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The greater Atlanta area embraces several different counties. The city of Atlanta is primarily in Fulton and DeKalb Counties, although its southern end and the airport are in Clayton County. Outside Interstate 285, which encircles the city, DeKalb, Gwinnett, and northern Fulton Counties are experiencing much of Atlanta's population increase.
Atlanta's lack of a grid system confuses many drivers, even locals. Some streets change names along the same stretch of road, including the city's most famous thoroughfare, Peachtree Street, which follows a mountain ridge from Downtown to suburban Norcross, outside Interstate 285: it becomes Peachtree Road after crossing Interstate 85 and then splits into Peachtree Industrial Boulevard beyond the Buckhead neighborhood and the original Peachtree Road, which heads into Chamblee. Adding to the confusion, dozens of other streets in the metropolitan area use "Peachtree" in their names. Before setting out anywhere, get the complete street address of your destination, including landmarks, cross streets, or other guideposts. Street numbers and even street signs are often difficult to find.
Atlanta proper has three major areas—Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead—as well as many smaller commercial districts and in-town neighborhoods. Atlanta's Downtown is filled with government staffers and office workers by day, but at night the visiting conventioneers—and, as city improvements take hold, residents—come out to play. Midtown, Virginia-Highland, Buckhead, Old Fourth Ward, the Westside, and Decatur are the best places to go for dinner, nightclubs, and shows. Other neighborhoods like East Atlanta, Grant Park, Little Five Points, and Kirkwood have unique characteristics that merit exploration.
Established by a group of photographers in the '70s as the arts co-op Nexus, Atlanta Contemporary is an arts center that exhibits edgy contemporary art. It has the feel of a sophisticated gallery, but the programming is approachable, and its annual Art Party is not to be missed.
One of the neighborhood's best features is the Freedom Park Trail, a particularly pleasant stretch of the PATH Foundation's more-than-250-mile trail system in the metro area. It gives runners, bikers, and dog walkers a peaceful thoroughfare inside the 210-acre Freedom Park. The PATH is the largest public green space in a major metro area developed in the United States in the last century.
The capitol, a Renaissance-style edifice, was dedicated on July 4, 1889. The gold leaf on its dome was mined in nearby Dahlonega. Inside, the
Established in 1850 in the Victorian style, Atlanta's oldest cemetery was designed to serve as a public park as well as a burial ground. Some of the 70,000 permanent residents include six governors, five Confederate generals, and 6,900 Confederate soldiers. Also here are novelist Margaret Mitchell and golfing great Bobby Jones. You can bring a picnic lunch or take a tour conducted by the Historic Oakland Foundation. The King Memorial MARTA station on the east–west line also serves the cemetery.
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