Atlanta Underground: History from Below

Atlanta Underground presents a city history through the lens of its buried and paved-over urban landscape. Atlanta has been built, rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt so many times that it has created an artificial surface dozens of feet above the original ground plane, leaving room to explore the stories that lie below. Clues and paved-over evidence of the original streetscape are still accessible, but only to those who know where to look. The story begins with the railroads that brought people and business to Atlanta, and the intersections of transportation that Atlanta eventually outgrew. Sites on this tour of the city’s history include Union Station, Centennial Park and the Zero Milepost, and the artistic attempts to fill the void they left behind (a wax museum, musical instrument museum, a skating rink).

Contemporary photos of this urban spelunking landscape will illustrate this telling of Atlanta’s history: how it came to be where it is, how it acquired its unique name, and how its colliding street grids were established.

The rapid growth and change of Atlanta’s many lives has led to some downright interesting hidden locations and architectural curiosities, and Atlanta Underground will reveal them one by one.