The Green Spaces of Atlanta: The Balance of Reflection and Power
Atlanta has the reputation of a muscular city. It’s a city of commerce, no doubt about it, and it grew from a crossroads where people met people to make a buck. But all along, Atlanta had a sense of balance. Look at the art collections, the architecture, theater, and Atlanta’s new role as a movie production hub. One big reason behind the demand for Atlanta residential real estate is that somehow Atlanta always kept its balance.
Maybe nothing shows that so clearly as Atlanta’s luscious parks. Amid our steel and glass skyline there are emerald gems of peace and nature and reflection that restore this great city’s energy. You might say we took the same forward-leaning approach to parks as to everything else – there are more than 3,000 acres of parkland in Atlanta.
And unlike many cities that had to take a “stop everything and make a park here” approach – like the “greenbelts” of England or some of our American coastal communities – Atlanta grew in a way that put the parks right here among us.
Piedmont Park
Only a mile from Downtown, the iconic Piedmont Park is surely one reason that midtown Atlanta real estate is so enduringly attractive. Though Piedmont Park was originally designed to host a huge civic and commercial exposition in 1887, the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect of New York’s Central Park, redesigned it in the early 20th Century, adding scenic paths and views.
We might thank the Olmsteds for the fact that views of the city skyline from Piedmont Park’s Lake Clara Meer look a lot like the sight you get running The Reservoir in Central Park. And the Olmsteds’ design was by no means the only enhancement to Piedmont Park. Like everything else about Atlanta, the improvements here never stop for long. Covered picnic areas, playgrounds, tennis facilities and a visitors’ center are just a few of the recent ones. More than 53 acres were added to Piedmont Park in 2008, and a major expansion to the northern end of the park was begun in 2011.
Atlanta knows how to make the most of a treasure. The Piedmont Park Conservancy is a non-profit that sees to the continual improvement, maintenance, and security of the park, and its success makes this the most visited green space in Atlanta.
Chastain Park
In the upper left-hand corner of Buckhead, Chastain Park is not just in the right place, it’s offering the right things. The largest park in Atlanta offers jogging paths, playgrounds, golf and tennis, swimming, and even a horse park offer a scenic workout, a picnic or a family day outdoors on 260 acres of green, right where they need it. Homes in the area are drawing downsizers and young professionals alike.
Atlanta Botanical Garden
Less than a mile from Midtown Atlanta real estate hotspots such as 1065 Midtown, the Botanical Garden enriches life here in so many ways that only a visit can give the true sense of it. It’s part breathing, part cooling, part relaxing, part learning, part bonding – and all Atlanta. Perhaps no other spot proves the balance that this hard-driving city somehow maintains than our precious Atlanta Botanical Garden.
To find out more about how these carefully crafted parks can become part of your life in Atlanta, just remember that Engel & Völkers is the Atlanta leader in the sale of residential real estate and new developments. We’d love to be your guide. Just call us at 404-845-7724 or find out more at https://evatlanta.com.
Warmest Wishes,
