Historic Houses and Gardens

Opportunities for family fun are endless at Atlanta History Center—in our museum, historic houses, and gardens. Enjoy stretching your legs, having fun, and making memories with your little ones!

During November and December Smith Farm and Wood Cabin will be activated with additional activities for families visiting during the holiday season.

Learn about  architect Philip Shutze, and dive deep into his collection of  Chinese imports featuring many pieces of porcelain and ceramics.

Learn about native trees, Piedmont forests, landscape history, and the ecology of Southeastern forests.

Explore the Goizueta Gardens led by Atlanta History Center’s Vice President of Goizueta Gardens and Living Collections, Sarah Carter.

Learn about the tribes of the southeast, the Georgia frontier, and the details of historic preservation at the Wood Cabin.

Learn about the origins of interior design and see the work of one of its founding members—Ruby Ross Wood, decorator of the iconic Swan House mansion.

Discover the unique story of the Smith House and the preservation effort that brought it to the Atlanta History Center.

Learn about the house architect Philip Shutze, interior decorator Ruby Ross Wood, the Inman family who owned the home, and the staff who worked in the house including Lizzie McDuffie

On December 24, thermometers dipped to 8 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest temperature seen in our area since 2014. Damages to the gardens in the metro area as a result of this polar plunge are now fully manifesting, and Goizueta Gardens is no exception. All this carnage certainly brings a tear to every gardener’s eye but not everything is dead! Though it may seem that way initially.

A short walk around the woods on the History Center grounds will reveal many large loblolly pines with their tops above the surrounding deciduous trees. These pines reveal that the land preserved within Goizueta Gardens began to reforest shortly after the end of the American Civil War, between 1862 and 1872. The forest that covers much of the campus today is the forest that began to grow at that time.

Opportunities for family fun are endless at Atlanta History Center—in our museum, historic houses, and gardens. Enjoy stretching your legs, having fun, and making memories with your little ones!

As February rolls into March, the weather begins to warm and the first of the new year’s spring wildflowers begin to push their fresh growth through last autumn’s leaves. In our Goizueta Gardens, southeastern native plants are a central part of our living collections—spring ephemerals included. They are making their spectacular appearance now, and a few are highlighted here.

Atlanta History Center is home to four honey bee colonies named after real-life women who created a lot of buzz in Atlanta history—Selena Sloan Butler, Frances Newman, Shirley Franklin, and Coretta Scott King