Visiting- What to See? (Atlanta, Stone Mountain: eat, things to do, place)

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Kennesaw Mountain in the NW suburbs is a nice place to visit -- there are still some significant Civil War earthworks and cannon up on the hill, and the view from the top is spectacular.

I second that. Lots of great Civil War history there. (And for someone who grew up in New England, seeing the Southerners' take on the Civil War was very... interesting to me! ).

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by wxjay

I second that. Lots of great Civil War history there. (And for someone who grew up in New England, seeing the Southerners' take on the Civil War was very... interesting to me! ).

All I know is that *I* sure wouldn't want to attack that hill. Not without air support, anyway.

[ABM]

As Blazer Prophet will be visiting us, I'm gonna take them for a day trip to Atlantic Station.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by wxjay

I second that. Lots of great Civil War history there. (And for someone who grew up in New England, seeing the Southerners' take on the Civil War was very... interesting to me! ).

As a foreigner residing in the south, I was recently surprised to discover that the Civil War does not loom as large in the minds of Midwesterners as of Southerners. At lunch time during a business trip, a group of us went out for a walk and saw this: State Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument-Indianapolis As we approached I observed the date 1865 high on the monument and said "ah, 1865, so it's a Civil War memorial". The locals from our Indy office started discussing along the lines of "Was 1865 a Civil War date? Was Indiana even in the Civil War?" I was pretty amazed they didn't know these things, but some folk born and raised in Indiana did not.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

As a foreigner residing in the south, I was recently surprised to discover that the Civil War does not loom as large in the minds of Midwesterners as of Southerners.

Speaking as a native Minnesotan with a casual interest in history, I knew from school that the 1st Minnesota was a unit that went down to war from Winona and did very well at Gettysburg, etc. I knew the names of some of the larger battles, and I know there was some brouhaha about a captured southern war flag some years ago, but that was about it.

The American Civil War was largely something we learned about in school, but it had no visible impact on our state (which wasn't very populated at the time anyway), and there really aren't any Civil War monuments up there.

The two World Wars get a *lot* more attention. I suspect it's because the state of Minnesota didn't lose that many people, didn't have that much at stake, and wasn't the site of any battles to speak of. And they were on the "winning" side, so there isn't a grudge being held up there, either.

(Wikipedia tells me my impression about a lack of involvement is wrong. It says:

"Minnesota provided a large number of units in the American Civil War proportionate to its small population of approximately 170,000 in 1861-1865, with some 26,717 state volunteers being recorded, although a number of those are individuals who reenlisted in other units."

I guess the folks who moved in afterwards from Germany, Finland, Sweden, and Norway didn't care all that much, and they dominate the state in terms of population even today.)

[postprime]

Originally Posted by BLAZER PROPHET

MY wife & I (early 50's) are visiting Atlanta. We will have 4 full days (Fridday thru Monday). So far, our agenda looks like this:

Friday- CNN, Coke World, Aquarium

Saturday- Stone Mountian (morning is taken with friends)

Sunday- church, tour annebilium (spelling?) areas

Monday (Memorial Day)- chill and have a nice huge bar-b-q with friends

Any other suggestions?

The Varsity for lunch. The food is overrated (except for the onion rings) but the place is truly an Atlanta institution. For better food, Mary Mac's Tea Room or Paschal's are also landmark type restaurants.

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by BLAZER PROPHET

MY wife & I (early 50's) are visiting Atlanta. We will have 4 full days (Fridday thru Monday). So far, our agenda looks like this:

Friday- CNN, Coke World, Aquarium

Saturday- Stone Mountian (morning is taken with friends)

Sunday- church, tour annebilium (spelling?) areas

Monday (Memorial Day)- chill and have a nice huge bar-b-q with friends

Any other suggestions?

Suggestions? Sure. Your Friday itinerary is a good one if you want to remain in the downtown area and have only a short walk between attractions. If you have a strong interest in Atlanta's corporate icons (CNN, Coke, Home Depot), then those make sense. There's nothing all that uniquely Atlantan about any of them, though. The CNN Tour has been systematically evacuated of any real interest by liability and security concerns to the point that it's really no more than a theme park attraction that resembles a TV news studio tour -- you never get close to anything resembling the real process of putting together the news. I haven't been to the new Coke museum -- I didn't dislike the old one, but I can't imagine that the new one is so much better than the old one that it's now a must-see. The Aquarium is an aquarium -- nothing more or less than that, albeit bigger than most -- and could equally easily have been plopped down in Indianapolis or Omaha or Tucson for all the sense it makes for it to be in Atlanta. It's a monument to a benefactor's ego.

If you want to experience things that truly are unique to Atlanta, I'd replace Friday with visits to the Atlanta Botanical Garden (early in the day, before it's too hot) and the Atlanta History Center. The History Center in particular is loaded with interesting stuff you're not going to see elsewhere, including permanent exhibits on the history of Atlanta, the 1996 Olympic Games, folk art, Bobby Jones, and Atlanta architect Phillip Trammel Schutze, as well as outstanding temporary exhibits, and of course the Swan House (a 1930s-era mansion designed by Schutze) the Tullie Smith Farm (a reconstructed 19th century farmstead with numerous outbuildings including live animals, a working smithy, etc.) and the gorgeous gardens. It's hard to call the AHC "overlooked" exactly, since they do get lots of visitors, but it's definitely overshadowed by the flashier, better-known attractions like the ones you've mentioned. To me, however, it's the one place I always try to take out-of-town guests who're looking to experience Atlanta, especially if it's their first time in town. If nothing else, consider making the AHC your Sunday afternoon destination -- as has been noted already, there ain't no antebellum anything in Atlanta, and while Madison is an excellent suggestion for seeing antebellum homes, it'd be midafternoon before you could get there after attending church and eating lunch, so you might not have time to really enjoy it.

Stone Mountain is something people just have to see, so I've given over arguing that it's not all that. Different strokes, as they say.

[TakeAhike]

Rainy--
I just checked.

'Abraham Lincoln's family moved from Kentucky to Indiana and then on to Illinois.'
Most of the fighting took place in the South and in Pennsylvania. The state of Indiana probably sent soldiers but had to keep producing corn and wheat during that time.

Definitely tour the Atlanta History Center as Rackensack suggested. Then lunch at the Horseradish Grill and see how the Buckhead area is progressing in its facelift. Then be on your way across town before the Friday PM traffic. ;-)

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Awesome!!

My itinerary is changing for sure.

One more question. I'm a ribs & sports fanatic (I mean, one without the other is like hot dog without a baseball game). Any thoughts on a place for lunch where we can eat top notch ribs and watch sports?

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Speaking as a native Minnesotan .... Wikipedia tells me my impression about a lack of involvement is wrong.

Originally Posted by TakeAhike

'Abraham Lincoln's family moved from Kentucky to Indiana and then on to Illinois.'
Most of the fighting took place in the South and in Pennsylvania. The state of Indiana probably sent soldiers but had to keep producing corn and wheat during that time.

Indiana seems like RC's Minnesota in having more Civil War involvement than today's citizens seem to realize. According to the monument I saw, Indiana sent about 210,000 service men to the war, of whom just under 25,000 died. I just looked up Indiana's population at the time. At the outbreak of the war it was around 1,350,000. So that seems like very significant participation.