atlanta BeltLine’s RFP to cultivate an urban farm on land the BeltLine had purchased, removed pavement, concrete and pollutants and conducted a full soil remediation.

“The soil had been so damaged and degraded from the clean up process and its former industrial uses. Our first year, we planted 10 beds of the heartiest crops. Everything sprouted, grew four inches tall then just died immediately. Our second year, we started bringing in compost and adding that to the soil. As of now, we have brought in 700 cubic yards of compost.” Ness said. “Last year we grew 22,000 lbs. of vegetables from about an acre of land.”

Ness and Friedberg just started their fifth year of production and are in discussion with the BeltLine about renewing their lease beyond February 2021. This BeltLine and City are focused on increasing affordable housing but the City also supports more urban farms and gardens.

On March 2, the Atlanta City Council extended the Aglanta Grows-A lot program, by

accepting a $450,000 federal grant that requires a $150,000 match, to create more urban growing. This program is aligned with the City’s goal of 85% of Atlantans residing within a half-mile of fresh food by 2022.

One idea that has been brought up is to make room for both purposes by adding some affordable housing units in conjunction with the farm.

As the farm’s future is discussed, spring season crops will be available at the plant sales, Farmstand, CSA pick-ups and restaurant deliveries. And volunteering, group tours and workshops on gardening, pickling and wild fermenting will continue to draw the community in.

“We wanted to show that a farm can be a viable business, but we’ve realized – this opportunity in the middle of the neighborhood –we’re capable of a bigger role: a space for job creation, education, and quality of life,” Friedberg said.

“We would love the farm continue indefinitely and become a place for young farmers to gain experience to start their own farms,” Ness added.

Celebrate – and save – the US Environmental Protection Agency

ABOVE THE WATER LINE

By

Science, data collection and rigorous analysis leading to informed decision-making to protect public health, safety and welfare are the hallmarks of an advanced and responsible society. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, we are learning the hard, deadly lesson that ideological undermining of the role of government in our lives and, more recently, the outright rejection of facts and science have put all of us in harm’s way.

In “Letters from an American,” political historian Heather Cox Richardson recently observed that in the post-World War II years, there was a commitment to using government to promote stability by fostering equality of opportunity and a rising standard of living for all. This was an extension, she says, of the government regulations, social safety net and infrastructure development established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats in the 1930s and continued by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower in

the 1950s.

In the decade after World War II, a young woman born on a farm outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania used her scientific training and powerful writing skills to educate the general public about the inextricable connections between humans and the natural world: the life support systems upon which we all depend. Her name was Rachel Carson.

As a biologist and editor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she was privy to early studies that showed how chemicals, developed during wartime then transformed into domestic products, were poisoning birds and wildlife – while contaminating our air, land and water. Carson embarked on a relentless, and often lonely, crusade to bring science, data and rigorous analysis to the attention of the public and elected officials in language that was understandable and compelling. In 1962, she published Silent Spring, which warned of the dangers to

natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides and helped launch the modern environmental movement.

A private person and unlikely revolutionary, Carson literally changed the world by creating among the public an “ecological conscience” and revealing the critical role of science and data in protecting all of us from man-made poisons. In 1970 – eight years after the publication of her seminal book and six years after her death from cancer – Congress created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which, this year, celebrates its golden anniversary. It has been said that EPA is the “extended shadow of Rachel Carson.” People across America were sick and tired of burning rivers, oil spills, toxic air pollution and stinking waterways; they were alarmed when a nationwide survey revealed, in 1969, that more than half of all drinking water treatment systems had major deficiencies. With strong public and bipartisan political pressure, they demanded and secured change.

I was in college and only generally aware of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 and the creation of EPA that December – when a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities were consolidated into one agency. Its mission: to protect public health and the environment by conducting research and implementing federal environmental statutes, most of which were passed during that transformative decade. After completing a masters in environmental planning at Georgia Tech, I began working at EPA in 1980, as a management intern. Six months later, Ronald Reagan was elected president; in his inaugural address, he proclaimed: “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

With the advent of the Reagan Administration and its laser focus on tax cuts, the unraveling of federal natural resource agencies, such as EPA, began. Experts were silenced, investigations shut down and research and monitoring projects de-funded. While I worked on several interesting water-related projects, I had way too much time on my hands with nothing meaningful to do – the apparent intention of political appointees. Those years did provide me with an important lesson in how budgets, politics and ideology can stymie and even destroy the science, data collection and

policy-making that keep our communities safe.

Over the past four decades, support for EPA has waxed and waned, but hardworking, committed people at the agency have secured an impressive list of successes that have made our lives better and longer. Blood lead levels in children have been dramatically reduced; toxic air emissions significantly lowered; bans of dangerous chemicals enacted; and, here in Atlanta, EPA worked closely with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper to stop chronic sewage spills in the river that supplies our drinking water; its role was critical to the successful outcome. This year’s 50th anniversary celebration should appropriately recognize all of these accomplishments and many more.

The celebrations will be overshadowed, however, by the fact that EPA and other federal agencies whose missions depend on science are being relentlessly and systematically destroyed by the Trump Administration. Almost 700 employees have left the EPA in the past three years and 95 environmental regulations have been overturned. Across the federal government, 1,600 scientists have left their positions and most have not been replaced. It’s now open season for polluters and their lawyers and lobbyists who have whined since the Reagan Administration about “burdensome” regulations, while making huge profits. The regulatory rollbacks that they have achieved, including calculated limits on public input in some areas, now threaten our health and communities.

It’s going to take a long time for scientific expertise to return to the EPA, Centers for Disease Control, Health and Human Services and others government agencies –even when we act now by electing candidates who embrace science and fact-driven policies. As we are learning with the ongoing publichealth crisis, our lives and economic futures depend on a strong, funded and informed government.

Sally Bethea

Sally Bethea is the retired executive director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. She continues her advocacy for the environment and won the Georgia Press Association Award for opinion writing for her monthly column in INtown.

Biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson

MIKE KONDALSKI NICOLE DAVIS

MICHAEL PILLOW SHERRY WARNER LAMAR GOLAR

ERIN FYE DAVID BROWN

MICHAEL JW SMITH ANN FINLEY

SALLY WESTMORELAND MIKE GUNSALLUS

DAN RICHARDSON Team of the

BONNIE SMITH

ED WOODS

BETH SMITH

GEARY JACO CYMONE BAYLOR

HUDSON NICOLE COX

EDWINA MURPHY CLARKE WEEKS

MATT SCHWARTZ NATALIE LUCAS Rookie of the Year

For The Birds

Atlanta Audubon receives grant money for two local projects

By INtown Staff

Enjoy

April 12 – May 10

Designed for little kids, big kids, and the whole family, Second Sundays are for everyone. Visit us each month and experience new interactive, innovative family activities inspired by our collections and rotating exhibitions.

Atlanta Audubon has received two big grants to complete projects designed to create bird-friendly habitats. The organization received a $3,000 grant through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Viewing Grants program to construct and install a 12-foot-tall Chimney Swift tower at Freedom Park.

