Customer Reviews

Peachtree Creek: A Natural and Unnatural History of Atlanta's Watershed

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Most Atlantans are only aware of Peachtree Creek from signs on bridges as we drive over it. This book explains the role of this critical body of water in the city's history and infrastructure. It reflects the author's careful research into historical archives and interviews with descendants of the early settlers as well as city engineers, but is especially enriched by photographs of his actual canoe trips on the creek during the sometimes brief periods when it is navigable. The photos reveal sections of breathtaking beauty as well as those where generations have dumped their garbage.

Historical narratives about the early settlers who established mills along the creek and the role of the Creek in the Civil War are intertwined with the city's use of the creek as a watersource and sewage disposal system and the author's canoe travels on the creek and interactions with homeless people who live under its bridges. At times the shifts between the different narratives can seem disjointed and confusing. It can also be difficult to understand the topography of the creek and its relationship to the city's roads and other familiar geographic features. This is partly due to the fact that the book has only two maps.

As a relative newcomer to Atlanta, I found the book fascinating. I think it would be interesting to anyone who has ever visited Atlanta, but it is also a story of the importance of bodies of water to the large cities which have grown up around them, generally ignoring and abusing them with sometimes disastrous consequences.

This book has it all: amazing modern photos of the entire course of Peachtree Creek plus tributaries Nancy, Clear, Tanyard, etc; full and accurate history of settlement along the waterways; many historic photos and maps; analysis of the ecological health of the whole natural system and associated bridges and dams. This nearly twenty year long project has been completed in grand fashion. For me, the idea of putting a conoe in those waters would be daunting but it really brings the condition and possibilities of Peachtree Creek into sharp focus. Best Atlanta-related book of 2007.

I can't add anything to the prior reviews.. Simply a great book about the history of Peachtree Creek.

Published by the University of Georgia Press in cooperation with the Atlanta History Center, "Peachtree Creek: A Natural And Unnatural History Of Atlanta's Watershed" by David R. Kaufman is a photographically enhanced exploration and survey of Peachtree Creek from its headwaters to its confluence with the Chattoochee River. The result of thirteen years of research, study, and exploration, "Peachtree Creek" artfully combines the informational content of scholarly research with the readability of talented storytelling to present a compelling mix of urban travelog, local history, and a clarion call for conservation. Combining historical images with his own superb examples of color photography, this study of a specific and finite watershed is a seminal example of an original work that would be as at home on the shelves of an academic library's Environmental Studies reference collection as it is on the front room coffee table of a non-specialist general reader with an interest in this history of the Peachtree Creek and its five tributaries (North Fork, South Fork, Clear Creek, Nancy Creek, and Tanyard Creek). An enthusiastically recommended read that is as informed as it is informative, "Peachtree Creek" would also serve as an excellent template for similar histories and studies of other American waterways.

For lovers of Atlanta and Georgia history this is a must have book. Certainly more than "a coffee table" book. It is full of interesting facts and fabulous photos. The author is to be commended on his research.

I grew up on Peachtree Creek in the fifties and sixties, on Woodward Way. So of course I was interested in this book. And the interest turned out to be much more than just the chapters about my own neighborhood. I affirm that the other reviews say the right good things about about it, I just want to add something. The author is a good writer, plain and simple. I don't know how to describe it, if I could I would be a good writer myself, I guess. The best I can say is that I found myself thinking, "This guy is not only taking me to interesting places, showing me interesting things, I'm enjoying a pleasant and comfortable ride." That aspect adds a lot to any book. Enjoy it for yourself.

Everyone in Georgia is familure with the Chattohoochee River, but few of us are aware of the history of Atlanta's Peachtree and Nancy Creek. Nancy
Creek flows through my back yard on its way to the Chattahoochee and onto
the Gulf of Mexico. I have always wondered where it started and what happens to it after it leaves my neighborhood. This wonderful book tells in great detail the paths that these creeks take,their colorful history and suggest things to do to keep them cleaner, more useful and better
preserved. It is loaded with many stunning photos of the area and its history. This is a great book for one who is interested in Atlanta and
knowing more about the waterways we cross and casually take for granted everyday.

The only thing that I am sorry about it that I did not get to meet the author as he canoed past my veranda.