Georgia Natural Wonder #274 - Morningside Nature Preserve - Fulton Co. (Part 3)

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #274 - Morningside Nature Preserve

Searching for Natural Wonders in Fulton County and Atlanta, we come upon this newer neighborhood park, and we come back to Peachtree Creek again. Preserved by dedicated neighborhood residents and The Nature Conservancy in the mid-2000s, the Morningside Nature Preserve offers a wonderful woodland retreat from the surrounding urban landscape of Atlanta. 



The Grateful Dead give us our scrolling Nugget for today's post. Walk me out in the Morning Side Nature Preserve. 



Tucked into the northern fringes of Atlanta’s upscale Morningside neighborhood, the Morningside Nature Preserve is a hidden yet well-loved matrix of hiking, walking and running trails that traverse over 30 acres of rolling forest.

 

The park gives a chance for Midtown residents to grab a bit of nature without a long drive. We came to Peachtree Creek with 3 previous post as follows:

Georgia Natural Wonder #254 - Lullwater Preserve

Georgia Natural Wonder #255 - South Peachtree Creek - Mason Mill 

Georgia Natural Wonder #264 - Battle of Peachtree Creek

 

Morningside Nature Preserve: the hike

The hike departs a trailhead on Lenox Road (view maps and driving directions), climbing steadily in a clearing beneath power lines. 

 

The trail turns right to cross the clearing, entering the wooded forest and descending a small ridge via wooden stairs.

 

The trail exits the wooded canopy and enters a clearing, where a small trail marker at .25 mile points left. Here, the trail hikes through a cleared meadow filled with a tangled landscape of kudzu and waist-high grasses and brush. The trail curves a gradual right, reaching South Fork Peachtree Creek at .5 mile.

 

The shores of South Fork Peachtree are sandy and broad. The creek meanders sharply through the forest, carving a steep-walled shore on the opposite side while slowing to drop sandy sediment on the east bank. These sandy shores are popular with dogs and their owners, earning the ‘dog beach’ nickname with Atlanta locals.

  

A beautifully constructed wooden suspension bridge arcs over the creek, leading to an extensive 2-mile network of hiking and walking trails on the western banks of the creek. The trail crosses the bridge to continue the hike.

 

The western shores of South Fork Peachtree Creek comprise the majority of the hiking and walking trails at Morningside Nature Preserve. A trail network weaves over terraced ridges flanking the shores of the creek and cross several small streams. Keep an eye out for wildlife here; foxes, beavers, birds, turtles and raccoons frequent these forested sections of the preserve. 

  

Looping back to the suspension bridge over South Peachtree Creek, the hike completes the loop portion of this adventure and re-crosses the bridge. From the suspension bridge, the hike retraces its steps to the trailhead, completing at 2 miles.



All Trails

This trail winds through dense, jungle-like vegetation, with diverse and varying landscapes to enjoy. With some changes in elevation, this trail is somewhat brief but can provide a decent challenge. The major payoff is a spot on the river underneath the suspension bridge, affectionately called "Dog Beach" by locals, where hikers allow their dogs to play in the water while off-leash.

   

This trail is popular with dog owners, who let their pets swim in the steam that flows through the Preserve. The upside is that few of them cross the bridge and hike the loop, so that section isn't crowded. There's one decent climb and some stairs, but otherwise easy.

 

Peaceful trail along power lines and a river. Lots of bird life and very few people. Benches to take rest along the way. Sandy beaches along the river.



I love this in-town, dog friendly trail that has creek access and a couple different trail options. Perfect for an anytime walk!

Explore Georgia

The Morningside Nature Preserve is 33.1 acres of woods in northeast Atlanta that is bisected by the South Fork Peachtree Creek. There are about 2 miles of trails on both sides of the creek. The Morningside Nature Preserve has two trailheads: one at Wellbourne Road and the other at the Georgia Power Substation on Lenox Road. A suspension bridge over the creek connects the trails on both sides. 


Dog owners frequently bring their dogs to play on the shore and shallow water under the bridge, so the area has become known as Atlanta's "dog beach."

Atlanta

Once slated for residential development, the preserve was saved when residents and the Nature Conservancy rallied in the early 2000s to protect the area, purchasing the land from developers before transferring it to the city to be made into a park. 

 

Today, the only signs of development are a unique wooden suspension bridge that connects the east and west sides of the park across the South Fork of Peachtree Creek and a wooden staircase.

Trip Advisor - Jim W.

We explored the Preserve as part of a larger neighborhood walk. We entered at the Lenox Road side, where they appear to have some parking available. From that point, you ascend a steep hill adjacent to the cleared area for the large power lines that pass through. The trails are dirt, but they do have some embedded plastic traction mats to assist versus mud.

 

At the top of the hill you cross under the power lines and descend an even steeper hill, this time with a stairway. This bottoms out in a boardwalk over a creek / swamp. When we visited, something had smashed at least one area of the boardwalk, so it was a bit challenging to navigate.

 

After that, the park expands somewhat. We next crossed a large creek via a bridge. This spot had a wide sandy beach which appeared popular with dog-owners.
  
