Tag Archives: Atlanta

-Georgia, Black History, Cemeteries, Historic Photos, National Register of Historic Places

The Four Crypts of Martin Luther King, Jr.-Atlanta, Georgia

Leave a comment

Most people know that Martin Luther King, Jr. Was first buried in South-View Cemetery in Southwest Atlanta and then The King Center. He was entombed into four different crypts over time.

After his murder on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, the King family and the city of Atlanta quickly got ready for his funeral. On April 9th, his first crypt was used at South-view Cemetery. The crypt was created by the Roberts-Shields Memorial Company.

The new crypt after it was installed with Ebenezer Baptist Church in the background. (Photo is courtesy of The Atlanta Journal.)

After King’s death, Coretta Scott King immediately envisioned and founded The King Center. Land was identified and King was relocated on January 14, 1970. A new crypt was built by the same company.

The second crypt location has a fence and an eternal flame. (The photo is courtesy of the Georgia State University archives for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

The permanent dais was built in 1976 and the third crypt was constructed. Like the others, it was built out of Georgia marble.

The single crypt of Martin Luther King on the permanent dais. (Postcard image.)

When Coretta Scott King passed away in 2006, the Robert-Shields Memorial Company made the final double crypt.

Credit to Liz Clappin for providing the information on the Roberts-Shields Memorial Company.

-Georgia, -North Carolina, -South Carolina, -Tennessee, Abandoned, Cemeteries, Famous People, Hotels and Motels, Houses, National Register of Historic Places, Signs, Stores, Vernacular Headstones

The Year in Review-Top Ten Posts of 2024

Leave a comment

Thank you for joining me in my travels around the South. It’s been a great year of wandering backroads and a few main ones. If I learned anything, it is that people love abandoned houses, buildings with unexpected histories, and (in)famous graves.

Cleveland DeLuxe Cottages-A Georgia Motel with a Connection to the Cabbage Patch Kids
The Grave of Moses Harshaw-The Story of “The Meanest Man Alive” in Clarkesville, Georgia
The Krispy Kreme of Spartanburg, South Carolina
Lone Oak Motel in Toccoa, Georgia was the Final Home of R&B singer Dee Clark
Briarcliff, The Mansion of Asa “Buddie” Candler Jr. In Atlanta, Georgia
The Graves of The McCrary Twins-World’s Largest Twins
The James and Lily Gaines House of Adairsville, Georgia
The William Knight House-The First Lustron Built in Georgia Still Stands Today
The Tent Graves of Stamps Cemetery in Putnam County, Tennessee
Coca-Cola Building of Spartanburg, South Carolina
-Georgia, Houses

Briar Hills Historic Condominiums of Atlanta, Georgia

Leave a comment

Briar Hills Historic Condominiums were built and designed in the 1940s by real estate developer, Solloway Realty Company, and architect, David S. Cuttino. Briar Hills is located between the Virginia-Highlands and Druid Hills neighborhood on Briarcliff Road. The mid-century modern development was the first cooperative built in Atlanta. Initially, it was created as a Jewish community. It is a contributing property to the Druid Hills Historic District.

Artist rendering featured in the June 1, 1947 issue of the Atlanta Journal
Advertisement in the June 11, 1948 issue of the Atlanta Constitution
-Georgia, Abandoned

Georgia Mental Health Institute, A Popular Atlanta Film Location

Leave a comment

The Georgia Mental Health Institute (GMHI) was opened in 1965 on Asa Candler Jr.’s Briarcliff estate grounds. The Brutalist building was a psychiatric hospital built as a joint project between Emory University and the state of Georgia. Emory doctors provided some of the patient care, and Emory medical students received some of their training at the hospital.

Image from the January 10, 1965 article in The Atlanta Journal

The Institute was dedicated on November 18, 1965. Outside the main administration building, the campus had several cottages where patients stayed. These cottages all had tunnels leading to the main building.

GMHI closed in 1997. Emory University purchased the campus in hopes of turning it into another campus, but the idea was never implemented. While the building was in disuse, the Atlanta film industry took off, and the space began being utilized for filming. Most notably, the building was used as the Hawkins National Laboratory in the Netflix TV show Stranger Things. In 2022, Emory University leased the campus to be used as a senior living community. It is expected that many of the buildings will be demolished.

-Georgia, Abandoned, National Register of Historic Places

Briarcliff, The Mansion of Asa “Buddie” Candler Jr. In Atlanta, Georgia

Leave a comment

Asa “Buddie” Candler Jr. (1880-1953) was the son of Asa Griggs Candler (1851-1929), a politician and businessman wbo purchased the Coca-Cola recipe from John Pemberton in 1888. Buddie Candler helped build the Coca-Cola empire as helped in the development of bottling locations across the United States.

Known as a bit of an iconoclast, Buddie Candler did things his way (I highly recommend Sara Butler’s book and website for a deep dive into Buddie’s life story). In 1910, Candler moved from the elite neighborhood, Inman Park, to Briarcliff Farm. By 1916, the farmhouse life was no longer for him, and he wanted to build a palatial estate on the property.

A view of the remaining greenhouses

Architect Charles Frazier designed the home, which was completed in 1922. The Georgian Revival home was expanded several times over the years. It featured a music room, a commercial-sized kitchen, seven bedrooms, and a solarium, among other things. The estate featured a zoo, servants’ quarters, tennis courts, stables, greenhouses, and a community pool. The zoo featured a collection of animals that were eventually given to start the Grant Park Zoo.

A front view of the more elaborately styled greenhouse

The home was sold in 1948 as a veterans hospital, but that never happened. It became the Georgian Clinic, later the Dekalb County Addiction Center. It later became part of the Georgia Mental Health Institute.

The building is now owned by Emory University, and plans are underway to restore it and turn it into a nursing home.

-Georgia, National Register of Historic Places

Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company Plant in Atlanta, Georgia

Leave a comment

Located on the southeast corner of Edgewood Avenue and Courtland Street in downtown Atlanta, Coca-Cola’s oldest remaining bottling plant is located. Originally created by John Pemberton in 1886 as a temperance drink from his original drink, Pemberton’s French Wine Cocanerve tonic, Coca-Cola began as a drink that could only be purchased at a soda fountain.

Built in 1892, the eclectic Victorian building began as a series of businesses on the first floor and a proprietor’s residence on the second floor. In the initial years, the building was a photographer’s studio, storage facility, and a brick business. In April 1900, it became the home of the second Coca-Cola bottling location (the first being in Chattanooga) after Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead convinced Asa Griggs Candler that the drink needed to be bottled. The company quickly outgrew the location and left in 1901 for a larger location.

The building is now the location for Georgia State University’s Baptist Student Union. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark.

Image from the National Register of Historic Places application
Image from the National Register of Historic Places application