Large Native American town once existed immediately west of Downtown Atlanta

It developed around a large spring and small lake – Center of the former lake = 33°45’44.0″N ~ 84°24’28.0″W

Rodney Cook, Sr. International Peace Park now occupies the site of the lake. Beloved Creek leader, Tomochichi, the largest freestanding statue ever created in Georgia, will soon overlook the park. It honors Georgia’s rich Creek Indian heritage. Most of what is now considered “Southern Cooking” were part of traditional Creek cuisine . . . including Southern Fried fish and poultry!

The wetlands were drained, and the site was filled with residences in the early 1900s, but they have frequently been flooded since then. Planners with the Trust for Public land placed a small lake in the location of the original one, apparently without knowing of the Native American mound, original lake or the large artesian spring which fed it. Where were Georgia’State University’s archaeologists? It’s Department of Anthropology is only 1.5 miles away!

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & Planner

Images Above

These are details of the 1892 Koch Birdseye View of Atlanta. In the map immediately above readers can clearly see Atlanta’s first water treatment plant, which pumped water from a large artesian spring to the remainder of the rapidly growing city . To the west is a massive mound, situated between two springs and small streams. Note the road running east-west on the upper end of this detail map It has been built on fill soil to span the former lake bed. The two streams come together and are spanned by a bridge. Maps prepared by engineering officers of the Confederate Army showed this area to be inside the fortifications of Atlanta, but undeveloped, because of the wetlands and ponds.

Many thanks to long time friend, Edna Dixon, for tipping me off about this forgotten chapter of Atlanta’s past. I was able to find this intricately detailed map, which clearly illustrates the large mounds. Several Creek town sites have been pinpointed along the Chattahoochee River, Peachtree Creek and Nancy Creek, but perhaps because Atlanta developed around the nearby intersection of two major railroads, these three mounds and undoubtedly several smaller mounds in between, were quickly forgotten.

Site Plan of Rodney Banks, Sr. Peace Park by planners of the Trust for Public Land

Virtual Reality Image of the park with the statue of Tomochichi installed atop a tall column

The statue of Tomochichi was temporarily placed upon a much shorter pedestal at a park on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta.