GA400: The Hospitality Highway
Signs on the Lenox Road “Loop,” Interstate 85, and GA400 officially designate GA400 the “Hospitality Highway” by the State of Georgia as a special area for tourists’ road-traveling pleasure.
This limited-access highway runs from Atlanta 60 miles north to Dahlonega and, indeed, affords tourists abundant opportunities for pleasant road traveling. It starts in the southeastern corner of Buckhead near I-85 and Sidney Marcus Boulevard, and winds through six roadside communities: Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming/Forsyth, Dawsonville, and Dahlonega. Buckhead’s involvement is sponsored by the Buckhead Hotel Council with coordination from the Buckhead Coalition. Other partners are the Convention & Visitors Bureaus in each community.
Buckhead’s membership is particularly valuable because of the growing impact of the tourism it generates. Buckhead is home to 5,992 hotel rooms, approximately 1,500 retail shops, which include the largest malls in the Southeast—Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza—and Buckhead’s newest shopping destination, the Buckhead Village District. Buckhead has more than 300 dining and drinking establishments, more than 60 art galleries, none to overshadow the newly renovated Atlanta History Center, with its museums, antebellum estates, classically manicured gardens, and now, Atlanta’s famously restored art treasure, Cyclorama.
Public Transportation
Buckhead is served by MARTA’s North and Northeast Rail Lines with three stations connecting to eight bus routes. Rail Stations are Lindbergh Center Station (N6), Buckhead Station (N7), and Lenox Station (NE7). Georgia Bus Line routes in Buckhead are: Buford Highway, Sidney Marcus Boulevard, and Lindbergh Center Station.
Driving Through Buckhead: Civil War Heritage Trail
See Buckhead on this historic driving route, from Peachtree Dunwoody Road, at Sandy Springs/Atlanta City limits, south to Peachtree Road, southwest to West Paces Ferry Road, west to Moores Mill Road, southwest to Howell Mill Road, south to Peachtree Battle Road, east to Peachtree Road, north to Lindbergh Drive, east to Lavista Road, east to Fulton/DeKalb county limits.
Interpretive Civil War markers include (#25) Battle of Peach Tree Creek along Peachtree Battle (be- tween Howell Mill and Northside), and (#26) Peach Tree Creek Crossing along Peachtree (between Peachtree Battle and Lindbergh).
Take the Road Less Traveled
Buckhead is teeming with greenspaces that allow bikers, skaters, and walkers/runners to travel throughout the community:
Northside Trail
The Northside Trail alongside Bobby Jones Golf Course (see map) is a favorite for its pleasant greenspace. This trail meanders from the back of Colonial Homes and Bobby Jones Golf Course through Tanyard Creek Park to Ardmore Park. It’s an extremely pleasant amble through lots of shady, serene green space in the Collier Hills and Ardmore Park neighborhoods. Having opened in April 2010, it offers a nice linkage of parks and playgrounds, but not a lot of art and no dining or retail options unless you go out of your way to Peachtree Street. Expect an atmosphere more like one of the many PATH trails in the adjacent Peachtree Bat- tle area rather than the Eastside Trail. PATH has extended its trail along the golf-course side of Northside Drive with an extension along Woodward Way that provides a complete “loop” around the Bobby Jones Golf Course and pathway to the BeltLine Tanyard Creek trail.
Tanyard Creek Park
For visitors to the one-mile-long North- side BeltLine Trail, Tanyard Creek Park makes a convenient mid-point, with Peachtree Creek and shady trees pro- viding a tranquil backdrop for a picnic. The park also subtly commemorates the Battle of Peachtree Creek through six arge, historical markers that recount the conflict’s death toll and its role in the course of the Civil War. Without brushing against contentious politics, the markers provide a sober history lesson in an undeniably idyllic location.
Northside-Peachtree-Piedmont
The Lindbergh region is a high-traffic convergence of Piedmont Avenue and its contributing streets linking Midtown and Buckhead. Lindbergh Station, one of MARTA’s busiest, serves the middle-c ass singles and couples who live nearby. The Brookwood community offers high-end, gated brick and Colonial Homes just a three-wood swing or less from Peachtree Road. On the southeast fringe of Buckhead, Peachtree Hills offers an eclectic respite from the area’s dense traffic with a novel array of antique shops, cafes, and bungalows featuring quirky gardens and exterior decorations. The mile-long BeltLine Northside Trail effectively connects Bobby Jones Golf Course, Atlanta Memorial Park, and Ardmore Park.
