Lithia, Douglasville, or Mableton, Ga (Atlanta, Marietta: schools, to live, price)

[Sound of Reason]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

Ok, I stand corrected. Thank you. So, 285 Donald Hollowell exit is not Mableton then? I ask bc my Husband has friends that live in a new subdivision in "Mableton" and I thought I remembered us coming off at that exit. Perhaps I am mistaken?

That's in the city of Atlanta. To get to Mableton, you can take that exit and head west about a mile or two before crossing the river into Cobb County. Mableton is in southern Cobb County. Mableton extends about eight miles east-west between the river and Austell. If you thought Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway was Mableton, then no wonder you thought it was really bad. That's straight up one of the worst places in the metro area.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

Ok, I stand corrected. Thank you. So, 285 Donald Hollowell exit is not Mableton then? I ask bc my Husband has friends that live in a new subdivision in "Mableton" and I thought I remembered us coming off at that exit. Perhaps I am mistaken?

You are not mistaken, Donald Lee Hollowell absolutely does go through Mableton, and is easy access to I-285. It is Hwy 278. It is Donald Lee Hollowell in Atlanta and becomes Veterans Memorial Hwy once you get into Mableton after crossing I-285 and it intersects with Fulton Industrial Blvd.

The OP said her initial post she wanted to live in a suburb close to Atlanta, and listed Mableton as an option. Mableton and Atlanta meet at Donald Lee Hallowell and Fulton Industrial Blvd (where DLH becomes Veteran's but is still the exact same highway).

If she wants to be close to Atlanta and chooses Mableton, she needs to know that the closer you get to Atlanta from Mableton to where they border, the rougher it gets, and it's raggedy-looking in those parts the further you drive up Veteran's away from Atlanta with a bunch of rundown-looking, old strip malls. Maybe she can find a nice place that's not so close to Hwy 278. The new subdivisions along 278 (assuming the OP wants a newer place) and in that area are just over-priced in my opinion. $200k and up to live in Mableton?! I think that's a bit ridiculous. But again, that's just me.

[Sound of Reason]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

You are not mistaken, Donald Lee Hollowell absolutely does go through Mableton, and is easy access to I-285. It is Hwy 278. It is Donald Lee Hollowell in Atlanta and becomes Veterans Memorial Hwy once you get into Mableton after crossing I-285 and it intersects with Fulton Industrial Blvd.

The OP said her initial post she wanted to live in a suburb close to Atlanta, and listed Mableton as an option. Mableton and Atlanta meet at Donald Lee Hallowell and Fulton Industrial Blvd (where DLH becomes Veteran's but is still the exact same highway).

If she wants to be close to Atlanta and chooses Mableton, she needs to know that the closer you get to Atlanta from Mableton to where they border, the rougher it gets, and it's raggedy-looking in those parts the further you drive up Veteran's away from Atlanta with a bunch of rundown-looking, old strip malls. Maybe she can find a nice place that's not so close to Hwy 278. The new subdivisions along 278 (assuming the OP wants a newer place) and in that area are just over-priced in my opinion. $200k and up to live in Mableton?! I think that's a bit ridiculous. But again, that's just me.

Donald Lee Hollowell does become Veterans Memorial Highway, as you stated, but it does not do so at I-285. It doesn't become Veterans Memorial until one crosses the river in Cobb County. Cobb County changed the name from Bankhead Highway to Veterans Memorial Highway back in 1996 or so for the Cobb County section. The Fulton County/City of Atlanta section was changed to Donald Lee Hollowell after 2000. Locations farther west, such as in Carroll County, still retain the Bankhead Highway name.

Mableton is completely within Cobb County. It does not begin at I-285 or Fulton Industrial Boulevard. It begins when one crosses the Chattahoochee River. The area at I-285 and Donald Lee Hollowell is raggedy, and it stays so until one crosses the Chattahoochee River. This is in Atlanta, however. There are some nice developments in eastern Mableton right across the river, the place closest to the city of Atlanta, as it goes from an outright slummy-looking area in Atlanta to something nice within an area less than a mile.

The older shopping centers and/or commercial do not begin until around Cooper Lake Road, a location about four miles from the river. That said, if one travels north of Veterans Memorial Highway, the retail and commercial is much nicer and newer, particularly along Floyd Road. There are many nice neighborhoods in the area. John Wieland has many neighborhoods in Mableton. The older shopping centers are a product of their time, the 1960s. What do you expect? They're old. Mableton, the western half of it anyhow, began to develop in the 1950s. While these areas are old looking, they're not caving in, nor are they dilapidated structures.

You seem to equate a bad area, of which a road passes through (Donald Lee Hollowell) with adjacent areas. If that is the case, the same can be said for nicer areas all over Atlanta, of which they are adjacent to worse areas.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when Bankhead Courts was in existence, the difference at the river was even more stark. It was straight-up high crime and slummy on the Fulton County side, contrasted with peaceful homes and nice neighborhoods on the Cobb County side. Since the destruction of Bankhead Courts, the area on the city of Atlanta side, as bad as it is, is better than it once was.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

Ok, I stand corrected. Thank you. So, 285 Donald Hollowell exit is not Mableton then? I ask bc my Husband has friends that live in a new subdivision in "Mableton" and I thought I remembered us coming off at that exit. Perhaps I am mistaken?

