Virginia–Highland (often nicknamed "VaHi") is a
neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, founded in the early 20th century as a
streetcar suburb
A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...
. It is named after the intersection of Virginia Avenue and
North Highland Avenue, the heart of its trendy retail district at the center of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is famous for its bungalows and other historic houses from the 1910s to the 1930s. It has become a destination for people across Atlanta with its eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, and shops as well as for the
Summerfest
Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's Third Ward business district. Summerfest is known ...
festival, annual
Tour of Homes and other events.
In 2011, readers of ''
Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of an arts and culture news and events newspaper/magazine. The company historically published a weekly publication that once had a 160,000 weekly circulation. While Creative Loafing is no longer p ...
'' voted Virginia–Highland "Best Overall Neighborhood." In June 2011, ''Atlanta'' Magazine designated Virginia Highland "favorite neighborhood overall". In 2012, readers of ''Creative Loafing'' voted VaHi "Best Walkable Neighborhood". In 2020, ''Southern Living'' editors named Virginia–Highland number 4 on their “The South’s Best Neighborhoods” list.
Name
Newspaper articles from the early 1920s refer to the "Virginia Highland" section of Atlanta with regard to the area around the intersection of Virginia and Highland avenues. Later in the 1920s, southeast of this intersection, the "Virginia Highlands" (with an "s") subdivision was built. However, neither term appeared again in the press until the 1970s.
During the
revolt against the construction of the I-485 freeway through Morningside and what is now Virginia–Highland, a pro-highway group called themselves the "Highland–Virginia Civic Association", claiming to speak for the neighborhood. When Joe Drolet and other residents formed a group to oppose the highway in Fall 1971, they chose the name "Virginia–Highland Civic Association". With the victory of the anti-highway forces, the Virginia–Highland name stuck and the press started to use it to refer to the entire neighborhood between Amsterdam, Ponce, Piedmont Park and Druid Hills.
Around Atlanta, "Virginia–Highland", "Virginia Highlands" and "the Highlands" are all commonly heard. However, "Virginia–Highland" is the official name of the neighborhood. The other terms are included in some business names, but are technically incorrect.
The term VaHi, imitating the New York style of naming neighborhoods (SoHo, TriBeCa), first was used in the Atlanta newspapers in 1998. It is now in common use as a shortened, playful form or in
URL
A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an address on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identi ...
s of neighborhood media and organizations (examples are www.vahi.org).
History
The first record of settlement of the area that is now Virginia–Highland was in 1812, when William Zachry bought and built a
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
on of land there. In 1822, he sold his farm to
Richard Copeland Todd (1792–1850). Todd's brother-in-law
Hardy Ivy settled in 1832 in what is now
Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...
and the road between their two farms came to be known as Todd Road (a portion of which still exists in Virginia–Highland).
"Nine Mile Circle"

In the 1880s,
Georgia Railroad
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of peo ...
executive
Richard Peters and
real estate developer George Washington Adair organized the
Atlanta Street Railway Company. Their first project was the
Nine Mile Trolley, which started serving the area sometime between 1888 and 1890. At first, patrons used this
streetcar
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
line to visit "the countryside" outside the city, and the line stimulated later development in the area. Adair built
his home at 964 Rupley Drive (still standing and divided into upscale
apartment
An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
s). The iconic curves in the street at the intersections of Virginia Ave. with N. Highland and Monroe are remnants of the trolley line, which required gentle curves. The Trolley Square Apartments (now "Virginia Highlands
icApartments") near Virginia and Monroe were built on the site of trolley maintenance facilities.
Residential development
The first land to be subdivided in what is now Virginia–Highland was Highland Park in the 1890s, located on either side of Ponce de Leon Ave. between today's Barnett St. and N. Highland Ave. The majority of the houses and streets in Virginia–Highland were constructed between 1909 and 1926. In 1916, the
Arc Light Controversy raged between neighbors on Adair Ave. and N. Highland Ave.
Commercial development
Some businesses opened around the intersection of Virginia and N. Highland starting in 1908, with many more opening starting in 1925. At the same time development started in the Atkins Park commercial district around St. Charles. Ave. and N. Highland, including the present-day Atkins Park Restaurant (1922), which reportedly got what is now Atlanta's oldest
liquor license
A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit for businesses to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages.
