The old Rockdale County Jail was built in 1897 and was remained in use until 1969. Its exterior walls are three bricks thick, while interior walls are two bricks thick. The floor and ceiling of the second floor are constructed of steel with six inches of concrete above it. The main floor consisted of an office for sheriff and living quarters for his family. Five Rockdale County sheriffs and their families lived in the building between 1897 and 1969. The Rockdale County Historical Society acquired the property in 1975.
The 189-acre Piedmont Park hosted the Piedmont Exposition of 1887 and the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895. Much like Central Park is to New York City, Piedmont Park is a centerpiece greenspace for the city of Atlanta.
The 12,000-acre Red Top Mountain State Park features more than 15 miles of hiking trails. The park, named for for the soil’s rich red color caused by high iron-ore content, is also home to an 1860s homestead. The park also offers nice views of Lake Allatoona.
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Riverdale Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia, was established in 1890 after burial space at Linwood Cemetery, the oldest institution of the Columbus city government, had begun to run short. The city acquired additional land on 10th Avenue to create the new cemetery, which soon became another important resting place for people connected to the city’s growth and civic life. Many Columbus residents who played notable roles in the community’s history are buried there.
One of the cemetery’s most distinctive features is the brick building near the entrance, erected in 1915. It originally included a chapel, housing for the city sexton and a bell tower above an arched passageway used for funeral processions. That structure gives the cemetery an added architectural presence and reflects the formal role such grounds once played in public life.
Over time, Riverdale developed several special sections, including areas for military veterans, two sections for members of the Jewish community and a children’s section known as Baby Land. It is also home to a monument shaped like a circus tent, placed to honor those killed in a 1915 collision involving a circus train from the Con T. Kennedy Shows and a Central of Georgia passenger train.
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Rock Hawk Effigy Mound is comprised of thousands of pieces of quartzite. While referred to as a hawk, scholars do not know what type of bird the original builders intended to portray. The mound is one of two such effigy mounds found east of the Mississippi River. Current archaeologists believe Woodland Indians built the site between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago. These Native Americans may have been part of the Adena or Hopewell cultures, or they may have represented a different group.
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The Savannah History Museum, housed in the former Central of Georgia Depot, chronicles the history of Savannah from 1733 to modern times. Among the 40,000 artifacts housed in the museum is the bench from the movie Forrest Gump, information about Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts and a steam locomotive from the early 20th century. The railroad used the building until 1972, and the Coastal Heritage Society opened the museum in 1989.
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Shoupade Park preserves a rare but essential remnant of the Civil War’s River Line. Confederate Brigadier Gen. Francis Shoup in 1864 built a series of earthen forts shaped like arrowheads large enough to hold 80 soldiers. The fortification, known as “Shoupades,” allowed them to fire shots to the right, left and straight ahead as the enemy approached. Confederate troops wanted the shoupades to stop Union troops from crossing the Chattahoochee River and entering Atlanta. Modern development wiped out most of the Shoupades over the years. However, through an agreement with a developer, the city of Smyrna helped preserve one of the works. A shoupade model is on display at the Smyrna Museum.
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The Silver Comet Trail repurposed a former rail line into a popular multi-purpose path. The route dates to the 1890s when a rail line connecting Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala. Seaboard Air Line Railroad operated the line and its successor, CSX, abandoned it in 1987. The trail is named for the Silver Comet passenger train, which ran from May 18, 1947, until 1969. The trail starts in Smyrna, Ga., and passes through Paulding and Polk counties and connects with the Chief Ladiga Trail at the Georgia-Alabama border.