 

From that point, the trail branches but is not marked. We ended up taking a different route than planned and were a bit confused once we exited back onto a residential street. We were able to get our bearings from map apps, though.

  

Depending on what you are looking for, this area can provide a nice woodsy respite from the city. However, aside from the occasional bridge or boardwalk it is mostly in its natural state. It is also fairly hilly.

  

Wikipedia

The Morningside Nature Preserve is a project initiated by the Wildwood Urban Forest Committee to stop the destruction of 30 acres of forest located in northeast Atlanta.

 

And to develop this land for leisure and educational uses, but in a way that is consistent with conservation principles.

 

Including protection of water resources and native vegetation.

TRD Addendum Daughter's Visit

My daughter and her friend, Ashley (Also my room mate for three months) visited and these are their images and videos. 

  
Meagan, Ashley, Oynx stomping through the woods.

  

  
Over the bridge. 

  
Under the bridge and in the water. 

  
Ashley and Oynx wagging tails. 

Fulton County (Part 3)

Another short and sweet Natural Wonder of Atlanta, didn't even have to visit, all Internet images. Gives us a large opportunity to continue our exploration of Fulton County, we continue on the National Register of Historic Properties. We have 211 to go. 

John F. Beavers House

The John F. Beavers House is a one-story, frame, weatherboarded house resting on rock piers that originally was a one-story, two-room, plain-style Antebellum house. 

 

The history of the John F. Beavers House is inextricably interwoven with the history of Campbellton and Campbell County. 

  

The Superior and Inferior courts and Elections of said county, were held at the house of John F. Beavers, till such time as a courthouse may be made permanent.

Berkeley Park Historic District

  

Bolton Lodge No. 416

Significant for its association with Freemasonry, a fraternal organization which has been an integral part of communities in the United States since the Colonial Era. 
 
Classical features include the pedimented entryways and symmetrical front façade crowned by a large modillioned cornice and entablature. 

Dr. Brailsford R. Brazeal House

The Brazeal House is primarily significant at the national level in the related areas of education and ethnic black heritage: as the long-time home of Dr. Brailsford R. Brazeal.

 

He was a prominent African-American scholar, teacher, and administrator at nearby Morehouse College, who from the late 1920s through the 1960s.

 

He made significant contributions to research, publication, teaching, and academic standards at this nationally significant African-American institution of higher learning. 

 

Briarcliff Hotel

 
  
Chuck Dowdle married my next door neighbor, Dianne Matthews, reception was here.

  

Briarcliff Plaza

 
Urban Outfitters is where the Plaza Pharmacy was.

 
The Majestic Diner and the plaza Theatre, still showing the Rocky Horror Picture Show (with live cast from audience).

Dr. Marion Luther Brittain Sr. House

The house is significant in education because it was built for, and owned and occupied by, Dr. Marion Luther Brittain, Sr. (1866-1953), one of the state's renown educators. 

 

Dr. Brittain was state school superintendent from 1910 to 1922. During this time he saw the consolidation of many county school systems and the building of more modern schools in most every county. At this same time, he served as president of several regional and national educational organizations. 

 

In 1922, he became the fourth president of Georgia Tech, from which he retired in 1944. 

 
The house became a Rambling Wreck in 2017.

Brookhaven Historic District

 

  

  

Brookwood Hills Historic District

 

  

Building at 161 Spring St.

The building at 161 Spring Street is an eight-story Neoclassical Revival-style building. The first three floors were designed by the Atlanta architectural firm R.C. Snow Company in 1928. The Atlanta firm of Barili and Humphreys designed floors four through eight, which were completed in 1948. 

 

It is an excellent example of the Neoclassical Revival style in Atlanta in the first decades of the 20th century. 

  

It is significant in the area of religion because it was the organizational center for domestic evangelical activities of the Southern Baptist Convention during the post-World War II era.

  
Hampton Inn now.

Building at 220 Sunset Avenue, NW

220 Sunset is a historic property associated with the Maynard Jackson family including Irene Dobbs-Jackson who integrated the Atlanta Public Library and Maynard Jackson Jr. the first Black mayor of Atlanta. It was a temporary home of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. 

 

The King Center and Westside Future Fund saved this building from demolition in order to restore the property and apply for historic designation on the National Register of Historic Places.

Building at 760–768 Confederate Avenue

This building was built c.1927 and has elements of the Mediterranean Revival style. It has five retail storefronts. It is significant in the area of commerce for its longtime use in a variety of commercial endeavors in the Grant Park neighborhood of Atlanta.

 

The building is also significant in the area of architecture as an excellent example of the multiple retail type, through its one-story height, flat roof, identical storefronts, and early 20th century construction date.

  

Buildings at 523-549 Stewart Avenue

The buildings represent the evolution of commerce in Atlanta over time, serving as a record of the commercial and industrial importance of the companies that occupied them. 

 

The 1920 and 1926 portions of the property are examples of “mill” or “slow-burning construction.” This construction method slowed the spread of fire by employing a combination of steel and heavy timber. 