Canada
In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the l ...
when it became a bar and restaurant in 1927. Between 1928 and 1930, the Howard Dry Cleaning Company and the Phelps Millard Grocery opened, anchoring the Amsterdam and N. Highland business district. The
Samuel N. Inman
Samuel Martin Inman (February 19, 1843 – January 12, 1915) was a prominent cotton merchant and businessman in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, who is best known for the Inman Park, neighborhood in Atlanta that bears his name. Inman was a ...
School, named after the nineteenth-century
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
, was built in 1923. In 1924,
fire station 19 was built on N. Highland at Los Angeles Ave.
Streetcar service to Virginia–Highland ended around 1947, along with all of the other trolley lines into and out of central Atlanta.
Decline
Virginia–Highland, like most
intown Atlanta
Intown Atlanta (or as an adjective, "intown") is a loosely-defined term used by the residents of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, in the United States. It is most frequently used in Atlanta metropolitan area, metro Atlanta to designate an ...
neighborhoods, suffered decline starting in the 1960s as residents
moved to the
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
s. Less-affluent residents moved in, some single-family houses were turned into apartments, and
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
increased. Some businesses closed and were replaced by lower-rent tenants such as
pawn shop
A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...
s. Others, such as Moe’s and Joe’s (which opened in 1947) and Atkins Park Restaurant, stayed open. Many buildings deteriorated.
Failed proposal of I-485 and alternative development

What could have been the death knell for the neighborhood sounded in the mid-1960s, when the
Georgia Department of Transportation
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a li ...
proposed building
Interstate 485
Interstate 485 (I-485), also known as the Charlotte Outerbelt, is a auxiliary Interstate Highway encircling Charlotte, North Carolina. As a complete Ring road, loop, it is primarily signed with "inner" and "outer" designations, though at ...
to connect what is now
Freedom Parkway
Freedom Park is one of the largest city parks in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The park forms a cross shape with the axes crossing at the Carter Center. The park stretches west-east from Parkway Drive, just west of Boulevard, to the interse ...
through the neighborhood and to what is now
Georgia 400
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 ( Inters ...
at
Interstate 85
Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, ...
. It would have included an
interchange
Interchange may refer to:
Transport
* Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways
* Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies
* Interchange station, a rai ...
at Virginia Avenue where
John Howell Memorial Park
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second Ep ...
is today. Despite the I-485 proposal moving forward, a few
middle-class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
families began moving back into the neighborhood,
renovating
Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...
homes.
In Fall 1971, Joseph (Joe) Drolet and others founded the Virginia–Highland Civic Association (VHCA), whose mission was to
defeat I-485, and registered the association with the Georgia Secretary of State on August 22, 1972. They along with residents of
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Ge ...
,
Inman Park
Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman.
History
Today's neighborhood of Inman Park includes areas that were originally designated:
* Inman Par ...
, and Morningside finally defeated I-485, and became a political force to be reckoned with. The current Neighborhood Planning Unit (
NPU) system is an outgrowth of these events. In 2009, the original north/south freeway (connecting 675 to 400) was again put on GDOT's to-do list, but this time running in a
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...
underneath the neighborhoods, with buildings to vent
exhaust
Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to:
Law
* Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law
** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law
** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, i ...
fumes and
smog
Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words ''smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odour. The word was then inte ...
above ground.
Between 1972 and 1975,
property value
Real estate appraisal, home appraisal, property valuation or land valuation is the process of assessing the value of real property (usually market value). The appraisal is conducted by a licensed appraiser. Real estate transactions often require ...
s increased from 20 to 50 percent.
Home ownership
Owner-occupancy or home-ownership is a form of housing tenure in which a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which they live. The home can be a house, such as a single-family house, an apartment, c ...
levels rose 20 percent. A
tour of renovated homes started in 1972. The Georgia Department of Transportation began selling properties it had acquired for I-485, virtually all of them for
infill
In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an Urban area, urban environment, usually Urban open space, open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any Greenfield land, ...
housing. The of land on Virginia Avenue where 11 houses had been taken and
demolish
Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apa ...
ed to make way for a Virginia Avenue exit, however, was finally opened in 1988 as John Howell Memorial Park, in memory of Virginia–Highland resident and anti-freeway activist
John Howell, who died from complications of
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...
in 1988.
