Piedmont Park

Piedmont Park is Atlanta's backyard, and an hour on its lawns tells you more about the city's everyday life than any museum. It spreads across roughly 200 acres on the east side of Midtown, between Piedmont Avenue, Tenth Street and the Virginia-Highland neighborhood, and its signature view — a long, open meadow with the Midtown skyline rising beyond the trees — is the image of Atlanta that locals love most. The park has room for everything. Joggers and cyclists loop the paved paths; families picnic on Oak Hill and the Great Lawn; dogs run in two large off-leash areas; softball, tennis, bocce and pickup soccer fill the Active Oval and the courts; and Lake Clara Meer, the park's central lake, has a boardwalk and docks for strolling and photographs, especially at sunset when the skyline glows across the water. On Saturday mornings in season, the Green Market brings local farmers, bakers and food vendors to the park's southern edge. The park's northern section links to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which sits inside the park's footprint and has its own ticketed entrance, and the BeltLine's Eastside Trail runs along the park's eastern edge, so you can walk or cycle from here to Ponce City Market and beyond. Big festivals and concerts fill the meadows on some weekends, which can close sections of the park or make it crowded. The Piedmont Park Conservancy, a nonprofit, maintains much of the park in partnership with the City of Atlanta. It is free, open early to late daily, and an easy walk from the Midtown MARTA station.

The park's history begins with racing horses and world's fairs. In the late nineteenth century, the land was a private driving club and fairground, and in 1895 it hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, a world's fair meant to show off the rebuilt South, at which Booker T. Washington delivered his famous and controversial Atlanta Compromise address. The city bought the land soon after, and the Olmsted Brothers, sons of the designer of Central Park, drew up plans that shaped its meadows and paths. The park declined through much of the twentieth century and was rescued by the Piedmont Park Conservancy, founded in 1989, which has since invested heavily in restoring the lawns, lake and facilities and in adding new land on the park's north side.

A good visit depends on what you like. For the classic experience, enter from Tenth Street or the Twelfth Street gate, walk to Lake Clara Meer, cross the boardwalk and climb toward the meadow for the skyline view, then loop north to the Botanical Garden entrance if you have tickets. On Saturday mornings, start at the Green Market for breakfast and coffee. For a longer outing, join the BeltLine Eastside Trail where it meets the park and walk south toward Ponce City Market or the Krog Street area. Weekdays are calm; sunny weekends are busy, festive and full of people-watching. Check the Conservancy's alerts page for closures before big festivals, when parts of the park are fenced for events.

Practical notes: the park has a paid parking deck shared with the Botanical Garden on its northern edge, but parking fills on festival days, so walking, cycling or MARTA to the Midtown or Arts Center stations is easier. Restrooms and water fountains are scattered through the park, and Midtown and Virginia-Highland restaurants are a few minutes away for lunch. Piedmont Park suits everyone: families for the playgrounds and space, couples for a sunset lake walk, runners for the loops, and first-time visitors for the defining Midtown skyline view.