The Chimney Swift tower at Freedom Park will complement existing bird- and pollinator-friendly habitat work completed by the Freedom Park Conservancy and their partners at the Freedom Park Bird and Wildflower Garden. Certified as an Atlanta Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in 2018 and located in Freedom Park at the corner of North Avenue and Candler Park Drive, the garden is a site for the reintroduction of native plants and shrubs for bird and pollinator habitat.

Big Creek Greenway (above and below) will see its bird habitat restored by Atlanta Audubon, which also plans to build a Chimney Swift Tower in Freedom Park (center).

Since the 1950s, Chimney Swifts and other aerial insectivores have experienced drastic population declines due to several factors, such as the increased use of pesticides that harms their main prey, flying insects, and the loss of swifts’ nesting and roosting habitat (formerly hollow trees and more recently, man- made chimneys). Chimney Swifts, now listed as vulnerable by the IUCN

Red List of Threatened Species, have responded to these challenges by increasingly flocking to urban areas that offer abandoned factory smokestacks or historical home chimneys that have been left uncapped and which mimic their natural breeding and roosting sites.

Atlanta Audubon was also recently awarded a $20,900 grant from the Georgia Ornithological Society’s (GOS) Bill Terrell Avian Conservation Grants fund to implement a second phase of bird-friendly habitat restoration at Big Creek Greenway. Atlanta Audubon will restore ten additional acres of bird-friendly habitat, building on the 12 acres restored during phase one of this project in 2019. Atlanta Audubon will be partnering with the City of Alpharetta, Georgia Native Plant Society, and the Ed Isakson/Alpharetta Family YMCA to complete this work.

Big Creek Greenway is a linear park extending approximately eight miles from its northernmost point near Windward Parkway in Alpharetta to its southernmost point near Old Alabama Road in Roswell. This park has proven to be an important greenspace for resident and migratory birds in Fulton County, with more than 190 bird observations recorded on eBird, a real-time, online database that has revolutionized the way the birding community reports and accesses information about birds.

The focus of this restoration project will be to create bird-friendly habitat by removing invasive and exotic plant species such as Chinese privet and English Ivy and installing native plants as appropriate that will assist resident and migratory birds to use the area as nesting, foraging, and stopover habitat.

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The Neighborhood News & Features

Bigs and Littles

By Kelci Sleeper

B

The 2020 Bigs of the Year were chosen from over 1,400 volunteers across the metro in recognition of their extraordinary commitment to their Little Brothers and Sisters (“Littles”). Littles and their families nominate their Big Brothers or Sisters for the honor and BBBSMA staff select a male and female winner.

The Bigs of the Year were recently announced at yhr annual Big Appreciation event and will have an opportunity to be named as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s National Big Brother or Sister of the Year.

Meet this year’s “Bigs.”

Big Sister of the Year: Paola Juárez Castillo

Paola Juárez Castillo has been matched with her Little Sister Yadhira since December 2015 and in that time, the two have become quite inseparable.

When speaking about her favorite memory with her Big Sister, Yadhira said, “All my outings with Paola are great, but I have to say that participating in our Mexican tradition

for him

for her for home

Four stores with on-trend and in-demand fashions and accessories for you and your home.

of ‘Dia de Los Muertos’ was an eye opener – we try to participate every year in this celebration and [it] makes me feel closer to my family and to my culture.”

Paola has worked to help Yadhira with a speech disorder, something she too struggled with as a girl. Together, the pair have presented an award in front of hundreds at BBBSMA’s annual Legacy Awards Gala.

“No matter what, Paola is there to support Yadhira in anything,” said Yadhira’s mother, Zoila. “Every time she goes [with Paola], Yadhira comes back with her mind full of positive stuff. The level of commitment that Paola has with our family can’t be described or imitated.”

ig Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta (BBBSMA) honored two “Big” volunteers who have made a significant difference in the lives of their “Littles.”“For me, it’s been huge to realize how small things have a huge impact on them,” Paola explained. “When I ask her, ‘what do you want to do with me today? What is your favorite thing to do?’ she says, ‘watch a movie with you and make cupcakes together.’ We all try to do these big things for our Littles, but one thing I have learned over the years is that the smallest things have the biggest impact.”

Yadhira with Paola Juarez Castillo

Big Brother of the Year: Glenn Noronha

Glenn Noronha and Little Brother Alen have been matched for over five years.

Alen’s mother believes Glenn has taught Alen important life skills during their time together. “Honestly, he’s taught him about leadership and having character – that he needs to be an honest and standup person, and a leader as well,” she said. “Glenn has really taught him that you can be cool and not necessarily have to go along with the trends that are popular.”

When Alen left for military school, the pair had no trouble keeping in touch and Glenn was sure to be there, cheering him on as he graduated. Alen’s mother attributes his performance at military school, reaching the highest possible ranks, to “the caliber of leadership he saw in Glenn.”

“Glenn has helped me through some of the hardest parts of my life and consistently been there for me. He is my family now and will be in my life forever,” said Alen.

A story they both love to tell centers around one of Alen’s favorite outings: the time he got to go to work with Glenn, an ophthalmologist, and dissect a pig’s eye.

“Alen has had a tremendous impact on me, which is something that I’ve realized over time. He has become family and a part of the fabric of who I am,” Glenn explained. “When we met, it was never for a couple of hours, but instead for the better part of a Saturday afternoon and it became a way of life.”

Glenn Noronha with Alen

News Roundup

The presidential primary has been rescheduled to May 19 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Atlanta special’s election seeking to renew a 1 percent sales tax for water and sewer projects was also put off until May 19.

MARTA embarked on a $133.5 million track renovation project in March with work on the Green Line and some service interruption at the Inman Park/ Reynoldstown and Edgewood/Candler Park stations. Restoring the heavy rail lines is part of the MARTA’s ongoing “State of Good Repair” work and systemwide upgrades.

The Atlanta City Council approved legislation in March establishing a building and rezoning moratorium near Westside Park on the heels of Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ executive order on the matter. The ordinance is aimed at assessing how development trends are impacting neighborhoods near the site, which will be Atlanta’s largest greenspace once completed.

Around 250 surveillance cameras in the Atlanta Police Department’s “Operation Shield” crime-fighting network were dead for months starting last fall, with some still down in early February, after a maintenance contract blunder.

The City of Atlanta has a website at atlcounts2020.org to provide information about how to participate in the 2020 Census. Residents started receiving their questionnaire packets in mid-March.

Mayor Bottoms says coronavirus will have ‘huge’ impact on local economy

By Collin Kelley

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has acknowledged that the economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will be significant in Atlanta.

“We are asking our corporate community to combine compassion with commerce,” Bottoms said, encouraging businesses to keep paying hourly employees if possible. She noted that Mercedes BenzStadium has committed to paying its hourly employees despite cancelled events.

“Our hospitality industry will take a huge hit,” Bottoms said. “We are asking residents and visitors to dig into their pocket and tip a little more if you can. We are looking for ways to tap into the city’s reserves and extend resources.”

Most restaurants and fast food restaurants – including Chick-fil-A and The Varsity – closed their dining rooms and moved to take-out or delivery options only as a ban on gatherings was put into place. Some restaurants closed completely.

Supermarkets scrambled to keep essentials like toilet paper, soap, fresh meat and water on the shelves. Publix supermarkets and Walmart stores started closing early for cleaning and restocking, while Kroger supermarkets advertised for extra help to keep shelves stocked overnight.