In the early 1980s, Atkins Park restaurant was renovated. Meanwhile, Stuart Meddin bought and renovated the 1925 commercial block at North Highland and Virginia.
In 1988, the turn-of-the-century trolley barns on on Virginia Avenue on the east side of the BeltLine
Eastside Trail
The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...
(today's Virginia–Highland Apartments) were torn down despite the City Council and VHCA's attempts to save them. Although previously assuring local residents that he favored saving the historic structures, Mayor
Andrew Young
Andrew Jackson Young Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American politician, diplomat, and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor, Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement, serving as executive director of the Southern Christia ...
then vetoed the resolution, and the Council's vote of 11-3 was not enough to override it. Young cited the discovery of asbestos in the buildings and other hazardous materials on the property.
Metro-wide destination
As the neighborhood continued to regentrify, property values increased rapidly; the shops and restaurants became progressively more upscale. Towards the end of the 1990s, the neighborhood-oriented character of the business districts gave way to businesses serving patrons from across greater Atlanta. Virginia–Highland wrestled with traffic and parking issues. Apartments affordable to students became more difficult to find.
In 2000, a spat among organizers and a shakeup in the organizing committee made local headlines. However, Summerfest did continue as usual in 2001 as one of Atlanta's highest profile neighborhood festivals.
Preservation and balance
In November 2006, the
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is the United States' largest statewide, nonprofit preservation organization with more than 8,000 members. Founded in 1973 by Mary Gregory Jewett and others, the Trust is committed to preserving and enhanc ...
added Virginia–Highland to its list of "places in peril" due to an acceleration of
teardowns and infill projects by real estate developers and newcomers to the area. However, Virginia–Highland remains one of the most
architectural
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
ly
historic
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
, distinct and vibrant neighborhoods in Atlanta.
Residents, through the VHCA, succeeded in getting the city council to pass zoning legislation prescribing development that fits the scale of the streets, rolling back loose zoning ordinances passed in the 1960s. The new zoning also prescribes a maximum number of each type of establishment – restaurants, bars, retail and other types.
The zoning aims to preserve a vibrant mix of enterprises while keeping control noise, parking and traffic issues but also addresses specific problems which came up in 2005-2008:
* Avoiding Virginia–Highland suffering the same fate as
Buckhead Village
Buckhead Village is a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, one of 42 neighborhoods in the larger Buckhead district and the community's historic business section. The Village as defined by the city as the area between Piedmont Road, Peachtree ...
, where a large number of bars opened, eventually attracting crime from other areas of the city.
* Fighting a liquor permit for the 700-seat Hilan Theatre).
* Opposin
"The Mix@841"project at 841 N. Highland Ave., originally proposed to be 80 feet tall.
In December 2008 the VHCA bought the land for
New Highland Park, a small park at N. Highland and St. Charles.
In Autumn 2010, a rash of seven muggings occurred. These statistics were far lower than those of the 1980s, when the neighborhood was rougher, but the news shook up the neighborhood in 2010. Partly in response, the local security patrol, FBAC, expanded patrol coverage to the entire neighborhood. Shortly thereafter, in November 2010, Charles Boyer was murdered during a mugging, for which the "Jack Boys" were indicted in Jan. 2011. Police continued to step up patrols and since then Virginia–Highland has returned to its status as one of Atlanta's lower-crime neighborhoods.
Currently the neighborhood is enjoying adjacent development projects including a new biking and walking trail along the
BeltLine
The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use corridor on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by in ...
Eastside Trail
The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...
from
Piedmont Park
Piedmont Park is an urban forest and park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, located about northeast of Downtown, between the Midtown and Virginia Highland neighborhoods. Originally the land was owned by Dr. Benjamin Walker, who used it as ...
to
Inman Park
Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman.
