This week we’re talking about cocaine. At the dawn of the 20th century, cities like Atlanta we’re grappling with recreational cocaine use, racializing it and trying to figure out how to allow the medical profession to continue to prescribe it. We're also talking about what it was used for, where you could buy it, how Coca Cola was involved and what pushed for it's illegalization.

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The universe conspired against me this week, as my planned episode did not record correctly. Have no fear, I've pulled a Mini from my Patreon page!

Orion Frazee was born in NJ in 1843, the son of a famous sculptor. He arrived in Atlanta in 1885, and while he time here was short-lived, his name lives on through his sculptural busts of famous men, including former president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis made from DEATH MASKS!

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Atlanta's obsession with the dogwoods dates back to the 1920s, but the Dogwood Festival was the brainchild of Lorraine Cooney, who launched the first festival in 1936, at the height of the Great Depression. This week we're talking about the tree, the city's initiatives, the first grand festival and how it progressed over the last 85 years. 

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This week, we’re covering Cascade Heights, an expansive, 1920s development along Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta. Starting with the road’s native history, then it's role in the Civil War, early homesteads, official development and it’s racial integration. 

Cascade Heights

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This week I had the pleasure of recording with Caitlin Mee and learning all about Briar Park Court. This one-street, 1950s, residential development was the brainchild of architect and resident, Andre Steiner. We talked about him, Dekalb County, white flight, mid century architecture, historic preservation and the homes in this incredible little time capsule community. 

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Interview with Andre Steiner 

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In the early 1890s, the Fulton County Street Railroad began it’s Nine Mile Circle route. Atlantans could hop on downtown then loop up through the beautiful, breezy farmland in the Northeast part of the city. Not soon after, well-to-do families, like the Adairs, began to build summer homes here. In 1904, the first neighborhood was platted and 13 more would be platted by 1935. Collectively, these make up Virginia-Highland.

This week, I'm talking about early settlers, iconic schools, churches and houses and much more.

Links: 

Subdivision map

https://vahi.org/todd-cemetery-memorial-destruction-and-restoration/

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This week, we’re talking about scouting in Atlanta - the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts. How the groups started, who started them and a few fun stories from history. Atlanta’s history of scouting is really a 4-part story - the story of white Girl Scouts and Black Girl Scouts and white Boy Scouts and Black Boy Scouts. Unsurprisingly, the year that these groups begin vary wildly, the latter often the result of a dedicated local grassroots effort.

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This week, we're talking about the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, or Municipal Market - a story of women, farming, war, race and revitalization. Atlanta is in the midst of a food hall craze, but this icon has been on Edgewood Avenue for almost a century, connecting Georgia's farmers and consumers and providing local vendors with booths to sell their wares.

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Born at the start of the Great Depression, from the need and desire of middle and upper-class Black Atlantans to not only play golf, but to establish a recreation place where they could have parties, and social events and gather. From the 1924 fight to even establish a second African American cemetery in Atlanta, to the 1930 opening of the country club, through the story of Black golfers and their fight to desegregate Atlanta’s courses. This is such an interesting history that you do not want to miss.

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This week I want to share a conversation I had with author Mark Pifer about his new book: Hidden History of Old Atlanta. While this new book covers so much, I asked him specifically about the period between the removal of the Creek and Muskogee and the formal establishment of Atlanta in 1847. We talked about the formation of the railroads, the moving of the Zero Mile Marker a mere 1200 feet, Wilson Lumpkin, how Marthasville got named, why it changed to Atlanta, and why downtown’s street grid is the way that it is.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QHHPZSV/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

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