|
|
Urban Hikes: Decatur and Emory area
By Elizabeth Westby
On a recent muggy Sunday afternoon, I hit the road with my dad, Steve, and older brother, Lucas, to make a loop through Decatur, Emory and historic Druid Hills. My dad has a bad knee, and my brother was jet-lagged from an overseas trip, so I knew that if our trio could do it, anyone could.
We wanted to start the trip on full stomachs, so we ducked into Twain’s Billiards and Tap, a popular hangout at the intersection of Church Street and Trinity Place for lunch.
Spirits high at the start of our journey, we headed north on Church Street toward Ponce de Leon Avenue, turning right on Sycamore Street to skirt the beaten path. With beautiful old homes and lush gardens all around us, it was hard to imagine that MARTA tracks ran below the street. We then turned left on Sycamore Place and left on East Ponce in the direction of historic Decatur Cemetery.
Though the cemetery’s main entrance is located on Commerce Drive, we veered right on Ponce de Leon Court, a cozy residential street at the end of which a path cuts through a row of bamboo trees into the back of the cemetery. We stepped through the trees and immediately encountered ancient-looking gravestones; a plot housing the remains of John Moffett, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, particularly struck us.
At the north end of the cemetery, another path cuts through the bordering brush into Glenlake Park, yielding an abrupt change of scenery: instead of stone monuments, there were children laughing and kicking soccer balls. We passed Glenlake Pool on the way out of the park, the sound of splashing taunting us as the sun beat down on our backs. Though we didn’t bring our bathing suits, I noted the prices at this public pool: $2 for ages 4 through 13, $3 for ages 14 through 59, free for ages 60 and up.
We crossed over Church Street onto Lucerne Street, gaining entry into the quaint Great Lakes neighborhood. Lucerne runs into Waddell Park, a ravine-turned-garden that calls to mind Monet’s garden at Giverny, only without the lily pads. We traveled up Champlain Street to the park’s right, made a right on Huron Street and another right on Superior Avenue, following it to the North Decatur Road intersection.
We turned left and walked almost a block before veering right on Clairmont Circle and left on Powell Lane. We passed through the Emory Woods Apartments, imagining how another 10 years might gentrify a lot that, with its clotheslines and makeshift outdoor patios, has its own character.
Refueling on Clairmont
A short walk up the hill took us to Clairmont Road, where we made a pit stop on the deck of brand-new Mexican restaurant Sol y Luna (formerly Ricardo’s) where we munched on chips and salsa and downed lemonade, beer and a margarita. (Nearby Muriel and Sebastian’s ice cream parlor is a good alternative.)
Somewhat rehydrated, we walked a few steps up Clairmont and made a right on North Decatur and, about a block later, another right on Westminster Way. My parents used to own a small home on this street, so my dad knew a local trick: a little sidewalk runs between house numbers 1887 and 1881 and leads to a small park and tennis courts.
Bearing to the left of the courts, we headed through the trees and found ourselves at the parking lot of Emory Presbyterian Church. We slid behind the church and angled up to Haygood Drive for a view of historic Druid Hills High School, built in 1928 and recently featured in the film Remember the Titans.
A few steps past the school we arrived at Ridgewood Drive and took a right into the parking lot of Emory’s Turman Residential Center. Straight back through the lot we spotted a stone bridge that runs over Athens-bound train tracks; this took us to a gravel path in the woods behind Lullwater Park. We followed the path until, just before the gates to Emory’s Clairmont Campus, it splits left into the park (look for three iron posts).
We traveled this path only a short distance before arriving at another fork at the bottom of the hill; we turned left and headed toward water in the distance. We began walking the path around the lake, keeping the water to our right and stopping to glimpse the ruins of an old mill (listen for the sounds of a waterfall) and continued up the path past the Emory University president’s Tudor mansion.
We kept to the main path until it took us out of the park and onto Clifton Road, where we turned left. We crossed the street and made a right on Asbury Circle into Emory’s campus, walking past Dooley’s Den and Depot, an Emory cafÈ. A short distance later we ducked past some gate arms to continue on Asbury. (If, like us, you don’t turn right on Fraternity Row, look behind you at the spectacular view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Continuing through campus, we observed the newly renovated gym and the student center. We headed straight across a traffic circle and the bridge located just past the clock tower to the right. We saw Emory Hospital on our left before bearing right into the quad, a large grassy area flanked by impressive university buildings, most notably the Michael C. Carlos Museum.
Bearing left out of the quad, we hit Dowman Drive and saw North Decatur Road in the distance, as well as the picturesque main entrance to campus. At this point, we made a beeline for the beloved Everybody’s Pizza for a beer.
Cooled off, we took a left down North Decatur for the last leg, a roughly 3-mile trek through historic Druid Hills. On the other side of the traffic circle we made a left onto Lullwater Road, a curvy but refreshingly shady street where we admired the mansions, including the home at 822 Lullwater where Driving Miss Daisy was filmed, before circling back to the car.
Had we been less exhausted, we could have included nearby Virginia-Highland and Little Five Points, but the roughly 9-mile hike was enough for my rag-tag crew. We headed home, proud of a route that samples some of the best parts of Decatur, Emory, Druid Hills and much of the green space between.
|
