Unexpected Atlanta Tours & Gifts

29/02/2024

You've probably seen the huge mural in Sweet Auburn honoring Congressman John Lewis (even if just from the Grady curve), but it's not the only art on the street.

The Sweet Auburn Mural Project is very much worth seeing for yourself, but in case you can't make it there yourself, hears a peak.

28/02/2024

Jacob Elsas has the only mausoleum with a door facing Memorial. Find out why on our Grant Park Food and History Tour!....hint hint, those smoke stacks have something to do with it.

25/02/2024

Road Art 🎨 ✨️🤌
The art in Cabbagetown is always changing. Take one of our Cabbagetown art tours to see for yourself and learn more about the people who make it possible.

21/02/2024

Tired of being locked up in traffic? Join on a walking tour instead!

18/02/2024

Have you seen the newest (not so tiny) tiny door? It's 658 times bigger than her normal tiny doors!

Join us on a Cabbagetown Art Tour and see for yourself ✨️

11/02/2024

Take our M.L.K Jr History Tour, see the Jackson Street Bridge❗️

Usher likes the view.

09/02/2024

It's a beautiful day in the Old Fourth Ward.

08/02/2024

Did you know The Curb Market is over 100 years old!?

Learn the history of Atlanta’s oldest food hall while enjoying its delicious meals on or Curb Market Food and History Tour.

03/02/2024

📢New tour alert ⚠️

❗️❗️ Cabbagetown Street Art Tour❗️❗️

Explore some of the city's most famous murals, graffiti, and installations on a guided walking tour of Cabbagetow, Krog street tunnel, and the Atlanta Beltline.

See these neighborhoods with new insights and historic context and become an artist yourself.

30/01/2024

Oakland Cemetery will reopen on Feb 1st!🍾

They've been closed to public for road repair, but soon, the wait is over.

Join us on a Grant Park Food and History Tour to explore the cities oldest public park.

27/01/2024

There's no butter way to spend a rainy day.

Want to go on a walking tour without a weather worry? Come on a Historic Curb Market Food Tour and Biscuit Class!

21/01/2024

Friendly neighborhood skyscrapers🏙

Views you see when walking around the King district in winter.

skyscrapers

19/01/2024

Are you planning spring break in Atlanta? Check out our newest video.

Top ideas for a memorable and fun spring break in Atlanta. These spring break Atlanta ideas are for everyone. Enjoy the local street art scene while explorin...

15/01/2024

A reminder that Martin Luther King Jr. day is "a day on, not a day off".

07/01/2024

It's Sunday in the South, which means brunch.🍽

Guide Margret enjoyed hers at Brunch no.246 in Decatur.

Have you been there? What did you think, and more importantly, what did you eat?

04/01/2024

Cabbagetown art means more than murals. Here are a few of the other pieces you'll see when you take a stroll through the neighborhood. Scroll to see plans for a robbery!

02/01/2024

By the turn of the 20th century, Atlanta’s street car had created communities away from downtown.

As new neighborhoods took root, people wanted shops closer to their homes.

In the 1920s, Little 5 Points became one of the first commercial districts outside of downtown Atlanta.

After more than 100 years, L5P is still a hot destination. What's your favorite place to go in Little 5 Points?

31/12/2023

There’s a New Year's tradition among bird watchers that the first bird you see predicts the tone of the year ahead.

According to Bird Watch HQ, the most common bird in Atlanta is the American Robin.

Are you a bird watcher? Let us know what your New Year's Bird is for 2024.

22/12/2023

If you spot a merry man in a crimson suit with a snowy beard, you've stumbled upon Santa Claus! But how did he acquire that iconic appearance?

Before 1931, Santa's likeness was as varied as snowflakes. He appeared as a tall, slender figure or even a spooky elf, clad in ever-changing attire—from a tan coat to bishop's robes or the animal skins of a Norse huntsman.

The transformation into the Santa we know began with Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast, who swapped Santa's tan coat for the now-familiar red ensemble.

However, the real magic happened thanks to Coca-Cola. In 1930, artist Fred Mizen painted a department-store Santa sipping a Coke amidst a bustling crowd. This scene graced print ads during the Christmas season, capturing hearts far and wide.

Coca‑Cola, enlisted illustrator Haddon Sundblom to expand on the festive vision. Sundblom found inspiration in the timeless poem (best known as) "'Twas the Night Before Christmas” .

Sunblom’s yearly ads became so popular that people began to closely monitor the images, noting changes like a backward belt or a missing wedding ring on Santa.

Sunblom’s original paintings are now valued pieces of art. They have been on display at the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and the Isetan Department Store in Tokyo, just to name a few. But their real home is right here in Atlanta at World of Coca‑Cola.

Image #1- Haddon Sundblom ad from 1949
Image #2- Fred Mizen 1930 add originally appearing in The Saturday Evening Post
Image #3- Early Thomas Nast illustration from 1962 before the outfit change.

21/12/2023

Today marks the 175th anniversary of one of the boldest escapes in history.

In 1848, married couple Ellen and William Craft fled enslavement in Macon, Georgia, heading north by train

William, though enslaved, was an accomplished cabinet maker and allowed some autonomy. Ellen was the daughter of her enslaver and very fair skinned, to the consternation of the “lady of the house” she was often being mistaken for a member of her enslavers family (which...of course….she was).