 

Slow-burning construction was a state of the art, fire-safety solution for industrial buildings at the time, being both effective and affordable.

Bulloch Hall


Where Teddy Roosevelt's mom grew up, Mittie Bulloch. Home where his parents married. We covered this on an earlier post on Roswell (GNW #144 - Part 2).

Burns Cottage

 

   

46 Butler Street Colored Methodist Episcopal Church

The Butler Street C.M.E. Church is a vernacular Neo-Gothie Revival structure located on a small corner lot just south of Atlanta's Sweet Auburn Historic District. 

 

The stained glass windows are dedicated to various people involved with the founding of the church or the building of this structure. One is dedicated to Bishop L.H. Holsey who was instrumental in the church's founding in 1882. 

 

Architecturally, the Butler Street C.M.E. Church is significant as an example of a vernacular Neo-Gothic style church built for and by'Atlanta's black community.



In 1923, Theodore “Tiger” Flowers (1895-1927), the first Black man to win the world middleweight boxing championship, was a long-time steward in the church.

 
Holsey - Flowers.

Philanthropist Robert Woodruff, retired chairman of Coca-Cola, first contributed to the church in 1945 as a tribute to his chauffeur, Lawrence Calhoun, a member of the congregation.

Cabbagetown District

 

 
Carroll Street then and now.

   
Planned Graffiti and Mill Houses. 

 
Cotton Mill and condos inside. Made national news when crane worker had to be rescued by Helicopter during restoration. A fire in mill had stranded him on crane and he was cooking like a marshmallow. 

  

Campbell County Courthouse

 

Candler Building

  
There is a frieze of all these leaders of Arts, Science, Culture on this building along Peachtree Street. (Buffalo Bill, Ben Franklin, Beethoven)

  

   
I liked to visit this lobby when I did walking tours of Atlanta.

Canton Apartments

The Canton Apartments are signficant architecturally as a good example of apartment dwellings built in the 1920s in the English Renaissance style rather than as a garden apartment facing a courtyard. It appears more like a mansion would in the West Paces Ferry Road area than as an apartment.



It and other apartments nearby served as a buffer between thfe large homes and mansions and Peachtree Road and its rapid commercialization.

 

Capital City Club

 
Went to a Civil War round table in here once. 

   

Capitol View Apartments

Constructed in 1947 through the Federal Housing Administration’s Veterans Emergency Housing program, Capitol View Apartments is a classic example of a modern mid-century apartment building. 

 

Featuring ten rectangular two-story buildings arranged in “U”-shaped configurations around five landscaped courtyards. 

  

Capitol View Historic District

  

Capitol View Manor Historic District

 
Postal Union Building and former Capital View Manor Baptist Church.

  
Capitol View Manor was originally developed by the same developer of the Morningside and Virginia Highland neighborhood.

Cascade Heights Commercial Historic District

The Cascade Heights Commercial Historic District is a, listed on the Georgia Register of Historic Places located in Southwest Atlanta, recognized for its, well-preserved mid-century commercial architecture. 



It serves as a central hub for surrounding, historically affluent African American neighborhoods, characterized by local, "Mom and Pop" establishments and a strong, community-driven identity.

  

Since the 1970s, Cascade Heights has been a premier residential and business area for African-American professionals, including notable leaders like Hank Aaron and former Mayor Shirley Franklin.

  
Herman J. Russell Construction Company personal home and two other sample homes Cascade Heights. 

Castleberry Hill Historic District

 

  

Central Presbyterian Church

 

 

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

 
Mother Theresa gave mass here 1995.

 

Citizens and Southern Bank Building

 

OK, I have a story in this building. I took my Criminal Justice degree and rose to rank of Colonel with company who served all the C&S properties. I checked on the guard here the night the Braves played that 19 inning game against the Mets on the 4th of July in 1985. It was already late in the night (18th inning) when we made our way up to the roof to see the post game fireworks. We were just waiting on Rick Camp to strike out. Needless to say, I had to move on and inspect another post and did not see the fireworks that night as the game went a bit longer.

  
There these big old 84 year old boilers (As of 1985) in the sub basement. Whole building was ornate and steeped in history. I included a peek in lobby on my walking tour of Atlanta. 

Coca-Cola Building Annex

The Coca-Cola Building Annex is a three-story, Classical Revival-style, brick industrial building located on the south side of Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Built c.1903-1904, the trapezoid-shaped building occupies the entire 4,331-square-foot lot, with the main facade on Edgewood Avenue and the rear facade on Coca-Cola Place.

 

The richly-ornamented Classical Revival-style facade is typical of early-2Oth-century commercial architecture in Atlanta and reflects the rapid growth and early success of the Atlanta-based soft drink company.

  
Lofts now. 

Another 30 National Register Historic Properties covered and another spot in Fulton County to enjoy a natural wonder on Peachtree Creek. 

My GNW Gals today are women with their dogs on a creek beach. 

  

 Meagan and Ashley deserve some credit as GNW Gals.