Bootleggers and Speakeasies
Long before paved highways dominated the region, the dense forests and winding dirt paths of the Cascade corridor served as a battleground for moonshiners, rum-runners, and police raids.
Cascade Mutual Utilities Corporation
When corporate power monopolies refused to electrify the rural fringes of Southwest Atlanta in 1920, local residents organized their own grassroots electrical utility along Cascade Road.
The Zaring Family
Driven by grief, tuberculosis, and entrepreneurial ambition, John H. Zaring Sr. and his family spent over six decades bottling mineral water and shaping the Cascade Springs landscape.
Dr. Charles R. Adams
Physician, politician, and county commissioner, Dr. Charles R. Adams used New Deal relief funds to modernize Fulton County while steering public park investments toward private suburban tracts.
George L. Wilson
Operating out of his Cascade Road office, George L. Wilson utilized political alliances and 99-year restrictive covenants to engineer the suburban expansion of Southwest Atlanta.
Cascade Springs
Today spanning 135 acres of old-growth forest, Cascade Springs evolved from an active Civil War battleground and John H. Zaring’s 1920s mineral water resort into a protected nature sanctuary in Southwest Atlanta.
Mangum Manor and Lynhurst Acres
First carved from the woods in the 1950s, Mangum Manor and Lynhurst Acres became home to prominent Atlanta leaders, including Mayor Maynard Jackson. Discover the history of these two connected subdivisions and how their residents helped drive the retail revival of Cascade Road.
Kenmore Parks
Platted directly opposite the John A. White municipal golf course in 1939, Kenmore Parks offered pre-war buyers custom brick homes with pre-paid municipal infrastructure and no city assessments.
Cascade Manor
Developed at the terminus of the Whitehall-Beecher streetcar line, Cascade Manor used the 1939 “Talking Home” phenomenon to spark a pre-war housing boom on Cascade Road.
Beecher Hills
Carefully platted across 253 acres in the late 1930s, Beecher Hills was built directly over visible Civil War earthworks to create a tranquil, low-density residential neighborhood.
Audubon Forest
Platted in 1945 with bird-named streets and 99-year restrictive covenants, Audubon Forest residents utilized corporate influence and a secret buyout fund to resist integration during the 1960s.
Cascade Heights
From an ancient indigenous thoroughfare and Civil War battlefield to a 1920s suburban experiment and the premier address of Atlanta’s Black middle class, explore the definitive history of Cascade Heights.