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Sotherly Suggestions

Five Interesting Atlanta Facts

History is an integral part of Atlanta’s culture, so let’s take a stroll through time and explore some interesting facts about our “city in the forest.”

1 | Looking out amongst the trees, it’s hard to imagine that in 1864 Atlanta was burned to the ground by General Sherman as an act of war. Since then, Atlanta has rebuilt and is one of the lushest cities in the United States, earning the nickname, “city in the forest.”

2 | The origin of Atlanta’s name came from railroad engineer J. Edgar Thompson, as a shortened version of the “Atlantica-Pacifica.”

3 | There are over 55 streets named “Peachtree” in Atlanta. Historians suggest the name originated from the Native American Tribe “Standing Pitch Tree,” versus the common misconception that it is named after an actual peach tree.

4 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the world and is equivalent in size to 45 football fields.

5 | There’s a very good reason why the Georgia State Capitol sparkles in the sun. It is gilded with 43 ounces of Dahlonega gold, mined from the grounds of Georgia.

Immerse yourself in Southern charm and culture when visiting our historic and welcoming city. We pride ourselves on having a rich history that draws the most sophisticated people from around the globe.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Sips Under the Sea at the Georgia Aquarium

On March 20th, the Georgia Aquarium is hosting a throwback party like no other! Dress up in your most festive 2000s gear and party like it’s 1999, again. Grab your denim jackets, throw on your kicks, and layer on the accessories for this adult-only cocktail party, with the whale sharks as your backdrop!

Experience the captivating magic of the Georgia Aquarium after hours while sipping on delicious cocktails, dancing to throwback jams, and selecting from tasty dining options. All five galleries will be open for exploration, providing plenty of ground for socializing and making new friends. Select from either the general admission tickets for two complimentary drinks or opt for the VIP tickets that include four drink tickets and a small bites buffet from 7 to 9 p.m. For a full list of ticket options, click here.

Take our word for it—there’s no better way to kick off spring than with an all-night dance party!

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Atlanta Oysterfest 2020

There’s always an exciting event happening in Atlanta, and who doesn’t love seafood festivities? On Saturday, February 8th, head to Park Tavern for the Atlanta OysterFest! From delicious oysters to a full cash bar, live music, and other great food options, this event is a can’t-miss if you’re in town.

Whether you’re craving steamed, fried, or raw, this fest has it all—fried chicken, fried shrimp, cold beer, signature cocktails are on tap as well.

With tons of indoor space and a fantastic lineup, DJ Qtip will be taking center stage. This 21 and up event is $15 in advance and $25 the day-of. Snag your tickets in advance here.

Eat, drink, and take in Atlanta’s stunning skyline at Piedmont Park this Saturday.

For more details on the event, you can visit their official website!

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Day Trips to the Georgia Aquarium

Whether you’ve traveled to Atlanta for business or pleasure, there’s always time for a stop at the wonderful Georgia Aquarium. From upcoming events to programs and exhibits, check out our guide to a fun-filled day at the aquarium.

Sea Otter Encounter
Go behind the scenes and interact with adorable sea otters during this exclusive tour of the sea otter facility. Visitors can help prepare a sea otter meal and even help out during a training session.

Dive with Gentle Giants
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to dive with whale sharks? Suit up and dive in the waters of the Ocean Voyager exhibit.

Dolphin Coast Gallery
Featuring Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, visitors can observe these playful creatures from the Dolphin Coast Lobby and the Dolphin Theater. Make sure to stick around and check out the fascinating presentation filled with fun marine life facts.

4D Theater Experience
Dive into the sea in this incredible 4D theatre experience, featuring interactive seats and unique special effects. Discover the wonders of the ocean from an animal's point of view.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Atlanta's Chinese Lantern Festival

There’s always a new event happening in our lively city! The Chinese Lantern Festival is taking on Atlanta, and we couldn’t be more excited. Happening right now at Southern Company Amphitheater, check out handcrafted lanterns of over 25 different kinds of animals, and exciting interactive experiences.

Fun for all ages and taking place in Centennial Olympic Park, this year’s theme is “Into the Wild” and will be highlighting the importance of animal protection. There will be plenty of booths with Chinese paintings, gifts, souvenirs, sweet treats, and more.

Along with these beautiful lanterns, visitors can enjoy an array of authentic Asian food selections and exciting live performances. Featuring acrobatics, dancers, and theatre performances, this event is perfect for travelers visiting for business or pleasure. Running through January 5th from 6 pm to 11 pm every night, make sure to stop by and witness the magic up close.

Start planning your visit today.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Explore Atlanta This Fall

We’ve survived the Halloween festivities! Now it’s time to get serious about Thanksgiving and Christmas. With so many exciting events, it may be challenging to plan your itinerary. That’s why we’ve hand-selected the best activities happening this fall.

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights, Atlanta Botanical Garden, November 16 to January 11

Kick-off the season with lights. Every year, people from near and far come to experience the dazzling light display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Expect live music, synchronized lights, s’ mores, hot chocolate, and more.

