If you had to pick just one occupation that people throughout the ages would recognize as a job, what would you pick? Yeah, us too. This week’s story is about those who work for a living. According to Atlanta’s 1850 census, there were 54 people who chose to leave the census question about their occupation […]
Some folks just seem to have a knack for what they do. They find their footing at a young age, start moving forward and never look back. It’s hard to say where that type of motivation comes from. Perhaps it has something to do with the company we keep along the way. It’s the story […]
They walked into the woods and made lives for themselves. That’s a concept 21st-century Atlantans understandably might have trouble wrapping their heads around. But for the 19th century settlers whose names would become a part of our city’s history, it was business as usual. We meet the neighbors on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
By the end of the 1870’s, Atlanta’s population had grown to over 37,000 and in 1881 the Atlanta Constitution reported that Atlanta was in the midst of the greatest boom she had ever seen. It was into this boomtown environment that a young, first year lawyer from the University of Virginia moved. He set up […]
During the early days of America’s founding, having access to water was one of the primary prerequisites in choosing a location for a community. It’s not a difficult concept to understand.
They became the most recognized set of musical notes in the nation and they originated right here in Atlanta, although not in the order Atlantans heard them. And, apparently, it was such a good idea that more than one radio station wants the credit. You’ll have to decide for yourself who did what and when […]
When a sports franchise moves from one city to another not everything in the process goes smoothly as one player for the St. Louis Hawks discovered in 1966. But as they say, “all’s well that ends well.” Join us, won’t you, in welcoming home a prodigal son on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
When Sherman’s army departed Atlanta in November of 1864 the city treasury was left with a grand total of $1.64, and, apparently, that was all in confederate money. To say the least, not much of a nest egg with which to begin rebuilding a city. But that would be just one of many obstacles that […]
Pay a visit to pretty much any cemetery in the world and you will notice that, in addition to the traditional gift of flowers, people leave all kinds of items behind after their visit. Stones and coins are a favored way to show that the departed has not been forgotten, as are pictures and family […]
It’s no secret that in Atlanta far too many of our older buildings have had a limited lifespan. There is no better example of our penchant for replacing the old with the new than along Atlanta’s most famous thoroughfare. We examine the transformation of one downtown intersection on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
Roger Babson is the founder of the Gravity Research Foundation, an organization with the stated purpose of studying, understanding and, ultimately, harnessing the force of gravity. It was the childhood drowning of his older sister in a river near Gloucester, Massachusetts that sparked Babson’s life-long interest in finding a way to control the effects of […]
The old saying “a penny for your thoughts” is, by current standards, too expensive. We are living in a era where seemingly everyone is “on the record” about…everything. We blog, vlog, tweet and post about whatever thought enters our head. In the opinion of some, we’ve gone a little too far in sharing our pontifications. […]
Mathew Brady is known as one of America’s first photographers. It was Brady who personally financed and oversaw the effort to photographically document the Civil War. At his own expense, he hired a team of photographers who traveled with various Union armies and together those photographers produced over 10,000 plates; a body of work which […]
As sure as there is breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is snacking. Satisfying those between-meal cravings is a need we all have. While some people are able to eat healthy snacks, many of us cannot resist the lure of less healthy foods. Snacking certainly is not a new innovation. It goes back, in some […]
When the 1895 Cotton States Exposition opened in Atlanta over 120 years ago, it represented the culmination of years of planning and fund raising on the part of the exposition’s organizers. It was a big time undertaking costing over $2 million dollars, which, by today’s currency standards, equates to around $57 million dollars. The exposition […]
In 1826 the State of Georgia ordered a transportation survey to be undertaken. Ostensibly, the purpose of the survey was to evaluate the feasibility of building a canal through North Georgia and up into the frontier of Tennessee. Such a conveyance, it was reasoned, would allow Georgia merchants to gain access to the northern part […]
The flood of movie stars visiting Atlanta in recent years not withstanding, Atlanta has had a long history of entertaining visiting luminaries, dignitaries, politicians and a host of other individuals that Atlantans generally wanted to be seen with. The late 1800s was a banner year for visitors to the Gate City, not the least of […]
As of this writing, Underground Atlanta is, for the most part, closed to Atlantans. Cautious optimism is the order of the day as Atlantans concerned about this valuable section of Atlanta’s history await its next incarnation. Perhaps, while you wait, you should consider visiting another of Atlanta’s historic gems, the Michael C. Carlos Museum on […]
The early days of automobile manufacturing were much like the Wild West. By some accounts, there have been over 1800 car manufacturers and it took a while before the “Big 3” to became the dominant American automobile companies. Most early car companies are nothing but distant memories on the American landscape but one is, to […]
Qualify, enter your name and cross your fingers. That was the order of the day, when thousands of Georgians took their chances on winning, sight unseen, plots of land to be sold at dirt cheap prices. People whose names were drawn in the lotteries were winners, but some won bigger than others, as you will […]
Oil drilling off Georgia’s coast an issue for Trump’s nominee for Interior secretaryMarch 25, 2019 - 4:57 pm
First an apartment tower, now a senior facility planned on grassy plot near Lenox SquareMarch 24, 2019 - 7:25 pm
Nesting shorebirds protected from predators in pilot program on Georgia’s coastMarch 22, 2019 - 12:21 pm
