Cityscape: Don’t Just Breeze Through Atlanta

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Travel Feature

Published on Thursday, 18 August 2011 05:00

Written by Lloyd Carroll

Based in Atlanta, Georgia for 70 years, Delta Airlines has long used the city’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport as its chief hub for connecting flights to destinations throughout the world. It is astonishing how many people say that they have changed planes in Atlanta without ever spending any time outside of Hartsfield.

If that sounds like you, then it is time to take Delta from either LaGuardia or JFK Airport in New York and come down to "Hotlanta" so that you explore all that the Capital of the South has to offer.

Civil War buffs will certainly be kept busy. The Atlanta History Center, located in the ritzy, mansion-filled North Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead, has plenty of exhibits showing the weapons, uniforms and strategies employed by both the Union and the Confederacy from 1861-1865.

The oddly named Cyclorama, located in Grant Park across from Zoo Atlanta, derives its moniker from a gigantic circular mural of 1864's Battle of Atlanta in which General William Tecumseh Sherman and his troops routed Confederate forces and proceeded to burn the city down.

For those who prefer the Hollywood version of this time period, there is the Gone With The Wind Museum in nearby Jonesboro.

There is certainly plenty of 20th century history to be found in Atlanta as well. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived his entire life in its Auburn Avenue neighborhood. At the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, you can watch videos and view exhibits detailing the battle for civil rights as well.

Visit the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he served as a pastor. And one can pay respects at his gravesite where there is a flame that is never extinguished, similar to that of John F. Kennedy’s burial place at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.

The Breman Museum details the history of the Jewish community in Georgia -- from upbeat moments, such as the election of Sam Massell as Atlanta’s mayor in 1970, to tragic ones such as the bombing of its largest Atlanta synagogue in 1958, and the unconscionable 1915 lynching of businessman Leo Frank by a group of prominent citizens from the nearby suburb of Marietta.

The Breman also has the most thorough exploration of the Holocaust in the US outside of Washington, DC.

No matter how you feel about Jimmy Carter’s presidency or some of the statements that he has made since leaving office, it is definitely worth stopping by the Carter Center, which is commonly referred to as the Jimmy Carter Library.

You can hear audio of President Carter remembering the difficulties of getting Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin to find common ground, as well as a short film narrated by actor Martin Sheen that showed what a typical day in 1978 was like at the White House.

To its credit, the Carter Center does not shy away from the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis, out-of-control inflation and the gasoline crisis, and how they all conspired to make Carter a one-term president.

There are lighter attractions as well.

Coca-Cola was invented by a local pharmacist, John Pemberton, in 1886, and 125 years later, the world’s largest soft drink manufacturer still makes its headquarters in Atlanta. At the World of Coke you can see a mini-bottling plant, as well as view various Coke ads through the years.

And yes, the company does acknowledge the 1985 New Coke debacle when it decided to change the formula of its cola. Of course, you get a souvenir Coke bottle at as you exit.

Another Atlanta institution, albeit far younger than Coca-Cola, is the all-news cable network CNN and its sister operation, Headline News. You can take an hour-long tour which goes behind the scenes of the world’s largest television news operation.

Animal aficionados will love Atlanta. The Georgia Aquarium is home to beluga whales, African penguins, dolphins, hammerhead sharks, and the redhorse suckerfish that many thought became extinct a century ago until some were discovered in a north Georgia river in 1991. The Aquarium has helped in their breeding.

Twenty-five years ago, Zoo Atlanta was a total mess. Animals were dying at such a rapid pace and the conditions were so horrific that it seemed inevitable that authorities would close it. A quarter of a century later, Zoo Atlanta is so highly regarded that it is one of only four American zoos to have panda bears. It is also known for its large collection of great apes.

The Artmore Hotel, located in midtown Atlanta, is the town’s only boutique hotel, but thankfully it has none of the pretentiousness that Miami Beach boutique properties have. There is a gorgeous southern courtyard and decor that evokes images of late 1950s and early 1960s Hollywood with photos of Audrey Hepburn and Elvis Presley. It is located across the street from both the High Art Museum and a MARTA subway stop.

Two restaurants worth trying are Osteria del Figo in West Midtown and Wrecking Bar Brewpub in Inman Park, Atlanta’s "counterculture" neighborhood.

Osteria del Figo is a delightful hybrid of Italian cuisine with a tropical feel. Try the chicken meatballs, whole wheat penne and the coconut ginger soup.

The Wrecking Bar Brewpub takes beer very seriously. It even makes its own root beer. The beer and cheddar soup is a house specialty, as is the chocolate beer sauce that they use for their sundaes. On the non-alcohol front, their Alaskan salmon is terrific.

The most economical way to see most of Atlanta’s leading attractions is to purchase a CityPASS booklet in advance.

The MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) takes you to nearly all of the major attractions and sports venues, as well as to the airport for two bucks a ride, so you don’t need a car while you are here.

For more information, contact the Atlanta Visitors Bureau at (800) ATLANTA or log onto www.atlanta.net.

CityPASS:  www.citypass.com

Atlanta History Center
130 W Paces Ferry Road NW
Atlanta, GA 30305-1380
404-814-4000
atlantahistorycenter.com

Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum
800 Cherokee Ave SE #C
Atlanta, GA 30315-1470
404-658-7625
www.atlantacyclorama.org

Gone With the Wind:
Road to Tara Museum
Jonesboro Depot/Welcome Center
104 N. Main Street
Jonesboro, GA 30236
770-478-4800

The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change
449 Auburn Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30312
404-526-8900
www.thekingcenter.org

Ebenezer Baptist Church
407 Auburn Avenue Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30312-1599
404-688-7300
www.historicebenezer.org

The William Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum
1440 Spring St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30309
678-222-3700
www.thebreman.org

The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30307
800-550-3560
404-420-5100
www.cartercenter.org

The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
441 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia 30307-1498
404-865-7100
www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov

World of Coca-Cola
121 Baker Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30313-1807
404-676-5151
www.worldofcoca-cola.com

Inside CNN Studio Tours
190 Marietta Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30303-2762
404-885-7163
www.cnn.com/tour/atlanta

Georgia Aquarium
225 Baker Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30313
404-581-4000
www.georgiaaquarium.org

Zoo Atlanta
800 Cherokee Ave SE # A
Atlanta, GA 30315-1470
404-624-9453
www.zooatlanta.org

Artmore Hotel
1302 W. Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-876-6100
www.artmorehotel.com

Osteria del Figo
1210 Howell Mill Road (Huff Road NW)
Atlanta, GA 30318
404-351-3700

Wrecking Bar Brewpub
292 Moreland Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
404-221-2600
www.wreckingbarbrewpub.com

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