Thanksgiving Brunch Buffet at Livingston, November 28 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Enjoy carved to order Cajun roasted breast of turkey, sage gravy, cranberry sauce, and cornbread at this feast to remember. Celebrate the holiday by indulging in all of your favorite comfort foods, taken up a notch.

Nutcracker Ballet at Fox Theatre, December 7 to 24

Experience the splendor of E.T.A. Hoffman’s magical story coming to life before your eyes. Fill your heart with glee as you listen to the triumphant tunes that signal the start of the Christmas season.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Don’t Miss the Halloween Half Marathon Series

Lace-up your running shoes and let the Halloween costume shopping commence! One of the best holidays of the year is just around the corner, and we couldn’t be more excited.

Beginning in Piedmont Park, the Halloween Half Marathon & 5K will be taking place on October 27th. This annual running event is not your traditional marathon—participating runners will be decked out in costumes.

Runners of all skill levels are more than welcome to join, and costumes are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. Awards will be presented to the top 3 costumes in each age category, so have some fun with it and go all out!

This year, make sure to bring some extra sneakers. Gently worn, used, and new athletic shoes will be collected and donated to Sneakers4Funds to raise money for local schools and developing nations like Haiti, who can sell the sneakers in their local communities to support their families.

Learn more and register today!

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Take Advantage of National Museum Day

There are few cities better to visit than Atlanta during National Museum Day. If you’re not familiar with this trendy little holiday, you’re in for a treat.

National Museum Day started as an awareness and membership campaign by the Smithsonian to boost visitation and interest in major metropolitan museums all over the country.
Today, the holiday marks a gateway for all citizens to explore museums and cultural organizations that may otherwise be unattainable for free. This year, National Museum Day will take place on September 21st, 2019. Most of the museums in Atlanta observe this holiday and will be opening its doors to you free of charge. Simply visit the official National Museum Day website and download tickets good for two guests at any of the participating locations. While you certainly won’t be able to visit all the Atlanta museums, you’ll definitely know where to travel to next year for National Museum Day.

Sincerely,

Your Southerly Host

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Get Inspired at the Piedmont Park Summer Arts Festival

For the last ten years, inspiration has made an appearance in Atlanta, bringing with it the ideal summer celebration: The Piedmont Park Summer Arts Festival.

This highly anticipated annual event features the who’s who of the art world and over two hundred and fifty regional artists and craftsmen showcasing their wares from a wide range of mediums and skillsets. Free to the public, the festival is held in the stunning Piedmont Park, Atlanta’s largest and arguably most beautiful outdoor gathering space, August 17th and 18th.

After you’ve perused the wide variety of handmade arts and crafts, head on over to the fleet of food trucks and booths to sample cuisine from Atlanta’s most scrumptious restaurants and eateries. There’s even a Children’s Area with games and activities for your little ones. Let live music and performances wash over you inside the beauty of Piedmont Park, and make the Summer Arts Festival a yearly addition to your list of must-see events.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Celebrate in Centennial Olympic Park

What better way is there to celebrate Independence Day than by getting the most out of your holiday at Centennial Olympic Park during their annual Fourth of July festivities. This festival is known throughout the states for its massive firework display, the largest in the Southeast, and it’s fantastic entertainment.

This year, world-famous DJ Yvonne Monet will be seeing the crowd forward into a musical celebration of our nation with inspired tracks and remixes she’s used to dazzle and delight audiences around the world. Be sure to bring an appetite. Some of the best food truck, eateries, and restaurants in the city will be there ready to serve you Atlanta’s finest cuisine.

Make sure to get there early. The gates open to guests at 7:00 p.m. and DJ Monet’s show starts at 7:30 p.m. Parking is located beside the Georgia World Congress Center and the Football Hall of Fame. This event is free to the public.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Check Out the World of Coca-Cola

Atlanta is hot in June, but don’t let the heat keep you indoors. Cool down with a sampling of icy cold Coca-Cola products at their museum and interactive experience center on Baker Street. This museum functions more like a Coca-Cola-themed campus dedicated to showcasing “the world's most famous and most loved beverage brand” than a traditional museum.

Enjoy a tour through myth and fact of the history, creation, and distribution of the world’s first soft drink. Learn how one pharmacist launched a global empire. Get behind the scenes of the bottling process. Sample hundreds of Coke flavors, view artifacts from a bygone era, and learn the real story of Coke’s secret formula from inside the famous Coca-Cola Vault. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you’ll even get to have a photo-op with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear! Finally, stop by the Pop Culture Gallery and learn how the fans of the brand made Coca-Cola the powerhouse name that it is today.

Sincerely,
Your Sotherly Host

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What’s in a Name: Becoming Atlanta

You’ve decided to visit the “City in a Forest,” our beloved city of Atlanta, most well-known as the capital of Georgia. Atlanta has a varied and storied history, packed full of fascinating tidbits that make our city the shining gem of the south.