Many businesses – including shopping mecca Ponce City Market – also decided to close as the gathering ban went into effect and customers were staying home. Some got creative, including A Cappella Books in Little Five Points and Charis Books and More in Decatur, which offering free or $1 shipping, and Criminal Records in Little

Five Points, which was offering curbside pick-up.

The city’s arts and culture community is also reeling from COVID-19, with theatres, museums, concert venues and tourist attractions all shuttering to aid in social distancing.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Bottoms said the travel bans and reduction in domestic and international flights will have a “huge impact” economically on the world’s busiest airport. The airport is one of the city’s largest job centers with more than 26,000 employees.

“We are looking at legislation on how to help concessionaires at the airport,” Bottoms said.

The City of Atlanta moved to mitigate some of the economic stress on residents by suspending water service termination and evictions for 60 days, and Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light agreed not to terminate service for unpaid bills during the crisis.

Bottoms also issued an executive order creating a $7 million emergency fund to provide assistance to those impacted by coronavirus.

The resources are designated to fund emergency assistance to food programs for children and seniors, homeless preparedness, support to small businesses, assistance to hourly wage earners and other areas adversely impacted by COVID-19.

“Our communities are in need of help and we are listening,” Bottoms said in a statement. “This is one step to provide relief and we are going to continue to look for opportunities to help those in need as we go through this together.”

CSX reopening Hulsey Yard this month

Courtney Brooks has been named the first Curator-in-Residence for Art on the Atlanta BeltLine. Her public art installation “Journey of a Black Girl” has been installed on the Southside Trail.

By Collin Kelley

CSX will reactivate Hulsey Yard terminal this month, but not as a busy intermodal facility. The 70-acre site will now be used as a TRANSFLO facility for the offloading of goods and materials from railcars to trucks and vice-versa.

Rather than the constant stream of 18-wheelers up and down Boulevard from I-20, CSX officials said there would only be 20 to 25 per day and work at Husley Yard would take place weekdays between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Located along DeKalb Avenue, Hulsey Yard was shuttered last spring when CSX moved operations to its Fairburn depot. Neighborhoods that touch Hulsey Yard – Old Fourth Ward,

Cabbagetown, Inman Park and Reynoldstown – worked to create a mixed-use community master plan for the train yard expecting CSX to sell the property.

CSX told Curbed Atlanta that it still has no plans to sell Hulsey Yard, despite the fact that the Atlanta City Council floated an ordinance at its Feb. 17 meeting to encourage CSX to “consider the future needs of the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta BeltLine, and the surrounding community as they begin the process for the sale of Hulsey Yard.”

The reactivation of Hulsey Yard put a simmering internet rumor to rest after it began circulating on neighborhood message boards that Amtrak was negotiating to buy the yard as a terminal for its proposed commuter line from Nashville to Atlanta.

Empty shelves at Publix on Ponce.

Looking for silver linings

TIMMY DADDY

By Tim Sullivan

I never actively seek out adverse conditions for the sake of a good column but sometimes that’s how it works out. Like that time we took the kids to Ruby Falls and I endured a subterranean panic attack whilst fending off a credible bathroom emergency. Writing about it a month later was good for a chuckle, but I’m not so dedicated to the craft to declare it was all worth it.

In February, the kids had winter break and lacking any other plans we were boxed in to taking them to the Great Wolf Lodge down in Albany, GA for a night. I readied myself for another exercise in parental torture. The featured activity is an indoor water park. Indoor! Take all the assumptions one might have about a water park—teeming crowds, long lines, screaming kids, hyper-chlorinated pools and greasy food. Put it all indoors and this is a positively suffocating environment. My hope was that the excursion might at least be fodder enough for a funny column. Never did I expect to have a good time, but curiously, I did.

It could be that expectations were so low that when they upgraded us to a two-bedroom suite at check-in, I was pleasantly surprised. The sheer size of the Lodge was a bit of a comfort, too. Yes, we were about to spend an unnatural amount of time indoors like it was kid Vegas, but at least there was room to roam. Then I realized they sold beer at various locations throughout the complex and I gave Kristen a nod as if to say, we got this.

Elliott brought a friend and they disappeared into the fracas. Were it a sprawling, outdoor park I’d feel the need to keep eyes on them but since it was a contained area I just let it roll and joined Margo to take on the wave pool, the basketball pool and the lazy river. Kristen even joined us for the rides. Later in the evening, we rode the good vibes to pop-a-shot dominance in the arcade. And I stood corrected. It. Was. Fun.

This has been happening to me some lately. Last season, Margo’s softball games seemed to pack nine innings of boredom into a three-inning game. This season, there is honestly nothing I’d rather do on a Saturday morning than watch her play. I can’t even credibly complain about that Post Malone song that will invariably be played on Margo’s station both to and fro the softball field. It’s kind of catchy and of all the singers that sound like robots, he is pretty top notch.

But now we are facing an honest-to-goodness challenge of a lifetime with the coronavirus/COVID-19 and a humorous angle is tough to summon. The kids’ schools have only been closed a week as of this writing and we’re doing our part to be good citizens. I give myself an A+ in social distancing and hand washing so far, but a D- in face touching. Why, why, why, do I need to touch my face so much?

My sincere hope is that when I sit down to write next month there will at least be some silver lining to extract from this ordeal. I’ve already witnessed truly generous and humane gestures and I hope that carries us all through. I cannot wait to get back to writing about the funny and/or tedious details of whatever a particular month may bring our way. What a luxury that will be! Until then, let’s lean on each other (figuratively) and lift each other up as best we can. Hang in there, folks, and be well.

Tim Sullivan grew up in a large family in the Northeast and now lives with his small family in Oakhurst. He can be reached at tim@ sullivanfinerugs.com.

Fun in the pool at Great Wolf Lodge

U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials

The Olympic Torch was relit for the first time in 24 years to celebrate the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials held on Feb. 29.

Photos

ANNETTE ROSS

404-683-5798

JOHN BOWDEN

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Renovations set to begin at AmericasMart in Downtown

By Collin Kelley

JLL’s Adaptive Reuse Unit has been tapped to manage the renovations of AmericasMart buildings in Downtown.

Restoration of AmericasMart Building 1, which originally opened in 1961 as the Atlanta Market Center, will include a series of dramatic interior improvements such as an expansive lobby entry and opening off Peachtree Street, terrazzo flooring, custom lighting, state-of-theart digital signage and the addition of a second floor amenity space and a buyers lounge with panoramic views off climate-controlled balconies opening over Peachtree Street.

Exterior improvements include the replacement of existing precast concrete panels with floor to ceiling curtain wall glass and storefront, upgraded column finishes along both Peachtree and John Portman Boulevard, and a state-of-the-art digital signage platform that provides full ribbon tickers and display boards along Peachtree, Portman Boulevard, and Ted Turner/Andrew Young International Drive.

Renovations will be underway throughout 2020 and are expected to be completed before the 2021 Winter Market, which is held at AmericasMart each year in January.

Designed in 1957 by Atlanta architect John Portman, AmericasMart spans three buildings and seven million square feet. As one of the largest wholesale trade centers in the world, AmericasMart is the nation’s leading gift, home furnishings, area rug and apparel marketplace.