Despite their marriage, they faced the constant threat of separation at the auction block.

William devised a plan: Ellen would masquerade as a wealthy white man while he posed as her slave.

Ellen bandged her face and right hand to further obscure her identity and provide an excuse as to why she was unable to sign her name (something a rich white man at the time would certainly know how to do)

Ellen dined with the train conductor and was even offered brandy and ci**rs. William had to travel in a separate car but also spent the journey in relative comfort.

But the escape was not without its perils. Several people tried to purchase William, and one woman even mistook him for her slave, demanding he come with her.

Luckily, their disguises held long enough for them to cross the Mason dixon line where they connected with an underground abolitionist network and settled in Boston. William resumed cabinetmaking, and Ellen became a seamstress.

In 1850, slave hunters tracked them to Boston, prompting another escape to England, where they raised five children. Returning to Georgia in 1870, they established a school for newly freed blacks.

Image created by artist Judith Hunt, www.judithhuntillustrations.blogspot.com

20/12/2023

This is my favorite chimney in the city of Atlanta...is it weird that I have a favorite chimney? Do you have a favorite chimney?

16/12/2023

You probably drive by this sculpture all the time, but did you know it was a gift from Spain?

In 1996, Atlanta was getting ready to host the summer Olympics. Barcelona had hosted the previous summer Olympics and wanted to pass the metaphorical torch.

Just one of many things you'll learn on one of our King District Walking Tour.

My favorite part is learning the context for things I see every week.

Homage to King by artist Xavier Medina Campeny

14/12/2023

A lot of trees are getting topped with stars, but it's hard to beat this one

Wall Drawing #729 Irregular Color Bands
By Sol LeWitt

11/12/2023

🎂Happy birthday, Brenda Lee!

She has been in the news a lot lately. Her song “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” broke the Billboard Hot 100, making her the oldest artist to have topped the chart.

But did you know that she’s a Georgia girl? Born right here, today, in the charity ward of Emory University Hospital.

Back in 2019, she even told Atlanta Magazine “Everything I know about singing I owe to coming up in Georgia”

Thank you Ms.Lee for all the music you’ve put into the world. May you keep rocking around the sun for many, many years to come.

What’s your favorite holiday song?



Photos

1-Lee with UGA bulldog, courtesy of the Brenda Lee Archives

2-Emory University Hospital circa 1950
http://whsc.emory.edu/about/history/timeline.html

07/12/2023

🕎Chag Hanukkah!

Here's a look back at Hanukkahs past as start this year's celebration.

29/11/2023

⛄️Do you want to build a snowman?☃️

Holiday Market Food Tour + Snowman Biscuit Class

In just two hours, you will try 11 delicious seasonal tastings like mince pie and rum pecan pralines from 5 food vendors in Atlanta’s oldest market and become Southern cooks with a hands-on Atlanta cooking class. You’ll learn fascinating Atlanta history and get a close look at Southern cooking and Georgia’s most famous foods, including peaches, collards, and pecans. And, you will love learning how to make the perfect Southern biscuit snowman shapes in our Atlanta cooking class.

27/11/2023

Mmm, Little Tart

Here's their Summerhill location, giving warm light on a cold night.

Try some of their delicious pastries here or at their Grant Park location as part of our Grant Park Food and History Walking Tour.

23/11/2023

🍴Today, America will consume approximately 46 million turkeys. But turkey was not always the mainstay of Thanksgiving. 

100 years ago, if you lived in Georgia, you would likely be dining on Thanksgiving Opossum. 

President Taft was a particular opossum proponent. At Thanksgiving-  “there was a 26-pound possum, said to be the largest and plumpest ever trapped in the Georgia woods, on the table in the White House dining room.”- 1909 Washington Post

President Taft became so connected to the opossum that a stuffed animal named “Billy Possum” hit the shelves in an attempt to usurp the popularity of the Teddy Bear, made famous by Taft’s predecessor Teddy Rosevelt. 

“Billy Possum” played dead on the shelves and was clearly not as enduring as the Teddy Bear, but Opossum continued to be a delicacy, that is until President Hoover came around.

During Hoover’s presidency, a wild opossum roamed the white house grounds and was soon adopted as an outdoor pet, appropriately named Billy. 

The sight of this opossum mascot endeared the American public. This, as well as shifting social habits towards the way we catch and eat food, meant possum was off the menu.

Most of us have probably never eaten opossum, and that may be a good thing. The only marsupial native to the Americas, the possum is a sweet friend who eats many ticks and bugs. Culinary delicacy or not, I say, be kind to the opossum.

Have you ever eaten an opossum? Let us know in the comments.

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2019/08/of-possums-and-presidents-some-presidential-encounters-with-opossums/

22/11/2023

Dr. King's birth home will be closed to the public for the next two years to undergo repairs. ⚒️

But don't worry, you can always take a King District History Walking Tour with us! We're even open the day after Thanksgiving.

Your last chance to see inside the home is November 27th.

20/11/2023

Take a break from cooking. Let us entertain your family. Come on a Grant Park Food and History Tour where we do NOT serve turkey.