Veterans Memorial does eventually run into Mableton but Mableton does not stretch all the way to 285.

When you first exit the highway, you are in Fulton County and I believe it does not become Cobb until you cross the Chatahoochee even that is not yet Mableton.

I agree that Veterans Memorial is a completely unattractive area but if you are on the east side of Mableton closer to Smyrna there are some nice neighborhoods that I believe feed into Campbell High School

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by Sound of Reason

Donald Lee Hollowell does become Veterans Memorial Highway, as you stated, but it does not do so at I-285.

It does according to Google maps. As I said, my point is the closer you get to Atlanta, the worse it gets. I already stated that the OP should not look around that area of Mableton since being close to Atlanta is on her list. I get that Mableton is completely in Cobb County, but it still borders Atlanta, does it not? But what do I know? I'm only in that area every single day.

[Sound of Reason]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

It does according to Google maps. As I said, my point is the closer you get to Atlanta, the worse it gets. I already stated that the OP should not look around that area of Mableton since being close to Atlanta is on her list. I get that Mableton is completely in Cobb County, but it still borders Atlanta, does it not? But what do I know? I'm only in that area every single day.

Google maps is wrong then because no part of Mableton is in Fulton County. Yes, it borders Atlanta. No one has contested that.

Look, I'm not saying that Mableton doesn't have problems. That said, there are positives.

What do I know? I spent 27 years in Mableton. I grew up there.

To Lori, it does become Mableton once you cross the river. Part of Oakdale Road, the first traffic light intersection you come to in Mableton after you cross the river, was annexed by Smyrna, though it still maintains a Mableton address. Smyrna was able to do this because Mableton is unincorporated. This incorporation took place less than ten years ago. This incorporation doesn't touch Veterans Memorial, though it begins about a quarter of a mile, perhaps two-tenths of a mile, north of Veterans Memorial. Oakdale Road and its varying neighborhoods is the only part of Mableton that has been incorporated through annexation by a neighboring municipality.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by Sound of Reason

Google maps is wrong then because no part of Mableton is in Fulton County. Yes, it borders Atlanta. No one has contested that.

Look, I'm not saying that Mableton doesn't have problems. That said, there are positives.

What do I know? I spent 27 years in Mableton. I grew up there.

To Lori, it does become Mableton once you cross the river. Part of Oakdale Road, the first traffic light intersection you come to in Mableton after you cross the river, was annexed by Smyrna, though it still maintains a Mableton address. Smyrna was able to do this because Mableton is unincorporated. This incorporation took place less than ten years ago. This incorporation doesn't touch Veterans Memorial, though it begins about a quarter of a mile, perhaps two-tenths of a mile, north of Veterans Memorial. Oakdale Road and its varying neighborhoods is the only part of Mableton that has been incorporated through annexation by a neighboring municipality.

I never said Mableton was in Fulton County. But does it border Atlanta on the east side? Yes or no? Veteran's Memorial/Donald Lee Hallowell/278 runs right through Mableton dead center. I don't get what the issue is about that.

Google Maps

[Atlanta_BD]

Let me be clear. I also never said that Mableton was in Fulton County. But the doesn't change the fact the Mableton borders Atlanta and where it does, it's not all that great. I shouldn't have come off as if I'm trashing the entire Mableton area but as the OP doesn't know the area, can we at least help her in letting her know what areas to avoid?

I personally think she should look at Vinnings.

[LovelySummer]

I was thinking that Vinings would be a good area too but since she identified areas of interest that tend to cost less than Vinings, I was thinking that perhaps Vinings might be outside of her pricepoint. Are there areas of Vinings that are similar in pricepoint to Douglasville, Lithia Springs and/or Mableton? I also thought maybe she wanted a more country feel bc all three of those cities feel fairly rural to me. Vinings would not give the same feel.

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

Let me be clear. I also never said that Mableton was in Fulton County. But the doesn't change the fact the Mableton borders Atlanta and where it does, it's not all that great. I shouldn't have come off as if I'm trashing the entire Mableton area but as the OP doesn't know the area, can we at least help her in letting her know what areas to avoid?

I personally think she should look at Vinnings.

[LovelySummer]

I was thinking that Vinings would be a good area too but since she identified areas of interest that tend to cost less than Vinings, I was thinking that perhaps Vinings might be outside of her pricepoint. Are there areas of Vinings that are similar in pricepoint to Douglasville, Lithia Springs and/or Mableton? I also thought maybe she wanted a more country feel bc all three of those cities feel fairly old/country to me (which is absolutely fine if that is what the OP desires). However, Vinings would not give the same feel.

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

Let me be clear. I also never said that Mableton was in Fulton County. But the doesn't change the fact the Mableton borders Atlanta and where it does, it's not all that great. I shouldn't have come off as if I'm trashing the entire Mableton area but as the OP doesn't know the area, can we at least help her in letting her know what areas to avoid?

I personally think she should look at Vinnings.