The restoration team is made up of Vice President Rainey Shane, Senior Project Manager Carson Mathis and Project Managers Jessica Walburn and Melissa Ward will manage construction on behalf of the owner, International Market Centers (IMC).

The Business of Houseplants

Specialty shops, social media have given houseplants new clout

By C. Cleo Creech

Many of us remember grandmothers who fussed over a rag-tag collection of houseplants in a sunny corner of their home. Most of these were probably grown from cuttings and divisions shared between close neighbors and friends. Though that community spirit lives on today, the new wave of houseplant collectors have a whole new set of tools and community resources to pull from.

Social media plays a huge role in this new wave of houseplant culture. On Instagram, plant influencers post carefully styled shots of the various plants in their collection with a whole litany of special hashtags like #houseplantsofinstagram and #plantsmakemehappy. A well shot and shared Instagram post can make a given plant Instagram famous overnight and drive up crazy demand and prices. An example of that is currently the Monstera Thai Constellation, a plant that’s been around for ages, but thanks to social media the demand has been driven up of late. A cutting can be hundreds of dollars. Full grown large plants, thousands. Yet there are stories of old Florida nurseries just a few years ago ripping out their mother plants, since they couldn’t give the things away. What a difference a few thousand likes and shares make. Fame can be fickle too, if something is popular and pricey, believe me someone is out there growing as many as they can to meet demand. You may pay big bucks for a plant only to find it in six-months for $20 at Home Depot. The popular trendy plant now might end up “so last season” a year later.

Along with this growth in houseplant culture has arisen a new batch of specialty plant shops to cater to these new demanding plant enthusiasts. Visiting these stores can be an event in itself. The Victorian in Ponce City Market (thevictorianatlanta.com) and Flora/Fauna in Cabbagetown (@florafaunaatl) are recent examples. It’s not unusual to see customers taking selfies under the signage or by a particular specimen plant. Plant shopping can be an event in itself. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the big boxes either. Both Lowes and Home Depot now carry lines of “trending” houseplants. The Houseplant department at Atlanta staple Pike Nursery has grown and is often busting at the seams with new offerings. Intown shops like GardenHood in Grant Park or Intown Ace have great offerings as well. And watch for these blockbuster plants to become more common in the future. Remember how orchids used to be so rare and expensive, and now they’re in every grocery store for just a few dollars? That was in large part to advances in plant cloning.

Continued on page 26

I am AnthenyMarie, your licensed esthetician, and I am looking forward to serving you. I have filled my toolbox with the latest environmentally friendly products, advancements in skincare modalities and hair removal products. I provide targeted results to meet your specific skincare needs.

My life’s work has been that of service, I served my country proudly in the United States Air Force and then went on to serve Veterans in my civilian career with the Veterans Health Administration. My calling to serve has led me to wonderful people, places, experiences and careers. As an esthetician I am able to continue my service to others with an added bonus of having the ability to do so more creatively by incorporating my personal passions to the health and beauty industry into my everyday life for the fulfillment of others.

The Victorian at Ponce City Market

A Monstera Thai Constellation at Flora/Fauna

41 AWARDS FOR EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE

We’re honored that Reporter Newspapers and Atlanta INtown have won 41 awards in the Georgia Press Association’s Better Newspaper Competition over the past three years. For 2019, the Reporter’s honors include eight first place awards in its category.

The annual competition is judged by newspaper professionals from around the country and represent the highest journalism standards. Thank you to our readers, advertisers and peers who support our mission of providing trusted, hyperlocal community journalism.

Watch for the same to happen to some of these hard-to-find houseplants. Yes, some of this is pricy but the demand is definitely there. And there are other ways to get your hands on the hottest new plants. Etsy does a thriving business in cuttings and starter plants sold by people often propagating popular plants out of their own jungle apartments. There are ever more facebook pages dedicated to local plant groups. Then there are also local organized plant swaps put on by neighborhood groups or individuals where hobbyists bring cuttings and potted divisions from their collection to hopefully trade for a coveted wish list item.

You can’t ignore one of the big factors driving all this is plant YouTubers who often sit in front of shelves of plants and grow lights gushing effusively about their latest finds and their top dream plants. Popular videos can include a number of things. There’s plant tours showing off one’s collection and talking about one’s personal connection to each plant. There are also videos opening plant mail (the latest mail order plants from specialty nurseries or even other countries). There are plant-buying trips to big box and local plant stores, going to Goodwill to find planters, and let’s not forget popular plant hacks and dollar store finds. Some channels often throw some “what’s going on in my life” b-roll footage as well, and in the end you feel as if you’ve got a new friend you can sit around and talk houseplants with.

One or those YouTubers is Ashley Anita of the popular YouTube plant channel “Life with Ashley Anita.” She often divides her time between Charlotte and Atlanta. In her videos you get to spend lots of time plant shopping with Anita in various box stores, smaller nurseries and visiting botanical gardens. She’s often rattling through plant names as she scans the shelves and shares plant tips. She’s typical of many plant YoutTubers. She’s not a horticulturist but she’s obviously a keen hobbyist. She knows a lot about plants but part of the charm is following her on her journey as she continues to learn more.

Katelynn Corley, one of the owners at Flora/Fauna, and Cary Smith and Libby Hockenberry, owners of The Victorian, shared how they got into plants. It’s one I heard quite often. So you leave home where your parents have a couple of old reliable houseplants and move into your first dorm or apartment. For the first time you’re in charge of your own place, and of course want a couple of well placed plants. But you don’t want the same old snake plants and umbrella trees your parents had, so you look around and discover something entirely new.

Thanks to the internet, new shops and online ordering, there’s an entire world of plants to discover and learn about. Once you grow that first gateway plant, some people are hooked. It’s no small sense of accomplishment growing something from a one-leaf cutting to a huge floor plant. Its addictive. Now just imagine your whole place full of your favorite plants, each with it’s own story to tell. In the end, though, it’s just fun to grow stuff.

The #1 preferred source for local

▲Kraig Torres, founder and president of Hop City Beer and Wine, has been selected as the 2020 SBA Georgia Small Business Person of the Year. A 20-year Atlanta resident and avid beer enthusiast, Torres opened Hop City Beer and Wine’s first location in 2009 with four employees. Over the past decade, the business, offering over 1,900 different ales and lagers and more than 1,100 wines, has continued to grow. The brand now has two locations in Atlanta and one in Birmingham. Torres has also ventured into the restaurant industry with the opening of Barleygarden Kitchen and Craft Bar in Alpharetta and BoxCar near the Westside BeltLine.

Banyan Street Capital has announced it will add spec suites and vertical

improvements at Marquis Towers and Towers 233 and 229 at Peachtree Center. The move-in ready spaces will feature open-office environments designed for optimal collaboration. Along with the spec suites, Banyan Street is bringing its focus on art-infused public spaces to Towers 229 and Tower 233’s elevator banks, which will feature murals that pull inspiration from Hopare’s “Symphony,” the southeast’s largest public art mural found on the building’s Peachtree Center Avenue façade. For more information on Peachtree Center, visit peachtreecenter. com.