Among them, Atlanta’s many names, misnomers, and legends. Find out below how Atlanta rose to be one of the most interesting cities in America, all with a name.

If you’ve ever been here before, you know that navigating the neighborhood can be a challenge. Atlanta boasts over sixty-eight streets in the city named “Peachtree” which is especially confusing as there are very few peach trees in the city. Peaches do not grow natively in Atlanta. It’s theorized that the popular name is actually a perversion of the name “Standing Pitch Tree” as the area was called by the First Nations at the time. No matter the reason, visitors were beckoned to the area by the promise of succulent peaches.

The city name itself is also a bit of a mystery. One of the more accepted stories is Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, Edgar Thomson, named the city after his cross-country railroad, “Atlantica-Pacifica.” Another tale is he named the city after his oldest daughter. Either way, when you stroll the streets of our city, you’ll find no peaches or beaches, simply the enduring atmosphere of the South.

Sincerely,
Your Sotherly Host

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Explore the High Museum

Founded in 1905 by the Atlanta Art Association, the High Museum of Art has a unique and varied history, beginning with humble origins in a private home on Peach Street to its status today as the foremost leading art museum in the Southeast region.

Today, the museum boasts over 15,000 works of art in its permanent collection and claims an emphasis on southern art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Delve into the minds of the finest photographers, designers, and contemporary artists, then peel through the layers of history and experience work that rocked the world with vast exhibits of European, American, African, and Folk Art.

Tickets are set at $14.50 per person and cover general admission for people age six and over. Be sure to check their website for special events and workshops offered during your stay and for their new interactive web features to truly personalize your High Museum experience.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Be Gone with the Wind at the Margaret Mitchell House

Atlanta is home to a vast collection of historical landmarks, structures, and homes which continue to tell the tale of how our nation and culture formed into what it is today.

The Margaret Mitchell House is perhaps one of the most sought-for, visited locations in Midtown Atlanta and has remained so since Mitchell lived on the ground floor apartment of the home from 1925 to 1932 while writing her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gone with the Wind.

Today, the Mitchell House is open Monday through Saturday for guided tours of the author’s former apartment. They also curate exhibitions showcasing Mitchell’s life before, during, and after writing her novel and the turn her life took once her book was made into a feature film. Make your way to the home of an American treasure and a formative piece of our city’s history. Tickets are $13 per person and can be purchased in advance from the museum’s website.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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Valentine’s in Atlanta’s Botanical Gardens

Make new memories at a vivid horticultural experience unlike any other with a visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on Valentine’s Day for a special nighttime viewing of their stunning Orchid Daze exhibit.

The orchid, long recognized as America’s favorite bloom, seems made to put on a show with their wide range of natural color patterns, elegant growth structure, and light perfume emanating from downy petals. Your night among the orchids becomes elevated with echoes of old Hollywood appearing throughout the gardens. From a Casablanca-esque entrance, complete with spotlights and vintage photo ops, to Gatsby-era big band music, a bygone time of glamour and beauty is waiting for you not far from our hotel. Finish your night with a decadent dessert from Breakfast at Tiffany’s Snack Shack and a dance beneath the stars in the Roman Holiday-inspired open courtyard. Reserve your tickets today.

Sincerely, 

Your Sotherly Host

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Celebrate MLK Day in Atlanta

Atlanta is the birthplace of one of the most iconic American heroes of the century, a global destination for visitors to the museum dedicated to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK Day is a big deal in Atlanta, a time for honoring the sacrifices of the past, nurturing our hopes for the future, and inspiring the fellowship shared by all peoples. It’s also time for some of the best events of the year.

One can’t visit Atlanta in January without visiting The King Center, a National Historic Site dedicated to historical research and tolerance, not far from our hotel. Visit the home where MLK was born, pay your respects to his final resting place, view historical artifacts depicting social change, and join the party to celebrate this emblematic symbol’s ninetieth birthday. MLK’s birthday celebration is city-wide with visits to the High Museum of Art, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum, plus the National Center for Civil & Human Rights. Most of these attractions are free to the public or discounted to honor Dr. King’s legacy.

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Christmas Lights up Atlanta

It’s the most magical time of year again. Shed a little light on your holiday experience in Atlanta by visiting any one of the vast collections of holiday light displays glittering across our fair city. We’ve gathered the best, brightest, and shiniest for you here.

Fantasy in Lights

Located at Callaway Resort & Gardens, this fantastical light display has been voted National Geographic’s Top 10 Light Displays in the world. Eight million lights adorn dreamlike gardens around a magical Christmas Village, complete with trolly rides, seasonal treats, and a visit with the man in red himself. Order your tickets soon: https://www.callawaygardens.com/

Macy’s Great Tree

Reminiscent of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York, this Atlanta gem has been an anticipated yearly holiday staple since 1948. Holiday goers can enjoy the 90-foot pine tree with thousands of lights illuminate Lenox Square, take a ride on the famed Pink Pig Train, and lift their hearts with the sound of the season with Christmas carolers performing all their old favorites.

Sincerely,

Your Sotherly Host

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