Tag: neighborhoods

Since its establishment, Kennesaw has rebounded from being laid to ruins during the Civil War, from a boll weevil infestation that decimated the cotton industry beginning in the 1920s, and even from an infamous train heist, which inspired the 1956 Walt Disney action film The Great Locomotive Chase. Today, this college town about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta is pushing back against assumptions that it’s just another cookie-cutter suburb. In fact, it’s still living up to its fabled past as a city of revival.

ITP, OTP, east side, west side—where you live can be as big a part of your identity as the team you cheer for, and Atlantans pick with pride. Here, residents discuss what led them to their corner of the metro, and why they stay.

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.

Jonesboro is enjoying a downtown renaissance, like many other small cities. New restaurants, residential projects, art venues and galleries, and even a water park are helping make the town into a destination. It also benefits from proximity to Clayton State University in nearby Morrow.

As the neighborhood slogan goes: “The sun rises first in Atlanta in East Lake.” Indeed, this quiet, walkable community of vintage bungalows is the city’s easternmost hood. Founded in 1892 as a trolley-car suburb, the area offered country living and lakefront attractions, including a penny arcade, a swimming beach, and steamboat rides.

The nickname “Lake City” is a clue to what makes Acworth special. “The lakes are probably our greatest asset,” notes Taylor Aubrey, marketing coordinator with the city, located 33 miles north of Atlanta off I-75.

Humble, gritty, and quirky, East Point sits just southwest of downtown Atlanta, bordered by Greenbriar Mall, Camp Creek Parkway, and Tyler Perry Studios. Established in 1847 as the eastern terminus of the Atlanta and West Point railroads, the city was chartered 40 years later, and today is home to 38,000 residents

Georgia State Representative Park Cannon, whose District 58 slices through the community, says it’s a place “where people of economic opposites and vast social differences are neighbors.”

Situated between downtown Atlanta and Decatur, Kirkwood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This original streetcar suburb is home to a diverse community, a rich variety of Victorian and Craftsman-style houses, strong community associations, nearby MARTA stations, and half a dozen parks, with additional bragging rights as the place where world-famous rapper Future grew up.

Do you love where you live? Whether you live intown or OTP, we want to hear what you love about your home, your neighborhood, and what you’re doing to make it even better.