A new 16-story Hyatt Centric hotel is coming to Buckhead at 3301 Lenox Square Parkway, adjacent to the mall. The hotel will have 218 guestrooms, 4,500 square feet of meeting space, a pool and a fitness center. It will also feature a 16th floor rooftop terrace, bar and restaurant, and a lobby bar and restaurant.

Wellstar Health System has opened a primary care office on the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail at The Edge

mixed-use development, 670 DeKalb Ave., Suite 106. The office offers health care for all ages, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory services by appointment and on a walk-in basis. Dr. Randolph Taylor II will serve as the primary care physician at Wellstar Primary Care and Terrica Rumph, DNP, as nurse practitioner.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (470) 267-0570 for primary care and (678) 581-5900 for imaging.

Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of lilli Midtown, the 147-unit luxury apartment building on Peachtree Street in Midtown. Robert Stickel, Alex Brown and Chris Spain of Cushman & Wakefield represented the sellers, JPX Works, Mariner Group and ELV Associates, in the transaction. Oxford Properties Group acquired the property, which also includes 3,965 square feet of retail space.

◄SustainAble, the Atlanta-based retailer offering fair and ethically made artisan goods, hand-picked decor and accessories founded by LaToya Tucciarone, will expand from its former retail kiosk to a new permanent space at Ponce City Market. The shop will be housed on the second floor of Ponce City Market’s buzzing Central Food Hall between Citizen Supply and Modern Mystic Shop. During the buildout, the brand is popping up at a larger temporary space across from Topstitch. SustainAble offers a curated selection of socially and ethically crafted products from local and global makers.

Kraig Torres

LaToya Tucciarone

Home & Real Estate

Micro-units proposed for two Midtown residential projects

By INtown Staff

Two new residential projects that include micro-units were presented to the Midtown Development Review Committee at its March 10 meeting.

First on the agenda was a new parking structure proposed by the development team at Tenth Street Ventures near the NW corner of 13th Street and Crescent Avenue. What sets the project apart are 40 residential/hotel units made from shipping containers distributed in a colorful grid across the front of the 13th Street façade. The units are only 160 square feet each and intended to provide a unique option in the short-term rental market. The six-story parking structure provides spaces for 111 cars and includes a street level lobby/office space and a rooftop amenity deck that could be leased for events. Vehicular access to the garage is provided on 13th Street, along with pedestrian access to the street level lobby.

Overall the DRC was supportive of this novel concept, which would provide much needed public parking in an area of the district known for restaurants and nightlife. The committee’s questions and feedback focused on site design and operational issues related to service and accessibility. Additional information was requested about the screening of the trash compactor, which will serve the new parking structure and microunits as well as all three existing buildings on the 0.68 acre site. The buildings facing Crescent Avenue, including Veranda, South City Kitchen and the 14 apartment units above it, are not part of the SAP application.

The second project was a new 34-story residential

tower located at 1382 Peachtree Street. Formerly the site of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, the site is only 0.62 acres on the southwest corner of Peachtree and 17th Streets. The program includes 284 multifamily units (up to 50 of which would be micro units of approximately 410 square feet each), just over 6,000 square feet of sidewalk level commercial space fronting on Peachtree Street, and 319 parking spaces. The residential lobby entrance is located on 17th Street along with all vehicular access and loading.

The property includes a driveway/alley at the rear of the site, which also provides vehicular access to the property to the south (Midtown Plaza). The proposed vehicular access for the new tower will expand and utilize the existing alley. The façade of the tower is distinctive in its use of a metal panel system that incorporates a green finish and a screening system for the podium parking deck that introduces a copper tone into the material palette. The parking podium is eight levels, with a solid masonry wall on the south façade of the building and a screened elevation on the north façade of the building.

Early concepts show a mural treatment on the south façade and the committee asked for additional information on how that mass could be further articulated to reduce its scale relative to the tower. The committee also suggested that the vertical elements of the tower could be extended through the parking deck screening to carry that expression all the way to the base of the building on the north façade. Additional feedback focused on access and storage of bikes as well as access and short-term parking for rideshare services and deliveries.

Sales begin for high-profile 550 North Highland townhomes

One of Intown’s most-watched projects is nearing completion: the 550 North Highland townhomes next door to Manuel’s Tavern in Poncey-Highland.

Engel & Völkers Atlanta is marketing the townhomes developed by Selig Homes located on the former main parking lot of Manuel’s. The homes, which will be available for move-in starting this summer, will be priced from the high $700s to the mid $800s

With construction led by Monte Hewett Homes, the townhomes at 550 North Highland will feature three and four bedroom plans averaging around 2,400 square feet. Rising three-stories high, the homes will each be fronted by their own private courtyard and will feature indoor/ outdoor rooftop terraces that offer places to entertain with built-in wet bars, views of neighborhood landmarks, and the city’s tree canopy.

For more information on Engel & Völkers Atlanta, visit evatlanta.com.

Collin Kelley

13th Street at Crescent

1382 Peachtree

REAL ESTATE BRIEFS

►Select Fulton, in partnership with the City of Atlanta, has announced that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved the City Views at Rosa Burney Park AcquisitionPreservation Project on March 4 establishing the City Views Urban Enterprise Zone. Jonathan Rose Companies, in conjunction with Columbia Residential, its local partner, will invest $49,433,983 to acquire and rehabilitate the City Views at Rosa Burney Park, a 181-unit affordable housing complex. The project consists of a 112-unit tower and 69 units of townhouses, across a mix of one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-bedroom family unit types which 85% of units are currently affordable and subsidized under a HUD project-based rental assistance. This designation of the urban enterprise zone will create affordable housing units for families earning no more than 60 percent

of the area median income.

The 7th annual Midtown Garden Stroll is set for Sunday, May 17, from noon until 5 p.m. The free event offers a self-guided tour of some of Midtown’s most impressive private gardens. New for 2020 is the Garden Stroll Market featuring a variety of plant and garden-related vendors, plus food and drink options for attendees to enjoy before heading out on the Stroll.

The Garden Stroll Market will be centrally located in the Historic Midtown Garden District on Penn Avenue between 6th

Street and 7th Street. Please check midtownatlanta.org closer to the event date for cancellation or postponement due to coronavirus concerns.

►Homebuilder Empire Communities has announced that it plans to break ground on five new Intown residential communities. With homes starting in the mid-$300Ks to low-$400Ks+, the five communities under development are in Old Fourth Ward, Kirkwood, East Atlanta, Buckhead and West Midtown. Empire Communities entered the Atlanta market in 2019 when it formed a partnership with Edward Andrews Homes. With sales beginning as early as this summer, Empire is expected to open a temporary sales center in Ponce City Market in May. For more details, visit empireatlanta.com.

►Ken Covers, advisor with Engel & Völkers Atlanta, recently braved the icy water of Acworth Beach in the middle of winter in support of the Special Olympics Georgia athletes. Covers raised over

$2,000 for the cause and the event raised over $90,000. The Polar Plunge is the largest fundraising event for the Special Olympics.

Ken Covers

News You Can Eat Building for the Future

Atlanta Community Food Bank moves

By Collin Kelley

Just as the coronavirus pandemic was starting to ramp up, the Atlanta Community Food Bank (acfb.org) moved into its brand new, 345,000 square foot building in East Point. The new space, the largest food bank facility in the nation, was immediately pressed into service to help students, their families and those left hungry by school and business closures.

