Tag: Chattahoochee River

Once FIFA World Cup 2026™ fans have seen Atlanta, an easy road trip beyond the capital will reveal a whole different side of Georgia. From the folklore and forests of its mountains to the rich heritage of its coastal cities and islands, you’ll find spectacular scenery and surprises within just a few hours’ drive.

Until recently, it wasn’t prudent to paddle a part of the Chattahoochee River south of Atlanta. The river was septic from sewage and sludge in the late 1960s. In 1994, a new nonprofit Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (founded by my mom) started to clean things up, sue polluters, and monitor the waterway’s condition. Gradually, the river began to reawaken.

Before 2100 West Wesley Road became Salubria, it was a small riverside ranch home sitting on 15 acres of undeveloped land. But in 1995, a buyer tore the home down—ostensibly to build something that would make better use of the lot—and enlisted renowned Atlanta architect Norman Askins to execute her vision.

There's been a plethora of projects Sue Schroeder has created since reshaping her dance company four years ago. Through collaborations at home and abroad, Schroeder, 67, has discovered new ways to amplify her artistic voice and bring Atlanta more deeply into the conversation around experimental, movement-based art.

Leaping from Diving Rock has been something of a rite of passage for generations of Georgians, including Jimmy Carter, who jumped while serving as governor in 1972. Mother Nature may have obliged in building an organic diving board, but the reality is that, being a natural feature, Diving Rock was not designed with safety in mind.

With its northwest location near Buckhead, the Battery Atlanta, and the Silver Comet Trail, Vinings feels both intown-ish and suburban, a combination that attracts people young and old to its leafy neighborhoods. The Chattahoochee River provides one boundary, while I-285 and I-75 provide others.

Sally Bethea is still getting to know the river she’s devoted much of her life to. Hired as founding director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in 1994, she spent 20 years protecting and restoring the neglected waterway. But “being a mom and running a small business, which a nonprofit is, you rush from one thing to another,” she says. “You’re getting big stuff done and moving on.”

Driller Mike is long gone—on to his next job, like a salesman traveling from town to town—but his works may be looked upon at Westside Park. Driller Mike was, of course, the nickname of the 400-foot, $11.6 million machine used to bore a five-mile tunnel deep beneath the streets of Atlanta. When the project finished in 2020, water began to flow through the tunnel from the Chattahoochee River, filling the 2.4-billion-gallon quarry at the park’s center.

“When you get below Peachtree Creek, access to the river kind of stops,” says George Dusenbury, a vice president and the Georgia state director of the Trust for Public Land. “Communities in West Atlanta, South Cobb, South Fulton, and Douglas County don’t have the same access that exists in the north.” But that’s about to change, due to a flurry of new plans to expand opportunities to hike, pedal, paddle, and even camp along Atlanta’s iconic river.

Included on Jackson’s 1992 album A Lot about Livin’ (and a Little ’bout Love), the tune was released as a single on May 15, 1993—accompanied by a video of Jackson water-skiing in boots and a cowboy hat. It spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country charts, won CMA Song of the Year and ASCAP Song of the Year, and is still so ubiquitous that people of all ages continue to yell-sing it from their boats some 30 years later.