Walking tours of Atlanta's history

Things to Do

Photos of Atlanta landmarks. Phoenix Flies is a 16-day festival celebrating Atlanta history. It begins Saturday and includes guided tours, lectures and open houses at 40 properties and neighborhoods around the city.

Atlanta still has some historic landmarks and Phoenix Flies is a celebration of them. The 16-day festival begins Saturday and includes guided tours, lectures and open houses at 40 properties and neighborhoods around the city: homes, churches, theaters, parks, cemeteries, government buildings - even some modern architecture. All of it is free. For a complete listing of events, see www.phoenixflies.org. Here are some highlights. - Jim Auchmutey

MEADOW NOOK, one of the two or three oldest houses in Atlanta, looks like a touch of the Carolina Lowcountry in East Lake. Built in 1856 by Col. Robert Alston as a wedding gift for his bride, the Greek Revival house has been restored in recent years by Charles and Sylvia Harrison, who have revived several properties in the area (which also will be on the tour). Noon-5 p.m. March 14. 2420 Alston Drive S.E.

BUCKHEAD BRANCH LIBRARY: Love it or hate it, Merrill Elam and Mack Scogin's 1989 Buckhead branch library is one of Atlanta's most distinctive modern buildings - a "slate dragonfly," as some have called it. It's also proof that new landmarks can be imperiled, too. Tour sponsored by DOCOMOMO, a modern architecture group. 11:30 a.m. Saturday. 269 Buckhead Ave. N.E. Reservation required: rsvp@docomomoga.org.

SOUTH-VIEW CEMETERY was founded in 1886 to give African-Americans a park-like resting place. Notable burials include the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., John Wesley Dobbs and George Wilder, whose hand-lettered stone identifies him as a victim of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. Walking tour by Historic South-View Preservation Foundation. 11 a.m. March 14. 1990 Jonesboro Road S.E.

TREES ATLANTA: Not all landmarks are built. Some grow. To call attention to one of Atlanta's most overlooked assets, Trees Atlanta designated several neighborhood arboretums, where the city's leafy canopy is identified by specimen. One of the arboretums is in one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Inman Park. Walking tour by Trees Atlanta. 1:30 p.m. March 17. At the corner of Elizabeth and Lake Avenue.

ALL SAINTS' EPISCOPAL: Atlanta has many beautiful churches. One of the loveliest is All Saints' Episcopal in Midtown, a 1906 Gothic brownstone with stained glass windows by Tiffany Studios. 3 p.m. Sunday. West Peachtree Street at North Avenue.

ZERO MILEPOST MARKER: Architect Jeff Morrison talks about downtown Atlanta's railroad past, near the Zero Milepost marker where the city began in 1837 in this 2009 photo.

PETERS HOUSE/IVY HALL: Here's your chance to see what happened to the Mansion. The popular restaurant once occupied one of the city's most historic homes, a Queen Anne charmer built in 1883 by Richard Peters, one of Georgia Tech's founders. Last year the Savannah College of Art and Design restored the landmark, which now goes by its original name, Ivy Hall. Tours by SCAD-Atlanta. Noon and 2 p.m. March 13. 179 Ponce de Leon Ave. N.E.

COLLIER HEIGHTS: The west Atlanta neighborhood has been nominated to become the first postwar suburb in the metro area to make the National Register. Built in the 1950s and '60s for the city's black middle class, it features a Jetsonian array of split-levels and customized ranches, with some exotic touches and lots of pink trim. Tour by Georgia State University preservation program. 1 p.m. March 15. Reservation required: 404-688-3353, Ext. 14.

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Atlanta still has some historic landmarks and Phoenix Flies is a celebration of them. The 16-day festival begins Saturday and includes guided tours, lectures and open houses at 40 properties and neighborhoods around the city: homes, churches, theaters, parks, cemeteries, government buildings - even some modern architecture. All of it is free. For a complete listing of events, see www.phoenixflies.org. Here are some highlights. - Jim Auchmutey

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