There's so much to learn about this gateway city and so many ways to do so. For an overview, start with the Atlanta History Center, which includes the Atlanta History Museum and a new wing dedicated to the 1996 Olympic Games.
Or schedule a tour of the Georgia State Capitol, which was modeled after the nation's Capitol, another neoclassical edifice atop a "crowning hill." Its 75-foot dome, covered in gold leaf and topped by a Statue of Freedom, is a major Atlanta landmark. The building is fronted by a massive four-story portico with a pediment supported by six Corinthian columns set on large stone piers. In the rotunda, with its soaring 237-foot ceiling, are busts of famous Georgians, including signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The governor's office is off the main hall. The capitol building's public spaces have been restored to their 1889 grandeur. The fourth floor houses legislative galleries and the Georgia Capitol Museum, with exhibits on cotton, peach, and peanut growing; cases of mounted birds, fish, deer, insects, and other species native to Georgia; rocks and minerals; American Indian artifacts; and more. Note, too, the museum displays on the first floor.
You'd be surprised by how many folks come to Atlanta expecting to tour the Gone with the Wind mansion or see where Scarlett and Rhett are buried -- no joke. But the story is so much a part of the fiber of Atlanta that you really should plan to visit the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, "the dump" she lived in while crafting the famous tale of the South. The museum contains movie memorabilia and chronicles the making of the movie, its premiere in Atlanta, and the impact that the book and movie had on society. The tour concludes in the museum shop, which features a variety of GWTW collectibles. If you finish your tour around mealtime and you're ready for a real change of pace, walk a few blocks south on Peachtree to the Vortex, a rowdy burger joint and bar that serves some of the best burgers in town.
The Atlanta Preservation Society offers a number of guided historic walking tours throughout the city, including the fabulous Fox Theatre, Piedmont Park, downtown Atlanta, Grant Hill, Inman Park, and the Sweet Auburn/Martin Luther King, Jr., historic district. All of these tours offer insight to the history of Atlanta and the people and places that make this city what it is today.
