Atlanta in 50 Objects
A pink pig and a renegade cow. A movie prop and a Coke bottle. A Pulitzer Prize–winning book and a Nobel Prize–winning icon.
How do you tell the story of Atlanta in 50 objects? We decided the best experts were Atlantans themselves—residents who cheer the Braves and rue I–285 rush-hour traffic, who understand how Civil War losses and Civil Rights victories together helped forge the city’s unique identity. Atlanta History Center asked the public to submit what objects they think best represent their town. The parameters were broad: an object could also be a person, a place, an institution, or an idea. After receiving hundreds of submissions, History Center staff assembled a collection of fifty pieces that represent the themes identified by the public. In addition to items from our own collections, we have partnered with many local institutions and individuals to gather artifacts from around the city to tell this community–driven story.
Peachtree Street
Atlanta’s famous street name is widely known due in part to Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone With the Wind, which introduced the city and its most famous street to popular culture.
Acentury earlier, Peachtree Street was an important Native American trail connecting Fort Daniel in present-day Gwinnett County to the Creek settlement of Standing Peach Tree on the Chattahoochee River.
A 1782 letter from Colonel John Daniel refers to a rendezvous of Coweta Creek Indians “at Standing Peach Tree” planning to disrupt a band of Oconee Indians. As many Creeks sided with the British during the War of 1812, the state of Georgia constructed a fort at Standing Peachtree. The area was designated a U.S. Post Office in 1825.
Contributing to the name recognition of Atlanta’s “Main Street,” developers and city planners have provided variations on the original, increasing wayfinding confusion for many: Peachtree Lane, Peachtree Avenue, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Memorial Drive, New Peachtree Road, Peachtree Walk, Peachtree Valley Road, Peachtree Battle Avenue, Peachtree Dunwoody Road, and many other variations.
By some accounts as many as seventy streets use some form of Peachtree in their name in Metropolitan Atlanta.
Celestine Sibley, author of Peachtree Street U.S.A., 1963. Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ken Patterson, photographer