ACFB and its network of 700 partners began delivering 10,000 pounds of food each week to 20 different sites across five school districts, including Atlanta Public Schools, to feed those in need.

The nonprofit also launched Text For Help, a food assistance program where people can simply text “findfood” in English or “comida” in Spanish to 888-976-2232. The system will then automatically request a zip code or address in order to provide addresses

of the three closest food pantries as well as contact information for each.

ACFB President and CEO Kyle Waide said ACFB first moved to protect its employees and the new facility by suspending outside volunteers. However, that meant many long nights and staff from other departments working round the clock to keep the facility clean and food sorted and processed for shipping to its partners.

“We got into the new facility then had to hit the gas pedal in a big way,” Waide said. “We had to work aggressively to get the food to those who need it.”

ACFB will weather the public health crisis, but the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 will be more of a challenge, Waide said.

“We are going to be serving more food to more people for an undetermined amount of time,” he said. “We’ll need more volunteers and food donations, but what we will need most is monetary donations. We can buy more and stretch those dollars. For every $1 donated, we can buy four meals for the community.”

As ACFB prepares to meet the challenge ahead, Waide said the new facility is the perfect hub for it. The organization looked at more than 50 sites around the city before it found the 60-acres of land (most of which will be left as greenspace) on North Desert Drive in East Point not far from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The organization had been its former home on the Westside since 2004, which Waide described as a great run and opportunity to grow the organization. “We liked that building, but we knew it would not support our aspirations for the future.”

Eat Fresh Intown farmer’s markets reopen for the season

By Jacob Nguyen

If you’re looking for fresh food, Intown’s famer’s markets are reopening for the season with fruits, vegetables, and other goods. Here is a guide to the local markets and what you’ll find there.

Freedom Farmers’ Market

The market is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (noon in the winter months) year round at the Carter Center in Poncey-Highland. You will find resh produce, grass fed meats, dairy including cheeses, yogurt, butter, milk, farm fresh eggs, handmade pasta and preserves, baked goods, coffee and more. Information: freedomfarmersmkt.com.

Green Market at Piedmont Park

The annual Green Market at Piedmont Market continues every Saturday through November from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. near the 12th Street and Piedmont Avenue gate. Dozens of vendors offer fresh produce, tasty prepared foods, chef demonstrations, and live music. Information: piedmontpark.org/green-market.

East Atlanta Village Farmers Market

The market reopens April 16 on Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m. at 572 Stokeswood Ave., across from Midway Pub. There will be fresh produce, locally-made food and products, chef demonstrations and more throughout the season. Information: cfmatl.org/eav.

Morningside Farmers’ Market

Open year-round, this neighborhood market at 1393 N. Highland Ave. has been a Saturday morning tradition since the 1990s. All produce sold at the market is certified organic and you’ll also find freshly prepared foods, baked goods, artisan crafts, flowers and more. Market hours are 8 to 11:30 a.m. Information: morningsidemarket.com.

Grant Park Farmers Market

The market will be open on Sundays beginning April 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the corner of Cherokee and Milledge avenues (600 Cherokee Ave.). There will be locally grown fruits, vegetables, artisan produced breads, cheeses, and chef demonstrations. Information: grantparkmarket.org.

Peachtree Road Farmers Market

Located in the parking lot at Cathedral of St. Phillip, 2744 Peachtree Road in Buckhead, the market is open from 8:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday through mid-December. Fresh produce, artisan crafts and more are on offer. Information: peachtreeroadfarmersmarket. com.

Decatur Farmers Market

Held on the front lawn of the First Baptist Church of Decatur at the corner of Commerce and Clairemont (308 Clairemont Ave.) the market reopens on April 15 and will be held every Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. Information: cfmatl.org/Decatur.

Oakhurst Farmers Market

This new market makes its debut on April 18 and will be held on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sceptre Brewing Arts, 630 East Lake Drive. There will be fresh produce, baked goods, live music, chef demonstrations, seasonal beer collaborations and more. Information: cfmatl.org/Oakhurst.

Ponce City Farmers Market

Opening day is April 14 for the market located directly on the Beltline’s Eastside Trail at The Shed at PCM. The market is held on Tuesday evenings from 4 to 8 p.m. hosting urban farmers, artisanal food makers and guest chefs. Information: cfmatl.org/ poncecity.

History in the Making Inman Park properties plans to transform Rufus Rose House into restaurant space

By Collin Kelley

Inman Park Properties has purchased the historic Rufus M. Rose House with plans to renovate and repurpose the last standing Victorian home on Peachtree Street into a restaurant space.

The 119-year-old Queen Anne-style home at 573 Peachtree Street has been vacant and crumbling since the Atlanta Preservation Center moved out in 2001.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to preserve and restore this historic jewel box in the heart of the city to serve the community and contribute to the local economy,” said Inman Park Properties, Inc. President Jeff Notrica said i a statement. “We will meticulously honor its architectural integrity while we bring it back to service.”

The Urban Design Commission recently permitted a simple Type I Certificate of Appropriateness to “re-roof” the building using charcoal-colored architectural shingles with a black drip edge, which maintains the original design of the building.

For the future of the building, Notrica envisions a savvy operator repurposing the historic Rufus Rose House into a restaurant. He cites the Olde Pink House in Savannah, which is housed in a former 18th century mansion, and the James Beard House in New York City, which was the former townhome of its namesake and also houses a restaurant, as examples of similar adaptive reuses of historic buildings.

Originally built in 1901 for Dr. Rufus Mathewson Rose by architect Emil Charles Seiz, the Rufus M. Rose House is a rare example of a nineteenth-century town house built for one of Atlanta’s wealthy citizens

and is one of the last historic houses remaining on Peachtree Street. The home still retains most of its original exterior and interior features, which reveal its architectural and cultural significance. Since the Rose family moved out in 1921, the house has functioned as a rooming house, government offices, an antique store and museum.

The Rufus Rose renovation comes in tandem with the repurposing of the 1920s Medical Arts Building – just blocks away – into a boutique hotel. In addition, Emory University recently announced plans to build the Winship at Midtown, a state-ofthe-art new facility located on the campus of Emory University Hospital Midtown – directly across from Rufus Rose.

“We are extremely grateful that Mr. Notrica – a former Atlanta Preservation Center board member – is now the steward of this amazing home,” said David Mitchell, director of operations for the Atlanta Preservation Center. “It takes courage and vision to see a project like this come to a successful outcome.”

Notrica has restored and repurposed dozens of historic buildings throughout the southeast for the past 26 years, including some of Atlanta’s most iconic buildings in Inman Park, Midtown and Little Five Points. The developer has received awards from the Historic Savannah Foundation and the Urban Design Commission for such important buildings as Fire Station #11 on North Avenue and The Castle at 87 Fifteenth Street in Midtown, and 13-17 West Bay Street in Savannah.

Mountain Living

The Hills are Alive

Atlanta residents are among the homebuyers drawn to the North Georgia & North Carolina mountains

By Kathy Dean

We’re all looking for a little peace and relaxation. Many Atlanta residents have found it in the mountains of north Georgia and North Carolina. Places like Ellijay, Ga. and Highlands, N.C. offer small-town vibes with big city amenities and a variety of recreation, shopping and dining experiences.

