Buckhead facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Buckhead
District of Atlanta
Partial view of North Buckhead skyline looking North West
Buckhead Location in Metro Atlanta
Country	United States
Elevation	738–1,050 ft (225–320 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	100,123
	City of Atlanta-Office of Planning; see Demographics of Atlanta
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	30305, 30309, 30318, 30324, 30326, 30327, 30342

Buckhead is a busy area in the northern part of Atlanta, Georgia. It's known for its many businesses, shops, and homes. Buckhead makes up about one-fifth of Atlanta's total area. It is one of the largest business centers in the southern United States.

This district has many tall office buildings, hotels, and shopping centers. You'll also find lots of restaurants and apartments here. These are mostly found around the intersection of Peachtree Road and Piedmont Road. The Buckhead MARTA station and Lenox Square are also nearby.

History of Buckhead

In 1838, a man named Henry Irby bought a large piece of land. This land is where Peachtree, Roswell, and West Paces Ferry roads meet today. Irby opened a small store and a place to eat and drink there. The area got its name, "Buckhead," from a story. People say Irby killed a large deer and put its head on display. Before this, the area was called Irbyville.

By the late 1800s, Buckhead became a popular vacation spot for rich people from Atlanta. In the 1890s, it was briefly called Atlanta Heights. But by the 1920s, everyone went back to calling it "Buckhead."

A cycling event on Piedmont Road, a main street in Buckhead.

After World War I, many wealthy Atlantans started building large homes in Buckhead. At the same time, some neighborhoods for Black residents also grew in Buckhead. This happened after events that caused Black residents to move from the city center. Some of these neighborhoods were Johnsontown, Piney Grove, Savagetown, and Macedonia Park.

Even during the Great Depression in the 1930s, big mansions were still built. In 1930, Henry Aaron Alexander built a huge house with 33 rooms. In the mid-1940s, Fulton County decided to buy the land where Macedonia Park was located. This was to build what is now Frankie Allen Park. This move caused over 400 families to have to leave their homes.

In the mid-1940s, Atlanta's Mayor William B. Hartsfield wanted to add Buckhead and other nearby areas to the city. He wanted to balance the city's population. Buckhead voters first said no in 1947. But in 1952, Atlanta officially added Buckhead and other communities to its city limits.

In 1956, a large property called Joyeuse was chosen for a new shopping center. This became Lenox Square. When it opened in 1959, it was one of the first malls in the country. It was also the biggest shopping center in the Southeastern U.S. Soon after, office buildings like Tower Place were built.

During the 1980s, the Buckhead Village area became a popular spot for bars and clubs. It was known as a fun place for many musicians and artists from Atlanta.

Later, residents wanted to make the area more peaceful and residential. They worked to reduce the number of late-night clubs. Many of the old bars and clubs were torn down in 2007. This made way for a new project called "Buckhead Atlanta."

Charlie Loudermilk Park and the Buckhead Theater in Buckhead Village.

Buckhead's Idea to Become Its Own City

Sometimes, people in Buckhead have talked about making their area a separate city. This idea came up in 2008 and again in 2021. The main reasons for wanting to separate are to have more local control and possibly lower taxes.

In 2021, some people felt that becoming a separate city would help Buckhead deal with crime better. While some types of crime increased, overall crime in Buckhead's police zone was down. Buckhead is one of Atlanta's wealthiest areas. If it became its own city, Atlanta would lose a lot of its tax money.

Many people in Buckhead supported the idea of becoming a separate city. Organizations even raised money to promote the split. However, the plan to hold a vote on this idea did not pass in the Georgia General Assembly in 2022 or 2023. In April 2023, a bill to allow a vote was rejected by the Georgia State Senate.

Geography of Buckhead

Buckhead started as a small central area, now called "Buckhead Village." Today, the name Buckhead covers a much larger area. It is shaped like a "V" between Interstate 85 to the east and Interstate 75 to the west.

Buckhead shares borders with several other places. These include Cumberland and Vinings in Cobb County to the northwest. To the north is the city of Sandy Springs. Brookhaven and North Druid Hills in DeKalb County are to the east. Midtown Atlanta is to the south, and West Midtown is to the west.

Buckhead Neighborhoods

Buckhead includes most of the neighborhoods on Atlanta's north side. There are 43 neighborhoods in total.

The very southern part of Buckhead, around the Brookwood and Ardmore neighborhoods, is sometimes called "South Buckhead."

People and Wealth in Buckhead

The Waldorf Astoria, Atlanta, a luxury hotel in Buckhead.

Since the 1950s, Buckhead has been known as a very wealthy area. Its western and northern neighborhoods are some of the richest in the Southeast. In 2011, one of Buckhead's zip codes (30327) was ranked as the second wealthiest in the South.

Because of its wealth, Buckhead is sometimes called the "Beverly Hills of the East" or "Beverly Hills of the South." This compares it to Beverly Hills, California, another famous wealthy area.

Buckhead's Economy

A portion of the Buckhead skyline seen from Lenox Square.

