The Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs) will host a self-guided walking tour sharing hidden secrets of the Perimeter area throughout May.
The tour comes from the PCIDs’ Perimeter Connects program, which aims to support the Perimeter area by offering consulting services and improving access and mobility in the area.
The walking tour, called “Hidden Perimeter,” will take place from April 26 to May 31, and centers around a district-wide installation of historical markers that feature interesting tidbits about the area.
“Perimeter is filled with unique places, each with their own stories and history. But those stories and that history aren’t always visible or accessible to the thousands of people who live, work, and visit here,” said Johann Weber, program manager of Perimeter Connects, in a press release. “By taking this hidden side and sharing it with people, we give them the chance to have a more unique and personal relationship with these places. And people will certainly be surprised as they explore Hidden Perimeter.”
Participants will be able to take the walking tour by themselves, following markers that will be placed near each historic or interesting site. Each marker will have a QR code that will explain more about the site, and some might even offer prizes or discounts to local retailers. There will be one grand prize giveaway, which will be a one-night stay at the Westin Hotel Atlanta Perimeter North.
Representatives from Perimeter Connects previewed some of the tour’s markers on Tuesday, including an historic cemetery, a hidden park, and a centuries old chimney.
The first stop was the Stephen Martin Cemetery, a family cemetery dating back to 1847 located just next to Perimeter Mall. The cemetery includes grave markers for some in the Spruill family.
“You’re standing on hallowed ground,” said Traci Rylands, director of cemeteries at the Dunwoody Preservation Trust. “This is Dunwoody pioneer land.”
Rylands said Stephen Martin and his family moved to Dunwoody in the 1820s attracted by the prospect of better land. Martin is buried in the cemetery in a grave surrounded by stacked stones, which Rylands said was probably to protect the graves from grazing animals. Rylands said that two of Martin’s daughters married into the Spruill family.
The tour also stopped at Gorla Ravinia Park, a small green oasis located in the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia. Another stop was a Starbucks which includes an estimated decades-old chimney in its design. Weber said while he wasn’t sure, the chimney located at the Starbucks at 4441 Ashford Dunwoody Road could be around 130 years old.
Other stops along the tour can be discovered at the PCIDs’ website.
The PCIDs developed the tour in conjunction with Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, the Dunwoody Preservation Trust, Discover Dunwoody, Visit Sandy Springs, the Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber, and other local partners, according to the press release.