Annie Boland, North Georgia Real Estate Specialist, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s, said that she sees “tons of interest” in the area. “Every year, our area seems to become more and more popular... and the increasing values represent that.”

She noted that Blue Ridge is continually ranked among the top towns in the U.S. for retirement. “This brings lots of baby boomers looking to secure their retirement home in the mountains, even if they aren’t ready to retire right now,” Boland said. “They enjoy the home as a vacation property and move in full-time after retirement.”

In addition, younger

generation buyers purchase mountain homes to generate income and as an alternative or complementary investment to their stock holdings. “They usually buy fully furnished, turnkey cabins and put them into the vacation rental program right away,” said Boland, adding that they enjoy their mountain homes when their schedules permit and eventually see a nice return on their investment.

Bill Gilmore, Broker Associate, Highlands Cove Realty at Old Edwards Club, said he has sold to couples from Atlanta who want a diverse community and enjoy the small town feel of Highlands. “There are also folks who love golf, some of them from Florida, and are looking for cooler summers to extend their golf games into the summer.” He added that while he has sold to all ages, his typical homebuyer’s age is between 50 and

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Karyn Woody

Kim Knutzen

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According to Karyn Woody, Realtor, Harry Norman Realtors, Blairsville, she expects the interest in the north Georgia and Blue Ridge mountains region to increase. “Many people still want an escape—a place to relax and recharge—and the mountain areas certainly provide that environment,” she said. “Right now, the very low interest rates help to make mortgages more affordable and even make it more attractive for those who don’t want to hold on to their cash.” Homes in the area are still very affordable, she continued, especially when compared to other “destination” areas.

“Retirees are drawn to the area because of the golf, boating and relaxation,” Woody said. “I’ve worked with several millennials who aren’t tied to where they live for their job and have sought out this area looking for a slower pace, kind of a backto-nature thing,” she added. “They want to raise their kids and have animals and gardens.”

Also, families are drawn to the mountains as a gathering place. “It’s so easy to get here from so many places that many families have vacation homes here to enjoy the lakes, mountains and scenery,” Woody said.

Kim Knutzen, Associate Broker, Ansley Mountain & Lake, Blue Ridge said that Blue Ridge and the surrounding towns have shown a steady increase in home sales over the last five years, “and our median sales prices have increased across the board. I see it continuing as more exciting architecture comes to our area.”

People from all ages enjoy the area, she explained. Retirees see the value in the small-

town, slower pace of life while having easy access to healthcare, volunteer opportunities and active lifestyle options like golfing and hiking. At the same time, millennials are finding a place to explore, kick-back, meet their friends and gather together for lasting memories. “At any given moment, you’ll find families and extended families that make this area their meeting point to enjoy time together,” Knutzen said.

Boland noted that mountain homebuyers look to find the setting they want, whether it be near a lake, river or panoramic mountain view, with a cabin that suits their needs, all in their price range. For Atlanta area weekenders seeking an escape from the city, “Blue Ridge is a no-brainer, being such a short drive from the city, yet worlds away,” she said.

Retirees like being close to the hospitals located on the I-575 corridor while staying in near proximity to Atlanta’s big hospitals and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. They also look for a relaxed pace with low crime, low taxes and low cost of living.

Woody said that the lakes—Lake Blue Ridge, Lake Nottely and Lake Chatuge—are a big draw.

“They offer lots of outdoor adventures, waterfalls, hiking trails and beautiful scenery.”

Other homebuyers want the great shopping and restaurants. “From the mountain tops to the creeks and rivers to lakefront and golf course properties, there are communities that fit every lifestyle,” Woody said.

Knutzen also has seen an increase in people flocking to the Blue Ridge area for its availability of outdoor pursuits, including

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Annie Boland

Bill Gilmore

mountain biking, road biking, kayaking, fishing and boating.

“Shopping in downtown Blue Ridge offers many boutiques and specialty shops,” she said, “and dining in the area offers something for everyone with a variety of foods, including

No longer does everything shut down once the season is over. He said that four new restaurants opened last season: Tugs Proper, MidPoint Highlands, Bridge at Mill Creek and Four65 Wood Fire Bistro + Bar. These added to the many mainstays in the Highlands restaurant scene that include Lakeside Restaurant, The Ugly Dog Public House and The Log Cabin.

According to Gilmore, one of the exciting new developments in the Highlands area is GlenCove by Old Edwards, a multi-generational community that highlights adventure and wellness.

The tight-knit community will have 31 cottage homes and 17 five-acre estate lots.

Planned features at GlenCove include an organic garden and farm, a fitness and wellness center with spa services, and a lighted 12-hole, par 3 golf course. There are mountain trails for hiking in the adjacent national forest.

organic and clean eating options.” There’s also a fantastic arts community—galleries, the Blue Ridge Mountain Art Association and the Blue Ridge Community—that features great local talent.

New and exciting architecture that focuses on both rustic and modern accents is popping up all over the area on rivers, creeks and mountains, Knutzen said. “One of our newest communities is Old Toccoa Farm, a guardgated residential community that offers a mile of trout fishing on the Toccoa River, 18-hole golf course, driving range and other planned amenities.”

These days, there’s plenty to do in Highlands year-round, Gilmore noted.

Welcoming Visitors

Georgia’s State Parks remain open during coronavirus outbreak

By Collin Kelley

With the stress and panic over the coronavirus pandemic, one solution might be getting away to the solitude of the North Georgia mountains. Officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are reminding citizens that all state parks and historic sites are open and welcoming visitors.

With many Georgians avoiding crowds and canceling travel plans, parks provide nearby places to enjoy nature. Amenities such as campsites, cabins, hiking trails, picnic areas and golf courses remain open.

Amicalola Falls State Park

Gilmore, an Intown agent with a North Carolina brokerage license, lives in the heart of Virginia-Highland and also owns a home in Cashiers, N.C. “One of the real benefits about looking for a home in the mountains is that you can often rent one first so you can try before you buy,” he said. Some clubs offer trial memberships, allowing potential residents to get a good feel for where they’d like to live.”

“It’s amazingly beautiful and there are four true seasons, but they aren’t extreme,” Woody said. “The spring flowers and the fall color changes are my favorite times.”

There’s also a strong sense of community, she said, fostered by the many festivals and community events. “It’s a place where people still wave when they pass you on the road.”

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Northeast of Dawsonville, on the cusp of the North Georgia Mountains, sits Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge. A nature lover’s wonderland, it’s only eight miles from the Appalachian Trail and within the Chattahoochee National Forest.

The park is named after its most treasured feature, Amicalola Falls – a magnificent 729foot waterfall that’s the third-highest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River. AT Amicalola Falls Lodge every room, literally, has a view. It’s the perfect place for a weekend getaway, corporate meeting, family reunion, or a romantic rendezvous.

Black Rock Mountain

Georgia’s highest state park encompasses some of the most outstanding scenery in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Roadside overlooks provide spectacular 80-mile vistas, and four hiking trails lead visitors past wildflowers, streams, small waterfalls and lush forests. Visitors enjoy the summit visitor center for its views, gift shop and picnic tables. Mountaintop cottages surround a small playground, while campsites are nestled under rhododendron and gnarled oaks. Tent campers will appreciate the walk-in sites that allow extra privacy. The park’s small lake is popular with anglers and circled by an easy walking trail. At an altitude of 3,640 feet, Black Rock Mountain is often cooler than other Georgia parks and may close during icy weather. RVers should be comfortable driving on steep, winding roads.