At the center of Buckhead, around Lenox, Peachtree, and Piedmont Roads, is a huge shopping area. It has over 1,500 stores where people spend billions of dollars each year. Buckhead also has the most high-end fashion stores in the United States.

Most of these stores are in Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza. These two large malls are across the street from each other. They have designer shops, popular national stores, and big department stores. The "Buckhead Atlanta" project, finished in 2014, added even more exclusive shops, restaurants, hotels, and offices.

The Alhambra, historic apartments in the Garden Hills neighborhood.

Buckhead is also a major center for healthcare. It is home to Piedmont Hospital and the Shepherd Center. The Shepherd Center is a special hospital that helps people with spinal cord injury and acquired brain injury. These two hospitals are next to each other on Peachtree Road.

Many countries have their offices, called consulates, in Buckhead. These include the offices for Australia, France, Brazil, Japan, and Greece.

{{wide image|Buckhead skyline from Vinings.jpg|880px|align-cap=center|The Buckhead skyline, around 2007.]]

Buckhead's Buildings

The Sovereign Building, completed in 2008, is one of Buckhead's tallest buildings.

In 1982, the Buckhead Business Association created an official map of Buckhead's borders. The state government and the Atlanta Regional Commission accepted these borders.

While many parts of western and northern Buckhead have large single-family homes in wooded areas, the Peachtree Road area has many tall buildings. The first tall office building, Tower Place, opened in 1974. Park Place, built in 1986, was the first tall apartment building.

Since then, many more tall buildings have been built. The 660-foot (201 m) Sovereign and the 580-foot (177 m) Mandarin Oriental (now the Waldorf-Astoria) were finished in 2008. Many new luxury apartment buildings have also been built. Today, Buckhead has over 50 tall buildings. This is almost one-third of all the tall buildings in Atlanta.

Education in Buckhead

Schools for Kids

Public schools in Buckhead are managed by Atlanta Public Schools.

The following public elementary schools serve children in Buckhead:

• Morris Brandon Elementary School
• Garden Hills Elementary School
• Warren T. Jackson Elementary School
• E. Rivers Elementary School
• Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary School

Students in the area go to Sutton Middle School and North Atlanta High School.

The Galloway School, a private school in Buckhead.

Because more families moved to Buckhead, many schools became crowded by 2012. For example, Sutton Middle School was at 150% of its student capacity.

There is also a special public school called Atlanta Classical Academy.

Many private schools are located in Buckhead. These include the Atlanta International School, the Atlanta Speech School, Christ the King School, the Atlanta Girls School, The Galloway School, Holy Spirit Preparatory School, Trinity School, The Lovett School, Pace Academy, and The Westminster Schools.

Colleges and Universities

Georgia State University has a special center in Buckhead for its business programs. This is where their Executive MBA program is located.

The University of Georgia's Terry Executive Education Center, across from Lenox Square Mall.

The University of Georgia also has an Executive Education Center in Buckhead. This center hosts their executive MBA program and a lecture series with business leaders.

Public Libraries

Buckhead has two public libraries that are part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. They are the Northside Branch and the Buckhead Branch.

Getting Around Buckhead

Main Roads

The Georgia Governor's Mansion, located on West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead.

The main road that goes north and south through Buckhead is Peachtree Road. This road continues south into the heart of Atlanta as Peachtree Street, which is Atlanta's most famous street. The name change helps show the border between Buckhead and Midtown.

The main road that goes east and west is Paces Ferry Road. It's named after an old ferry that used to cross the Chattahoochee River. Hardy Pace, one of Atlanta's founders, ran this ferry and owned much of the land that is now Buckhead. Other important roads include Piedmont Road, Roswell Road, and Northside Parkway.

Public Transportation

In the early 1990s, a new toll road called Georgia 400 was built through Buckhead. However, the MARTA train line was built in the middle of this highway. This gave Buckhead and Sandy Springs more public transportation options.

MARTA has three stations in Buckhead. The southernmost is Lindbergh Center. North of there, the train lines split. The Gold Line has a station at Lenox, and the Red Line has a station at Buckhead. A free bus service called "the buc" (Buckhead Uptown Connection) connects all three stations. There are also plans for a streetcar to connect Buckhead to downtown Atlanta.

Walking and Biking

Buckhead has several trails for walking and biking:

• North Beltline Trail (still being built)
• Chastain Park Trail
• Mountain To River Trail
• Paces Ferry Trail
• PATH400, a 5.2-mile path that connects different trails and parks in Buckhead. It helps people get to neighborhoods, offices, and stores.

Bike Share In 2017, the Relay Bike Share program started in Buckhead. This program lets people rent bikes from different stations.

Famous People Who Live or Lived in Buckhead

• Julius Erving: A famous basketball player and business executive. He moved to Buckhead in 2009.
• Elton John: A well-known singer and songwriter who used to live in Buckhead part-time.
• Katherine Lee: A Delta Air Lines employee famous for safety videos.
• Kelly Loeffler: A former U.S. senator, who lives in Tuxedo Park.
• Will Welch: The editor-in-chief of GQ magazine.

See also

In Spanish: Buckhead para niños