History
Today's neighborhood of Inman Park includes areas that were originally designated:
* Inman Par ...
, as well as the redeveloped
Ponce City Market
Ponce City Market is a mixed-use development located in a former Sears catalogue facility in Atlanta, with national and local retail anchors, restaurants, a food hall, boutiques and offices, and residential units. It is located adjacent to the ...
, the old Sears building, now a major multi-use development. Behind Ponce City Market is
Historic Fourth Ward Park
Historic Fourth Ward Park is a park in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, just south of Ponce City Market and just west of the BeltLine Eastside Trail.
Currently the park covers in two separate sections.
History
In Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward n ...
, opened in 2011.
In July 2014, the Atlanta City Council accepted the Virginia–Highland Civic Association's master plan, as a result of which the plan becomes part of the City of Atlanta’s Comprehensive Development Plan.
Location
Virginia–Highland is bounded on the north by Amsterdam Avenue and the neighborhood of
Morningside, on the east by the Atlanta
city limit
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 li ...
/
Briarcliff Road Briarcliff most commonly refers to:
* Briarcliff Manor, New York, a village in Westchester County
** Briarcliff College, a college in the village that closed in 1977
** Briarcliff Entertainment, an independent film production and distribution compa ...
and the
Druid Hills
Druid Hills is a community which includes both a census-designated place (CDP) in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, as well as a neighborhood of the city of Atlanta. The CDP's population was 14,568 at the 2010 census. The ...
neighborhood, on the south by
Ponce de Leon Avenue
Ponce de Leon Avenue ( ), often simply called Ponce, provides a link between Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta, Decatur, Georgia, Decatur, Clarkston, Georgia, Clarkston, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was named for Ponce de Leon Springs (Atlanta), Po ...
and the
Poncey–Highland
Poncey–Highland is an Intown Atlanta, intown neighborhood on the Eastside (Atlanta), east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located south of Virginia–Highland. It is so named because it is near the intersection of east/west Ponce de Leon Avenue and n ...
neighborhood, and on the west by the
BeltLine
The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use corridor on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by in ...
Eastside Trail
The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...
which is the border with
Piedmont Park
Piedmont Park is an urban forest and park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, located about northeast of Downtown, between the Midtown and Virginia Highland neighborhoods. Originally the land was owned by Dr. Benjamin Walker, who used it as ...
and
Midtown.
Atkins Park
Within these boundaries is
Atkins Park
Atkins Park is an intown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, nestled against the southeast corner of the neighborhood of Virginia-Highland, west of Briarcliff Avenue and north of Ponce de Leon Avenue ("Ponce"). It consists of just three street ...
, a neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The City of Atlanta recognizes Atkins Park as a separate neighborhood, however, Atkins Park is a part of th
Virginia–Highland Civic Association
St. Charles-Greenwood
St. Charles-Greenwood had its own neighborhood association in the 1980s, but was then absorbed into Virginia–Highland.
Commercial districts

Virginia–Highland is one of many intown Atlanta neighborhoods characterized by commercial space of two sorts:
* groups of small commercial units clustered at corner where the streetcars used to stop (e.g. N. Highland Ave. at St. Charles and Virginia)
* commercial space in former warehouses and industrial buildings, especially, but not exclusively, along the BeltLine
Eastside Trail
The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...
(e.g. Amsterdam Walk and Ponce de Leon Place)
Such "streetcar corner" nodes are located at Virginia at North Highland — the neighborhood's namesake and main shopping and dining area, well known since the 1990s for its restaurants, St. Charles at North Highland, Amsterdam at North Highland, and Virginia at Rosedale Drive.
Amsterdam Walk
Amsterdam Walk is a retail and entertainment complex in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. It is housed in former warehouse space located at the far west end of Amsterdam Ave. between Monroe Ave. and the BeltLine (Piedmont Pa ...
, a shopping and entertainment complex built in what was originally part of the Campbell Coal Company warehouse. Ponce de Leon Place also has a concentration of warehouse space converted to commercial use.
Just across the
BeltLine
The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use corridor on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by in ...
