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out &zabout
History Center adds to its gardens with a new ‘front door’
BY TOM ODER
ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER
Veterans Park will honor those who served in both World Wars,
the Korean and Vietnam wars, and recent conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan. It will include a walled, contemplative garden,
a water feature, seating area and other ammenities.
The Atlanta History Center is getting
a new front door.
This door, however, won’t replace the
one at McElreath Hall, the center’s main
building, which houses a treasure trove
of Atlanta’s historical records. This new
entrance will be at the corner of Slaton
Drive and West Paces Ferry Road.
The center is building a new pedestri
an and garden entrance to its 33-acre for
ested campus at one of Buckhead’s busi
est intersections. The new garden will be
called Veterans Park to honor America’s
servicemen and servicewomen.
Veterans Park will open to the pub
lic during a Memorial Day weekend
program called Military Timeline. Set
for Saturday, May 25, from 11 a.m. -
4 p.m., the program will feature patri
otic and family-oriented activities. Ad
mission is free for visitors with a military
ID and to History Center members. Non
members can attend as part of the cost of
general admission to the History Center.
The History Center will formally ded
icate Veterans Park in a public ceremony
on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, at 5
p.m.
The new park will replace the green
space that had been at the Slaton Drive
and West Paces Ferry Road intersection
since 2000. That space, called Veterans
Plaza, honored veterans of the Vietnam
War. Veterans Park will honor men and
women who served in World Wars I and
II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and re
cent conflicts such as those in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
Larger than the original park, Veter
ans Park will include a walled contem
plative garden, a water feature, a seating
area, and stations where visitors can use
QR codes on mobile phones to hear oral
histories of veterans.
“With the redesign of Veterans Park,
we are trying to become more accessi
ble and relevant to nearby residents and
visitors,” said Jackson McQuigg, vice
president of properties for the History
Center. In addition to being a new en
trance, McQuigg said History Center
officials are encouraging people who live
and work nearby to bring their lunch to
the park on a regular basis and enjoy the
new space.
“Access to Veterans Park will be free
and it will have free wi-fi,” McQuigg
emphasized. “People can even park in
the History Center parking deck and
walk to Veterans Park. The History Cen
ter parking,” he added with a chuckle,
“is also free.”
“The new garden is in keeping with
the History Center’s vision that gardens
featuring native plants are as much a
part of the state’s history as the manu
scripts, maps and photographs in its re
search center,” said center spokesperson
Leigh Massey.
The center offers 22 acres with five
featured gardens, woodlands and nature
trails that showcase the state’s horticul
tural history.
The most popular of the gardens, the
Smith Family Gardens, should be in glo
rious bloom Memorial Day weekend,
said Sarah Roberts, the History Center’s
historic gardens curator. This garden fea
tures an 1860s farm setting with flower
and vegetable gardens, a slave’s garden, a
fruit orchard and field crop area. Some
farm animals are back after being away
for several years. There are four sheep,
including two lambs, a rooster and
chickens that will help bring the farm
experience alive.
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