Atlanta is such a welcome escape this time of year when we in Newport will not have leaves on the trees for another month… and yet azaleas and fruit trees are happily blooming down south. All seemed especially joyous and bountiful this year!

There is a handsome diversity of residential architecture in my former neighborhoods that is laudatory and I’m keen to share this with you!

Atlanta has never looked so gorgeous (and that’s not just because I’ve missed my old hometown over the past 3 years of quarantining). I was reminded again as I strolled my favorite streets in Northwest Atlanta that Atlanta was built in the middle of a hardwood forest.

So many residents take advantage of this gift, giving careful attention to siting their houses and putting a great deal of thought into landscaping.

Hills intersect many of the neighborhoods with streets and driveways gently curving to take advantage of this topography… to include creeks!

A post on the Northwest residential area of Atlanta would not be complete without noting one of the most elegant (former) private homes in America, Swan House. Now a museum, it was designed for the Inman family in 1928 by esteemed Atlanta classical architect, Philip Trammel Shutze, who also designed the gardens. Capturing this gem late one afternoon with the soft shadows playing across the lawn was a lovely bit of serendipity.

Aaah, the azaleas, and trees, of Atlanta…

With warm thanks to my sister, Neale, who patiently chauffeured me around for hours on end as I savored and photographed this special city.