Eastside Trail
The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...
from the western border of Virginia–Highland are two major
strip mall
A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...
s,
Midtown Place and Midtown Promenade. Adjacent is the former Sears building, now
Ponce City Market
Ponce City Market is a mixed-use development located in a former Sears catalogue facility in Atlanta, with national and local retail anchors, restaurants, a food hall, boutiques and offices, and residential units. It is located adjacent to the ...
, with office, retail and residential space, and a gourmet
food hall
A food hall is a large standalone location or department store section where food and drinks are sold.
Overview
Unlike food courts made up of fast food chains, food halls typically mix local artisan restaurants, butcher shops and other food- ...
.
Architecture

Virginia–Highland is best known for its oldest residences – the
Craftsman bungalows that line the streets closest to which or on which the Nine Mile trolley ran: Virginia Avenue, North Highland Avenue, St. Charles Avenue, etc. Other architectural styles include English Vernacular Revival and Colonial Revival, and other house types include English Cottage and
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare (also American Four Square or American 4 Square) is an American house vernacular under the Arts and Crafts style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the ...
.
Besides the
churches noted below, some other landmarks of note are:
*
Fire station 19 (1924), built in 1924 in the bungalow style. Atlanta's oldest operating fire station at 1063 N. Highland Ave.
* The
Adair mansion
The Adair Mansion, originally named Wood Cliff (1895) is located in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia at 964 Rupley Drive, and is as of 2011 divided into upscale apartments.
Green Buren Adair (c. 1837-1914, Atlanta), a whol ...
at 964 Rupley Drive, now divided into condominiums.
*
Briarcliff Hotel
The Briarcliff Hotel, now the Briarcliff Summit, is located at 1050 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE (original address: 750 Ponce de Leon Ave.) in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia.
Asa G. Candler, Jr., the eccentric son of Coca-Cola ...
(1925
(photo) 1050 Ponce De Leon Ave. at N. Highland.
*
The Colonnades residential building
* th
Hilan Theatre(1932)
Atkins Park Tavern(1922)
* Belly, a delicatessen, formerly th
(1914), later Fleeman's Pharmacy
Virginia–Highland and Atkins Park are bot
(NRHP), with Atkins Park having in addition the status of
historic overlay district A historic overlay district is a layer of local planning regulation in the United States which incorporates the restrictions of the underlying zoning for a given geographic area, with the main goal of preserving the historic character of the neighb ...
which, unlike a NRHP listing by itself, actually provides for measures to enforce preservation. The VHCA is investigating the possibilities of designating Virginia–Highland a historic overlay district as well.
Law and government
Government
Virginia–Highland is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
of Atlanta, which unlike in many other cities, are officially defined and organized and given specific areas of control. The Virginia–Highland Civic Association consists of a volunteer board and oversees matters controlled at the neighborhood level such as community festivals, community safety, beautification, and efforts to improve parks, sidewalks, etc. As noted above, the
Atkins Park
Atkins Park is an intown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, nestled against the southeast corner of the neighborhood of Virginia-Highland, west of Briarcliff Avenue and north of Ponce de Leon Avenue ("Ponce"). It consists of just three street ...
neighborhood, while having its own neighborhoods association, participates in the VaHi association much as if it were part of VaHi. Planning, building permits, etc. are controlled by the
Neighborhood planning unit
The neighborhood planning unit (NPU) is a community-scale governmental structure used in the City of Atlanta, Georgia.
History
The system was established in 1974 by Atlanta's first black mayor, Maynard Holbrook Jackson. His aim was to ensure tha ...
F, which also includes
Morningside-Lenox Park
Morningside/Lenox Park is an intown neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia founded in 1923. It is located north of Virginia-Highland, east of Ansley Park and west of Druid Hills. Approximately 3,500 households comprise the neighborhood that includes ...
,
Piedmont Heights and
Lindridge-Martin Manor.
Crime prevention
Virginia–Highland serves as a model for other neighborhoods of Atlanta in implementing a comprehensive range of safety measures:
* Virginia–Highland is part of
APD patrol zone 6.
FBACis the neighborhood security patrol, funded by members, run by volunteers and staffed by off-duty APD officers.
