The Olmsted Network (ON) recently returned from another successful Pop-Up trip— this time to Georgia’s capital city. During the three-day trip, our small group of attendees from across the country learned about the city’s rich Olmsted heritage and explored landscapes that were designed or inspired by Olmsted and the Olmsted firm.
The trip began on Friday, April 4, with a welcome dinner at Mary Mac’s Tea Room. Sponsored by Jamestown LP, the investors of Ponce City Market, the dinner drew park leaders and greenspace advocates from across the city, including Commissioner Justin Cutler of the Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation. Commissioner Cutler spoke about how Olmsted principles continue to guide park planning and tree planting across the city before taking questions from the audience. Afterwards, we feasted on southern staples— fried chicken, black eyed peas, cornbread and peach cobbler— and mingled with friends, both new and old.
The next morning, on Saturday, April 5, the tour group met bright and early to have breakfast and coffee at Ponce City Market, a former Sears, Roebuck & Co. warehouse that opened as a bustling mixed-use development in 2014. After grabbing a quick bite, we crossed North Avenue for Historic Fourth Ward Park, where we met Kevin Burke, FASLA.
The current Director of Design for Atlanta Beltline, Inc., Burke has worked on the project for 17 years and continues to oversee its expansion. He shared information about the development of the area before taking us onto the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail, the first completed section of an abandoned railroad corridor turned vibrant network of trails, parks and public spaces. From there, we embarked on a 1.3-mile walk down the Beltline, navigating through walkers, joggers, bikers and scooterers and enjoying the dogwood trees in full bloom. We ended the tour at Krog Street District, another popular mix-use development, where we rehydrated, bought snacks and boarded the bus for our next adventure.
Executive Director of the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance Sandra Kruger welcomes the group to Deepdene Park in Druid Hills. 
An entrance into Deepdene Park in Atlanta’s Druid Hills. 
Tour guide and landscape architect Spencer Tunnell points out a plant. 
A path in Deepdene Park. 
Park leaders JoAnn Beck and Karen Mauney-Brodek discuss what they’ve seen. 
A rocky crossing and steps in Deepdene Park. 
The last remain trolley rails in Druid Hills. 
One of the neighborhood’s public Maid Walks (or Twittens) allowing quick access to the trolleys. 
A former trolley trail in Springdale Park. 
The sweeping lawns of Dellwood Park in Druid Hills. 
Guide Spencer Tunnell concludes his tour in Dellwood. 
Springdale Park’s long meadow was where a crafts fair was held.
Next up was Druid Hills— Olmsted’s last residential project and the only one in which all three Olmsteds were involved. The neighborhood boasts grand homes on spacious, wooded lots and includes a small, passive park system called Olmsted Linear Park. We began our tour at the largest piece of the system— Deepdene Park, known for its dense forest and rugged topography. There, we met Sandra Kruger of the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance (OLPA) and heard about her long history as executive director of the organization. Spencer Tunnell II of Tunnell & Tunnell Landscape Architecture then led us through Deepdene Park, Dellwood Park and more, pulling from his experiences as a board member for both ON and OLPA and as the co-author of Olmsted’s Linear Park. Highlights of Tunnell’s tour included seeing the last remaining rail lines of the old trolley, finding one of the neighborhood’s public Maid Walks (or Twittens) and learning about the Druid Hills road fight. The tour ended at the Spring Festival on Ponce, a bi-annual arts and crafts festival in Virgilee Park and Springdale Park. We grabbed lunch from the food trucks before continuing with our day.
After lunch, we headed south to Grant Park, the city’s oldest park. Lined by bungalows, the park is hilly and full of shade trees. Skyler Edwards of Grant Park Conservancy led our group through the park, pointing out the many Olmsted-inspired features and answering questions about Zoo Atlanta and nearby development. The tour concluded at Fort Walker, a Civil War era fort at the southeastern corner of the park.
The group ended the day with a restful stop at the LP Grant Mansion. Known as Atlanta’s oldest home, it serves as the headquarters for the Atlanta Preservation Center (APC). Executive Director David Mitchell welcomed us to the house, explaining its restoration and the organization’s annual Phoenix Flies event, which offers free tours of Atlanta’s historic sites to more than 7,000 visitors annually.
Our guests went their separate ways that evening, but we reconvened Sunday morning for a stroll along the Beltline from the Wylie Hotel to Piedmont Park. There, we were greeted by Doug Widner, CEO, and Blake Reeves of Piedmont Park Conservancy (PPC) for a thorough tour of the southern half of the 200+ acre property.
Piedmont Park’s meadow in Atlanta. 
Blake Reeves and Doug Widner of the Piedmont Park Alliance welcome our group. 
Volunteer cleanup crews on a Sunday morning in Piedmont Park. 
Volunteers pause for a picture. 
Dog training in Piedmont Park. 
The Gazebo in Piedmont Park’s Clara Meer Lake. 
The Lake Clara Meer dock. 
Blake Reeves talks to our group resting Dockside. 
Piedmont Park’s Active Oval with the Atlanta skyline. 
Park visitors enjoying the dogwood blossoms. 
Steps to the Active Oval. 
Blake Reeves addresses our group in the Mayor’s Grove.
Using historic photos and contemporary maps, Widner and Reeves dove into the history of the site, the work that the Conservancy does to maintain Atlanta’s most visited park and PPC’s ongoing comprehensive planning process. Though it was early on a cloudy Sunday morning, there was a lot of activity in the park. As we climbed the Meadow, we bumped into a group of volunteers picking up trash from a party the night before. Later on, near Lake Clara Meer and in the Active Oval, we watched teams complete running drills and play spirited games of kickball. Only as Widner and Reeves finished answering questions did the rain start to fall and we disbanded— with much to contemplate from our whirlwind five tours in one weekend.
Check out more photos from the weekend in our FLICKR ALBUM.
All photos by Mark Roessler and Victoria Vanhuss.