Tallulah Gorge

One of the most spectacular canyons in the eastern U.S., Tallulah Gorge is two miles long and nearly 1,000 feet deep. Visitors can hike rim trails to several overlooks, or they can obtain a permit to hike to the gorge floor (100 per day, not available during water releases). A suspension bridge sways 80 feet above the rocky bottom, providing spectacular views of the river and waterfalls. Tightrope walkers have twice crossed the gorge, and visitors can still see towers used by Karl Wallenda. A paved path follows an on old railroad bed, perfect for strollers and bicycles, while mountain bikers can test their skills on a challenging 10 mile trail.

Smithgall Woods

Smithgall Woods is an angler’s paradise. One of north Georgia’s premier trout streams, Dukes Creek, runs through this spectacular mountain property and is a favorite for catch and release fishing. To ensure a quality experience, the number of anglers is limited and fishing is offered only on certain days. As a result, anglers should call ahead for reservations. Five miles of trails and 18 miles of roads allow hikers and bicyclists to explore hardwoods, streams and wildlife.

Cloudland Canyon

Located on the western edge of Lookout Mountain, Cloudland Canyon is one of the largest and most scenic parks in the state. Home to thousand-foot deep canyons, sandstone cliffs, wild caves, waterfalls, cascading creeks, dense woodland and abundant wildlife, the park offers ample outdoor recreation opportunities. Hiking and mountain biking trails abound. The most popular hiking paths include the short Overlook Trail, strenuous Waterfalls Trail and moderate West Rim Loop Trail. Mountain biking is available at the newly developed Five Points Recreation Area and along the Cloudland Connector Trail. The park also includes an 18-hole disc golf course, wild caves available for touring during select months of the year, a fishing pond, trails for horseback riding, picnicking grounds and numerous interpretive programs, especially on weekends.

For details and more information about all of Georgia’s state parks, visit gastateparks. org.

Make a Splash

Georgia State Parks offer water activities for summer

SWIMMING

Nothing says summer like a trip to the lake. Georgia State Parks’ sandy swimming beaches serve up all the amenities of a trip to the coast without the expense. Check out the beaches at parks like Red Top Mountain, Hard Labor Creek or Tugaloo. If swimming pools are more your style, head to F.D. Roosevelt, High Falls, Little Ocmulgee or Victoria Bryant state parks. Kids will find fun ways to play in the water with splash pads at Magnolia Springs, Little Ocmulgee and Gordonia-Alatamaha. Find a lake, pool or splash pad at GaStateParks.org/Swimming.

Summer is calling, and outdoor lovers will soon be on the hunt for the perfect destinations to enjoy water activities. Lucky for locals and visitors, Georgia State Parks offer a plethora of ways to get wet, including paddling, boating, fishing and kayaking just to name a few. And whether you’re heading for the hills or to some other part of the state for your summer vacation, there’s some great scenery, too.

PADDLING

The Park Paddlers Club offers an abundance of scenic waterways to explore, for both seasoned paddlers and beginners. Whether paddling in a kayak, in a canoe or on a stand-up paddleboard (SUP), paddle the 24 miles of water trails at the six participating state parks and earn a Park Paddlers t-shirt and bragging rights. In addition to the six state parks in the Park Paddlers Club, visitors can rent kayaks, canoes and SUPs to explore a variety of mountain lakes, coastal waters and winding rivers, all located within Georgia state parks. Find a complete list of parks with paddling at GaStateParks.org/Paddling.

FISHING

Georgia State Parks are an angler’s paradise with reservoirs, streams and rivers, lakes of all sizes and saltwater fishing. Many bass fishermen equate “The Bass Capital of the World” to George T. Bagby’s Lake Walter F. George. In fact, the size and variety of fish are rivaled only by the varieties of unspoiled environments, from bass at Tugaloo and Hart Outdoor Recreation Area, to crappie at Seminole, Red Top Mountain and Richard B. Russell. Several of the parks have created programs that allow you to borrow equipment for little or no charge. Find a fishing spot at GaStateParks.org/Fishing.

BOATING

In addition to lakeside beaches, dozens of Georgia State Parks provide public boat ramps and docks, a few with their own docks adjacent to campgrounds and cabins. Boat rentals are available at more than 20 state parks. Larger lakes even allow boaters to partake in water skiing, sailing and other personal watercraft activities, however, some parks on smaller lakes have horsepower restrictions to preserve the tranquil setting and wildlife. See a full list of boat ramps at GaStateParks.org/Boating.

Tugaloo

Red Top Mountain Beach High Falls

Atlanta Botanical GardenGainesville Opens Expansion

By Collin Kelley

Five years ago, the Atlanta Botanical Garden opened its Gainesville Garden, just an hour north of the city, to much acclaim. The outpost has become a favorite spot for locals and visitors alike, and now its growing with the addition of a children’s garden.

Located on land donated by Charles and Lessie Smithgall, phase one of the project was five acres, but the new Ada Mae Pass Ivester’s Children’s Garden adds an additional 2.5 acres. With its whimsical fairy houses, places to crawl and climb and tooting miniature trains, the new garden is sure to delight children of all ages.

The Gainesville Garden will eventually grow to 168 acres and is destined to be one of the largest and most diverse woodland gardens in the country, including the largest conservation nursery in the Southeast.

The Gainesville garden makes for a perfect day trip, or perhaps a stop on leisurely longer one to Lake Lanier or the mountains.

The garden is divided into sections, all easily accessible up gently rolling paved pathways. Just behind the sleek visitors center is the Forest Pond where flowering water lilies and other aquatic plants float and surround the surface.

Also just beyond the visitors center is the Ivester Amphitheater, which plays host to concerts and events on a regular basis. The curving, grassy terraces can seat 2,200 people with ample room to spread out a picnic.

Head up the pathway into the Overlook Garden, which features perennials, shrubs and ornamental trees. Butterflies seemed to particularly enjoy this part of the garden. There’s also comfortable seating along the paths to rest and observe the flora and fauna.

Perhaps the most beautiful section is the Stream Garden, a woodland hillside with a dramatic, cascading waterfall surrounded by wildflowers and hydrangeas. The curving path and series of wooden bridges offer amply places to stop and snap photos.

For those who want a longer walk, the half-mile Sourwood Trail and Holly Ridge Trail take visitors into the woods surrounding the garden. Native hollies, rhododendrons, witch hazel and shade trees make for good scenery along the hilly terrain.

Visit atlantabg.org and click on Gainesville for more details and directions. Because of the coronavirus pandemic opening times and events might have changed.

A day after Atlanta hosted the finest marathoners in the country at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials on Feb. 29, runners filled the streets of this city once again on March 1 as more than 13,000 participated in the Publix Atlanta Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K. Wrapping up a celebration billed as America’s Marathon Weekend, the race attracted runners from across the country on a running tour of Atlanta on a picture-perfect day. (Photos courtesy Atlanta Track Club)