Parks in Atlanta facts for kids
Atlanta is a city full of amazing green spaces, perfect for exploring, playing, and relaxing! From huge parks with lots of activities to quiet nature preserves, there's a park for everyone. These parks are not just pretty places; they also host fun events and offer great ways to enjoy nature right in the city.
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Piedmont Park: Atlanta's Big Green Heart
Piedmont Park is like Atlanta's backyard! It's a super famous green space in the Midtown area. This park was even the site of a big fair called the Cotton States Expo way back in 1895. In 2010, the park got a big makeover and became even better. Today, people from all over come to Piedmont Park for its wide-open spaces, sports fields, and fun events all year long.
Downtown Parks: Fun in the City Center
When you're downtown, you'll find some cool parks right in the middle of everything. Centennial Olympic Park is a main spot where lots of exciting attractions are nearby. It's famous for its Fountain of Rings, which is a fun place to splash around in the summer. Close by, Woodruff Park and Hurt Park are popular spots for people working downtown to relax and eat lunch.
Other Awesome Parks Around Atlanta
Atlanta has many other fantastic parks, each with its own special features:
- Grant Park, on the east side of the city, is home to the city zoo. Imagine visiting animals and then playing in the park!
- Chastain Park is a big recreation spot in the northern Buckhead area. It has an amphitheater where you can go to live music concerts.
- Southside Park is Atlanta's largest park, though it's mostly undeveloped.
- The future Westside Park in northwest Atlanta will be even bigger! It's being built on an old gravel quarry site.
- Perkerson Park in Southwest Atlanta has the city's only permanent Disc Golf course, which is a fun sport like golf but with frisbees.
- You'll also find hundreds of smaller neighborhood parks all over Atlanta, like John Howell Park in Virginia-Highland.
- Freedom Park is Atlanta's largest "passive park," meaning it's a long, green space perfect for walking and enjoying nature. It stretches through many historic neighborhoods and is known as Atlanta's Public Art Park.
Nature Preserves: Wild Spaces in the City
Atlanta also has beautiful nature preserves where you can feel like you're far away from the city, even though you're still in it!
- Several nature preserves are located along the south fork of Peachtree Creek in the Morningside neighborhood, including the Morningside Nature Preserve.
- Part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is in the city's northwest corner, offering great views of the Chattahoochee River.
Atlanta Botanical Garden: A Garden Wonderland
The Atlanta Botanical Garden is a truly special place. It has a unique feature called the Canopy Walk. This is a 600-foot long walkway that goes 40 feet up into the air, letting you walk through the treetops of a 15-acre forest! It's the only pathway like it in the United States, giving you an amazing view of the forest from above.
Trails: Paths for Walking and Biking
Atlanta is building more and more trails, making it easier to walk, run, and bike around the city.
BeltLine: A Loop Around the City
The BeltLine is a super cool project! It used to be an old railroad track that forms a 22-mile loop around Atlanta's central neighborhoods. Now, it's being turned into public space. Much of it is already open as a walking path, and there are plans to add multi-use trails for biking and even public transportation in the future. A trail is already built near the West End neighborhood, and another one is being built to connect Piedmont Park to Inman Park. The BeltLine projects will actually increase Atlanta's park space by 40%, adding new parks like the already open Historic Fourth Ward Park and the future Westside Park.
PATH: More Trails to Explore
Besides the BeltLine, an organization called PATH manages a network of biking and walking trails all over Metro Atlanta. One of these trails goes through Atlanta's east side, passing by the Carter Center and through Freedom Park. A new trail called PATH400 will be a big addition to the PATH network in Buckhead. Other trails include the Cheshire Farm Trail and the Maiden Trail.
