Gary-Summer: March 22, 2025 - Atlanta, Krog Street

Saturday, March 22, 2025

March 22, 2025 - Atlanta, Krog Street

Title: March 22, 2025 - Atlanta, Krog Street

Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Menu : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Touring

Trail head: King Memorial Station

Destination: Krog Street Tunnel, Wander

Distance: 3.6 miles

Start Time: 11:25

End Time: 6:15

Google Map Tracks

Description:

I got up at 8:20 after about 9 hours of sleep. Why do I feel like I need more rest? I spent the next 45 minutes just reading until Sherri got up. We have scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. But even with this comparatively fast meal, it is 11:25 before we head out. Still if you think about it as Fresno time, that is not too bad.

Sherri in the tunnel

We walk to the Brookhaven station and pick up the Gold train. This takes us to the Five Points station which is the only train transfer point on the MARTA system. We pickup the Green train which takes us to King Memorial. By this time it is about 12:30. Here we figure out how to get to the Krog Street Tunnel. This is via Decatur St. We see someone spray painting a building. Not sure if it is the owner of an artist commissioned to paint the building, but he does not seem to be hiding his work, just does not want Sherri to take a picture with his face in it.

We continue on and come across the Atlanta Beltline. This is a 22 mile length pathway which is meant to encircle Atlanta when finished. It is their bike and walking path. At least this bright and sunny Saturday, this portion of the Beltline is well used. To get to the Tunnel, we go on it for only a hundred or so feet. But like our route, it goes through the Tunnel.

And now the Tunnel. Its reputation is that it is a graffiti artist paradise. In the pictures, there is some really good work. But the reality of our walk through is that the free-flow where anybody could express themselves with paint has only led to a chaos of inscription with only a bit of it being art. I wonder if that is true of society in general. There needs to be a light hand directing things into its proper places so that expression will blossom. While complete freedom says that everything is OK, even to the point of going over someone else’s expression, let alone making judgement about the quality of expression.

But when we come out of the tunnel, there is a nice mural welcoming people to Cabbagetown. This is an area of Atlanta which has reimaged itself from a cotton mill employed community to one of arts. On this side of the Tunnel, there are wall murals running about ¾ of a mile along the CSX railyard. The Beltline continues along this until you get to the Breaker Breaker restaurant-we did not eat here, but it looked very popular. Also there is a part of this area which is called Reynoldsville after a family which migrated here.

As we were resting and deciding what to do, there was a couple who asked us a few questions, particularly about the Two Cities Marathon shirt I was wearing. Their friends came along who had lived in Oakland, but had met at Humboldt. She was a geology major 76-79, about the same year as my brother. She even mentioned one of David’s favorite professors.

Sherri has been directing us today. But I would say this has been much more of a wander than anything beyond lets go through the Tunnel. So we are discussing what we want to do. This allowed my mind to wander and I realized that A map only gives you direction if you have a destination. There are times where an adventure can be more of experiencing the unexpected. It is dangerous to let my mind too much time to contemplate.

We decided to head back to Krog Street. Sherri would like to see the Market there and also see Inman Park. Going through the Tunnel on the opposite side does not change my opinion of it. We head up Krog Street about three blocks and Sherri spots some interesting activity to the West. So we head over there-it is the Beltline. Sherri had said how this part of the city has been gentrified. This is proof of it. There are shops all along the Beltline. We walk away, but nothing looks really attractive to draw us in for lunch. We crossed back over to the Krog Street Market. Before lunch, Sherri spends some time in the Merchant. She finds a recipe book she is interested in on Southern cooking-but does not buy it.

Atlanta Beltline

We then head over and go through the Market. It really is a bunch of food vendors congregating inside of a large building. Sherri decides on getting a fried chicken sandwich with brussel sprout slaw from Soul: Food and Culture. I am content with BBQ chicken on flatbread from Fred’s Meat and Bread.

As we eat, Sherri starts up a conversation with two women seated close to us. One lives here and one lives in southern Maine. When I bring up Blue Hill, she brings up Noel Paul Stookey. A true believer at such a young age. She also brings us David Mallett of the Inch by Inch song. She recommends coming to Maine in the June to October timeframe.

Krog St Market

When we leave the Market, we head along Lake Ave NE. This takes us into Inman Park, which is not really a park, but an Atlanta neighborhood. There are interesting houses which are well taken care of. That is except for the sidewalks. The sidewalk on our side of the street has brickwork. But it has been upset by tree roots and time. So much that I would rather be walking along a Sierra dirt trail than these. But the buildings are interesting on both sides of the street.

To save our feet and the rest of our body, we cross the street where the sidewalk has been cemented and is in good condition. This leads us to coming to a large pond, or maybe considering the name of the street, a lake. There are ducks and turtles in this little park. We stop and talk a bit. The discussion is about yesterday, particularly what was said in the Margaret Mitchell House about two views of the Reconstruction period. One was expressed by Dunning, the other by deBois. While I do feel that Dunning fed into the Lost Cause thinking and thought the Reconstruction was a waste and infringement on the South, the question which I raised was how do we know which one was right? Thought provoking. By the way, this area is where the Battle ofAtlanta was fought.

Lake at Inman Park

We go on and exit the park through some stairs which brings us out on North Highland Ave NE. This brings us to the Freedom Parkway. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library is in this area. Here I made a mistake. It looks like there are a couple of options to pick up the bus. I led us over to the northern part of the parkway to pick up the 816 bus. There is one person waiting. He has been waiting for at least half an hour. When the bus does not come at the expected time, we get rather fidgety. MARTA tells our friend that the next bus is 35 minutes away.

Freedom Park

Our friend is in town for a travel writers conference. He is an editor/writer for a magazine oriented towards those who provide travel for groups. The magazine is Leisure Group Travel. We have plenty of time to talk. Eventually the bus came, about 5:05 after we waited about 50 minutes. Plenty of time to talk.

We rode the bus back to the Five Points station-our friend got off at the Sweet Auburn Market area. We picked up the Gold train back to Brookhaven-the train was crowded enough that Sherri got a seat and I stood. We get back into our AirBnB about 6:15. After resting a little while, we have peanut butter sandwiches. One of the things we have been yearning for is ice cream. So off to Krogers we got to stock up on some vitals and Tillamook German Chocolate Cake ice cream. Tastes really good. Then we take our showers. Sherri washes clothes and I finish writing this blog. It is about 10:20 before I turn in.

Trail Lesson: A map only gives you direction if you have a destination.

Background

Battle of Atlanta. Both Inman Park and Oakland Cemetery claim to be the site of the battle. This was a large battle so it did spread over an area which may have covered all of this area. It was a decisive battle which allowed the Union to commence their march to the sea.