Atlanta Underground

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. This tour of the city's history include the former sites of Union Station, Underground Atlanta and the Zero Milepost, and the unusual 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 AtlantaUnderground will reveal them one by one.

Jeffrey Morrison is an architect in Atlanta. His long-running Unseen Underground walking tours have been named "Best Way to Play Tourist" by Atlanta Magazine and "Best Intro to Atlanta History" by Creative Loafing.