Urban Hikes: Grant Park

Walking to the park through its surrounding turn-of-the-century neighborhood is half the fun, so we started our journey on a weekday morning at Ria’s Bluebird CafÈ (421 Memorial Drive at Cherokee Avenue) for breakfast. I heartily recommend the Bluebird Burrito and Bionic Breakfast to fuel up for a good walk.

We then headed into the neighborhood alongside Cherokee’s shaded, brick sidewalks, the most direct route to the 123-year-old park, donated to the city by Lemuel P. Grant, Atlanta pioneer and philanthropist. By 1890 Grant Park was described as a “resort” because of its amenities – the six-acre Lake Abana for swimming and boating, broad avenues for carriage rides, sculpture and rose gardens and natural springs.

We crossed over I-20, which divided Grant Park in the late 1950s and turned most of the neighborhood streets into dead-ends. As we walked south, we passed by the first of many Victorian cottages and Craftsman bungalows in various stages of renovation. In the commercial area, which dates from 1918, we spotted two places to refresh on our return trip: Grant Central (Italian, 51 Cherokee Ave.) and Blue Dakota (Tex-Mex, 454 Cherokee Ave.).

A block later we saw the rolling contours and old oak trees of the park, which is currently being restored and maintained by the Grant Park Conservancy. (The conservancy, by the way, is always on the lookout for historic items that have been taken from the park: a 1910 stone memorial to L.P. Grant, guns from Fort Walker, a metal sculpture called The Stag and a marble angel from one of the springs.)

Cherokee Avenue forms the park’s western border, and we stayed on it until we found the Milledge Fountain – where Milledge Avenue ends at the park. Since 1927 the fountain – sometimes called the “Horse Drinking Fountain” – has provided an inviting entrance.

Our first destination in the park was Fort Walker, named for Brig. Gen. William Henry Talbot Walker (1816-1864), a West Point graduate who was nicknamed “Old Shot Pouch” because of so many wounds sustained in the Seminole and Mexican Wars. The fort offers a spectacular view of the city skyline.

Facing the Milledge Fountain, we used the right entrance, which immediately connects to one of the original avenues. At the first intersection, we turned left up the hill with a woodsy area on the right and a playground on the left.

At the next intersection (a five-way intersection) we took the road at one o’clock and then picked up the paved path around the three green-roofed pavilions. You can sit awhile at one of the pavilions or on the grass in one of the park’s many open spaces. We continued on the path through the stone pillars and exited into the far end of the East Parking Lot (on Boulevard).

We turned right on the parking lot sidewalk and headed toward the park’s southernmost car entrance on Boulevard. We then took the next road to the right in the parking lot. After walking around the chain, we were on the final upward approach to Fort Walker, one of the city’s last remaining Confederate fortifications.

We scanned the 360-degree panorama and walked around the fort on the road to read the markers that tell the story of this almost forgotten spot that was part of a 12-mile defensive circle of rifle pits and forts in 1864.

We returned to the main part of the park the way we came. We did stop to rest at Constitution Springs, one of the five fresh water – but not potable – springs in the park.

Instead of going to the Cyclorama, we turned right onto the tree-covered road near the new fountain. (Note, at the same intersection is a marked path to the restrooms.) Green picnic tables provided a cool place to take a break and served as a landmark for the springs, which are located at the end of the little path next to the tables. The five springs fed Lake Abana, which is now the West Parking Lot.

This same road led back to the Milledge Fountain, and we stayed on it to the northern border of the park, Sydney Street. We exited there, turned left and then right on Cherokee Avenue to find again our restaurants in the commercial area. Once re-energized, we completed our walk to Memorial Drive (2.64 miles round trip).

If you want to extend your walk to other attractions such as the State Capitol Museum and Downtown, exit the park at the zoo entrance on Cherokee Avenue and head west on Memorial Drive. To visit Turner Field, go west on Georgia Avenue.

• Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum, www.grantparkconservancy.org  or (404) 624-1071.

• Grant Park Guided Walking Tours, (404) 688-3353 or www.preserveatlanta.com.