* The VaHi Civic Association organizes a neighborhood watch program via it
Safety Team
VHAlertsis a system which leverages the text-message features of
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
to allow members to text-message all other members in case of a dangerous situation in the neighborhood.
Culture and recreation
Parks

Virginia–Highland borders:
* Atlanta's landmark
Piedmont Park
Piedmont Park is an urban forest and park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, located about northeast of Downtown, between the Midtown and Virginia Highland neighborhoods. Originally the land was owned by Dr. Benjamin Walker, who used it as ...
(vastly expanded in 2011)
* the
Eastside Trail
The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...
, part of the
BeltLine
The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use corridor on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by in ...
, a former railroad line, now a 22-mile trail around the central neighborhoods of Atlanta. The BeltLine features dozens of outdoor artworks along its length through th
Art on the BeltLineproject.
Within the boundaries of Virginia–Highland are:
*
John Howell Memorial Park
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second Ep ...
, along Virginia Ave. between Barnett and Arcadia Streets
*
Orme Park
Orme Park is a park in Atlanta, Georgia. It is located along Stillhouse Branch, also called Orme Creek, in the Virginia Highland neighborhood.
2011 renovation
In 2011 a $203,000 renovation was completed, funded by "Friends of Orme Park", the ...
, bounded by Brookridge Dr. and Elkmont Dr., through which
Clear Creek runs
*
North Highland Park, which the civic association bought in 2008 and were developed in 2012 as an eco-friendly park and
rain garden
Rain gardens, also called bioretention facilities, are one of a variety of practices designed to increase rain runoff reabsorption by the soil. They can also be used to treat polluted stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are designed landscape sites t ...
In 2014, residents cleaned up and beautified the unpaved alley between St. Charles Avenue and Ponce, and it is now known as
Maiden Trail.
"Neighborhood Arboretum"
Virginia–Highland has one of seven Atlanta "neighborhood arboreta", which are in fact walking routes of trees (identified by markers) in yards, sidewalk planting strips, and parks. A brochure maps out the route and the trees along each route, as well as educating visitors about the trees.
Festivals

On the first weekend in June, the Virginia–Highland Civic Association (VHCA) hosts the yearly
Virginia–Highland Summerfest arts and music festival, which also includes a popular road race, and is one of the largest art festivals in the
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...
and one of Atlanta's most popular neighborhood festivals. VHCA also organizes the annual
Virginia–Highland Tour of Homes in December. In May
A Taste of the Highlandsin John Howell Park features samplings from favorite neighborhood restaurants and live music. Every March or April, the
North Highland Mile
The North Highland Mile (formerly Morningside Mile) is an annual race and block party that takes place in March or April in the Virginia Highland and Morningside neighborhoods of Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United ...
(formerly Morningside Mile) race and block party takes place.
Film and television
Portions of the films ''
Life as We Know It'' (the bakery portrayed was the real-life Belly General Store) and ''
Trouble with the Curve
''Trouble with the Curve'' is a 2012 American sports drama film directed by Robert Lorenz and starring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, Matthew Lillard, and John Goodman. The film revolves around an aging baseball scout whose daugh ...
'' (George's restaurant) were filmed in Virginia–Highland. Portions of the pilot for the
"B.E.T." network's ''
Being Mary Jane
''Being Mary Jane'' is an American drama television series created by Mara Brock Akil and starring Gabrielle Union. The pilot aired on July 2, 2013, as an hour-long television film across a 90-minute timeslot, before resuming as a weekly series ...
'' were filmed at
780 N. Highland Ave. in April 2012.
Religion
Virginia–Highland is home to a number of churches:
* Church of Our Saviour (Anglo-Catholic Episcopalian) – current building mid-1930s
* Druid Hills Presbyterian Church – built 1923, expanded 1940, 1963
* First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church – built 1924
* Virginia–Highland Church UCC – built 1923
The Chabad Intown synagogue is located on Ponce de Leon Place.
