Paces Ferry
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Through much of the 19th century, Pace's Ferry was an important
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
across the
Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...
near
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Started in the early 1830s near
Peachtree Creek Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vin ...
, it was run by
Hardy Pace Hardy Pace (July 10, 1785 – December 5, 1864) was an American ferryman, miller, and early settler of Atlanta, Georgia. He is the namesake of Pace's Ferry, an important ferry in the 19th century; and all iterations of Paces Ferry Road in nort ...
, one of the city's founders. It was an important transportation link to
northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
ern
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, especially prior to the construction of the State Road (the
Western & Atlantic Railroad The Western & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia (W&A) is a railroad owned by the State of Georgia and currently leased by CSX, which CSX operates in the Southeastern United States from Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was fo ...
) to
Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
. In Vinings (formerly Paces), Pace's Mill was a
gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...
begun by Hardy Pace, founded to diversify his holdings after the
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
was built. The short Paces Mill Road still exists today. Just across the river is
Paces A pace is a unit of length consisting either of one normal walking step (approximately ), or of a double step, returning to the same foot (approximately ). The normal pace length decreases with age and some health conditions. The word "pace" is al ...
, the northwesternmost
neighborhood of Atlanta : The city of Atlanta, Georgia is made up of 243 neighborhoods officially defined by the city. These neighborhoods are a mix of traditional neighborhoods, subdivisions, or groups of subdivisions. The neighborhoods are grouped by the city planni ...
. During the Atlanta Campaign of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the Battle of Pace's Ferry was fought July 5, 1864.


Paces Ferry Road

The original Pace's Ferry Road was begun during the
Georgia Gold Rush The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and the first in Georgia, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1829 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, and ...
as a
stage coach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
bringing people from Decatur to Vinings, where they could continue on to
gold country The Gold Country (also known as Mother Lode Country) is a historic region in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, that is primarily on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. It is famed for the mineral deposits and gold mines ...
. The road went southeast from the river to
Irbyville Buckhead is the wikt:uptown, uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the ...
(later Irby, now Buckhead), then following what is now called "Old Decatur Road", then
Cheshire Bridge Road Cheshire Bridge Road is a mainly north–south thoroughfare of Atlanta, Georgia, USA traversing the Morningside-Lenox Park and Lindridge-Martin Manor neighborhoods from Piedmont Avenue to Buford Highway just north of Interstate 85. While the co ...
, through what is now
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
on Clifton Road, along Haygood Drive then North Decatur Road until that hits
Clairmont Road Clairmont, with French roots meaning "clear/light-colored/shining hill/mountain", may refer to: People * Claire Clairmont (1798–1879), stepsister of writer Mary Shelley * Corwin Clairmont (born 1946), Native American printmaker and artist * Fre ...
, which was then known as the Shallowford Road. In modern times, Paces Ferry Road (dropping the apostrophe) is still an important east–west route across northern Atlanta. West Paces Ferry Road runs from the center of Buckhead Village as far west as a dead-end in Paces, while Paces Ferry Road splits off to the northwest at Nancy Creek and runs across the river to Vinings in
Cobb County Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...
, where it is the address for the world headquarters of
The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...
. Beginning at Atlanta Road and going east, it crosses I-285 at mile 18, and heads into historic Vinings where it crosses the Chattahoochee River. This river crossing is very near the old ferry location, just down from the 1904 bridge that replaced the ferry. That first wooden bridge had been used for pedestrians since being replaced by a concrete one in the early 1970s. At the river, Paces Ferry Road enters
Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...
and the Atlanta
city limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limi ...
and continues to its terminus at the western end of Atlanta's
Buckhead Buckhead is the uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the Atlanta city limits, behind Downt ...
area. Here, West Paces Ferry Road continues under I-75 at mile 255, and heads east through some of Atlanta's oldest and wealthiest Buckhead neighborhoods. It serves as the address of the
Georgia Governor's Mansion The Governor's Mansion is the official home of the governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. The mansion is located at 391 West Paces Ferry Road NW, in the Tuxedo Park neighborhood of the affluent Buckhead district of Atlanta. Construction Th ...
as well many of Atlanta's other stately older mansions and estates. Unlike many of
metro Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...
's newer suburbs, the area along this street has maintained most of its forest cover, also making it a pleasant and scenic drive. It emerges from this canopy at the center of Buckhead, meeting Peachtree Road at the southern end of Roswell Road. After passing
Georgia 9 State Route 9 (SR 9), (known locally as Highway 9) is an north–south state highway in the northern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels from Atlanta to Turners Corner, north-northeast of Dahlonega. It is concurrent with ...
and U.S. 19 (both routed on Peachtree to the south and Roswell to the north), it becomes East Paces Ferry Road. It stops at Piedmont Road (
Georgia 237 State Route 237 (SR 237) is a state highway located entirely within the city limits of Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its path is entirely within Fulton County. Route description SR 237 begins just south of SR 13 (B ...
), then continues very slightly northward on the other side as a residential street. The tolled section of the
Georgia 400 Georgia State Route 400 (SR 400; commonly known as Georgia 400) is a freeway and state highway in the U.S. state of Georgia serving parts of Metro Atlanta. It is concurrent with U.S. Route 19 (US 19) from exit 4 ( Inter ...
expressway, finished in 1993, made this a dead-end road in the early 1990s. It resumes on the other side of the tollway, along the southeastern edge of
Lenox Square Lenox Square is a shopping mall in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. With 198 tenants and of gross leasable area, it is the third-largest mall in Georgia. The mall is currently owned and managed by Simon Property Group, and is consider ...
, the city's first indoor shopping mall. The road then ends east-northeast of Lenox Road at Roxboro Road.


See also

*
Historic ferries of the Atlanta area Historic ferries operated on rivers around Atlanta, Georgia area, and became namesakes for numerous current-day roads in north Georgia. Most of the ferries date to the early years of European-American settlement in the 1820s and 1830s, when Cher ...
.


External links


Tuxedo Park homes along the road
* {{coord missing, Georgia (U.S. state) Ferries of Atlanta Historic American Engineering Record in Georgia (U.S. state) Transportation in Fulton County, Georgia Transportation in Cobb County, Georgia