Often I find that very good resources are sitting right under my nose, and I just haven't noticed them yet. I work at Georgia State University as a Software Systems Engineer. We basically run servers for various projects across the University. One of these projects is The New Georgia Encyclopedia. I'd never really looked at the content of the web site, even though we host it.
Early this morning I did a web search on Joel Hurt, the developer of Inman Park and Druid Hills in Atlanta. One of the listings in the search was to the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Not only did the NGE have a very informative page on Hurt, but it included pages on an amazing variety of topics of interest to me, including the Savannah city plan , Lemuel P. Grant and the Grant Park neighborhood , and many other topics of interest to me. If you are looking for information on any topic related to Georgia or a city in Georgia, it's a good starting point.
Larry: Enjoy your blog. You frequently talk about your life there in lively East Atlanta. Wouldn't it be fun to see some photographs of the personages that, no doubt, make that place such an interesting precinct? (Just a thought.) Thanks!
Posted by: Jack Stennger | February 17, 2005 at 10:11 PM
other email address-jwc1128@juno.com
Another great site that I'm sure you are all aware of is the City of Atlanta online. I have been on it quite a few times in the past year. I have also been 'google-ing' West End for abt that amt of time and out of the blue got on the ?proposal for West End being a district of historic note (I'm not quite sure of its official designation). This was the most thourough and interesting treatment of West End I have read (yet) on the web. I don't know how I missed it. Re Jack Stenger's comment- do you think somebody is trying to tell you something- did you get a book in the mail recently? East Atlanta would be prime for a nice neighborhood pictorial history. Keep up the great blog! JWC, Panama City, FL
Posted by: jeannie | February 18, 2005 at 12:45 PM
Hi, Jack. That's a good idea, and as I get the opportunity I'll do it.
Posted by: Larry Felton Johnson | February 21, 2005 at 05:38 AM
Hi, Jeannie. I'll check out the West End paper. It sounds interesting. I've got a lot of stuff about West End, but it's scattered through a bunch of books and articles.
Posted by: Larry Felton Johnson | February 21, 2005 at 05:40 AM
Larry -- glad to see the plug for the NGE. My friend Mike Merrill developed the encyclopedia and has sold the idea to several other states. I'll pass on the nice comments to him.
Posted by: Paul Donsky | February 21, 2005 at 05:28 PM
Cool site. I've noticed that a lot of resources that cover topics related to Atlanta history (such as that website) cite the "Atlanta and Environs" books by Franklin Garrett as a source. This series seems to be a definitive work on the history of our city, but I was disappointed to find out that most of it is out of print. Anyone one know of a used bookstore that is likely to have this kind of thing? It sounds like something I should add to my library.
Posted by: Dave | February 22, 2005 at 06:55 PM
Paul,
I'd appreciate it. I think they did a really good job, and I'm looking forward to see it further develop
Posted by: Larry Felton Johnson | February 22, 2005 at 08:41 PM
Dave,
I personally lucked out and wound up with a copy of each volume from the Atlanta History Center's backstock just after the book went out of print. I'm hoping it comes back into print soon. I'm pretty sure the third volume, which is by Harold Martin and picks up in the 1940s is still available. If you scroll down the page here there's an Amazon link, and chances are the Atlanta History center has some as well.
The central branch of the Atlanta Fulton Public Library had multiple copies of all three volumes the last I checked, and I believe they had both copies for checkout and reference stack copies.
Posted by: Larry Felton Johnson | February 22, 2005 at 08:48 PM
Great Pictures. I am a realtor on the space coast and bought a condo site unseen at Element in Atlanta. Seems the same thing is happening all over the country. Have no idea how our roads will handle the increase. And if your real estate market is like ours the local people have been priced out of the market recently. However in my line of work business is booming. You can only get a reservation on new homes and it takes almost a year for them to be finished.
I look forward to your future posts about Atlantic Station.
Posted by: Sue Elliott | February 27, 2005 at 05:07 PM
Regarding NGE.. While we're handing out kudos, I have to mention the herculean efforts of Mark Durant (mdurant32@yahoo.com) who made the software soar. He's the lead programmer on the NGE project and the stability/quality are representative of his fine work. He's my Java role-model! :)
Posted by: Mark Buffington | March 03, 2005 at 08:47 AM