Georgia

Predating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail was established in the 1920s. Yet even after volunteers had begun the pathway's construction, its southern terminus was still undetermined. The more than 200 vintage photographs of Images of America: Along the Appalachian Trail: Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee have been culled from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, National Park Service, local trail maintaining clubs, state archives, and historical societies. They illustrate the sweat, toil, and dedication that went into building the trail over some of Eastern America's highest and most rugged terrain. Also chronicled are the people who lived along the trail's route, those who volunteered to physically build it or lobby for its creation, and the many relocations that have moved the pathway to optimal locations.

Since the city's beginnings after the War of 1812, Atlanta has had a tradition of building with a regard for becoming a world-class metropolis. Before being burned by Union general William T. Sherman in 1864, the city's appearance was described by noted European architect and urban planner Leon Krier as "looking like London in the 18th century." Atlanta was surrounded by estates and plantations, and many of the plantation builders were influenced by Greek and Roman architecture. The argument of slavery to the contrary, builders saw Greek temples as symbols of democracy and, as a result, embraced Greek and Roman revival architecture as the dominant national style. Great monuments followed in this tradition to the letter in the capital of the South.

The public art in Atlanta includes a broad range of media, subjects, styles, and artistic merit. Statuary and figurative sculpture, often in bronze, memorialize historic individuals, while contemporary sculpture includes large-scale abstract works in stone, stainless or weathering steel, and other materials. Street artists and muralists have created more than 1,000 urban murals throughout the city, including large and colorful abstract "canvases," with thematic subjects referencing sports, nature, social issues, the city's African American and Hispanic communities, and Atlanta's leadership in the civil rights movement. Some guerrilla artists began as traffickers of graffiti who tagged buildings, railroad boxcars, and underpasses, creating iconic compilations such as the Krog Street Tunnel. Street art styles embrace photo-realism, abstract expressionism, or folk, op, or pop art, with the latter inspired by fantasy, comic-strip graphics, or Goth. Native Atlantan Alex Brewer (also known as HENSE) has executed commissions from Peru to Australia, while artists from Barcelona, Rome, and Zimbabwe have contributed to Atlanta's status as an international city.

Since the 1940s, Jekyll Island has gone through a transformation from an exclusive private club where America's wealthiest families vacationed to a state-owned resort enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year. The changes that came to Jekyll brought both
disappointments and triumphs, and involved people from all walks of life--the former employees of the Jekyll Island Club who remained after its closing in 1942, the military servicemen who were stationed on the island in the early 1940s, the legislators divided over the State of Georgia's purchase of the island in 1947, and the tourists who continue to enjoy this coastal community into the twenty-first century.
Within these pages, the story of Jekyll's transformation unfolds. Historic photographs of the island, its early residents, and devoted beachcombers recall the early days when the island was accessed only by ferry and when the elite club reopened as a hotel. Included are images of the island's continued development, prompted by the 1950 formation of the Jekyll Island Authority, which remains today as the island's governing entity. Hotels, parks, restaurants, golf courses, and a host of other attractions are featured in this unique retrospective.