Eruv
The Virginia–Highland
eruv
An ''eruv'' (; , , also transliterated as ''eiruv'' or ''erub'', plural: ''eruvin'' or ''eruvim'') is a ritual ''halakhic'' enclosure made for the purpose of allowing activities which are normally Activities prohibited on Shabbat, prohibited ...
covers nearly all of Virginia–Highland as well as part of the Morningside-Lenox Park neighborhood up to E. Rock Springs Road/E. Morningside Drive. The eruv is "marked off" by defining utility poles as "sides of the doorways" and the wires as the "lintels" (tops of doorways). Within its boundaries observant Jews are allowed to do certain things on the Sabbath that they would not normally be allowed to do outside the home, such as carry keys or food.
Education
The community is zoned to
Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending ...
.
Zoned schools include:
* Springdale Park Elementary
*
David T. Howard Middle School
*
Midtown High School
Transportation
Virginia–Highland is served by the following MARTA bus routes which also connect it to MARTA rail lines:
* 2 along Ponce de Leon to North Avenue rail station or to both Inman Park and Candler Park/Edgewood rail stations
*6 along Briarcliff to Emory or to Inman Park rail station
*16 along N. Highland (southbound turns onto Ralph McGill ending at Five Points rail station)
*36 from Midtown rail station, Virginia Avenue, north on N. Highland, east on Decatur to Emory, Decatur and Avondale rail station
*99 west from Monroe and Virginia along 10th Street to Midtown rail station; south from Monroe and Virginia along Boulevard
The neighborhood was long served by
streetcar line #15 which later became bus line #45. Bus line 45 was discontinued in 2010.
Noted residents
Noted residents of Virginia–Highland, past and present, include:
*
Margaret Edson
Margaret "Maggie" Edson (born July 4, 1961) is an American playwright. She is a recipient of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play '' Wit''. She has been a public school teacher since 1992.
Background and education
Edson was born in Was ...
, 1999
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
winner for the play ''
Wit
Wit is a form of intelligent humour—the ability to say or write things that are clever and typically funny. Someone witty, also known as a wit, is a person skilled at wit, making spontaneous one-line or single-phrase jokes. Forms of wit incl ...
'', as of February 2012 a social-studies teacher at
Inman Middle School
Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending ...
*
Don Lemon
Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist best known for being a host on CNN from 2014 until 2023. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a jo ...
,
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
journalist, author
*
Isabel Wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson (born 1961) is an American journalist and the author of '' The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration'' (2010) and '' Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents'' (2020). She is the first woman of African-A ...
, author of ''
The Warmth of Other Suns'', the story of African American migration from the South to the North
* Dr.
Leila Denmark
Leila Alice Denmark (née Daughtry; February 1, 1898 – April 1, 2012) was an American pediatrician in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the world's oldest practicing pediatrician until her retirement in May 2001 at the age of 103, after 73 years. She ...
lived on Kentucky Avenue and then Hudson Drive in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Denmark was the world's oldest practicing pediatrician until her retirement in May 2001 at the age of 103.
''UGA researchers wrapping up study of centenarians and their longevity''
, Athens Banner-Herald
The ''Athens Banner-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in Athens, Georgia, USA, and owned by Gannett. The paper has a Sunday special and publishes online under the name ''Online Athens''.
History
The newspaper traces its history to the ''Southern Ba ...
OnlineAthens (2006-12-27). Retrieved October 17, 2011. At her death in 2012 she was the 4th-oldest verified living person in the world.
* Green B. Adair (c. 1837-1914), fertilizer magnate, had his summer house at what is now the Adair Mansion
The Adair Mansion, originally named Wood Cliff (1895) is located in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia at 964 Rupley Drive, and is as of 2011 divided into upscale apartments.
Green Buren Adair (c. 1837-1914, Atlanta), a whol ...
from 1895-1911.
* Richard Copeland Todd (1792–1852), Atlanta pioneer. In 1822 Todd and his wife Martha settled a homestead located at what is now 816 Greenwood Avenue.
References
Bibliography
*
*''History of Virginia–Highland'', Compiled June 1998 by City of Atlanta; Department of Planning, Development, and Neighborhood Conservation; Bureau of Planning
External links
Neighborhood organizations and events
Virginia–Highland Civic Association
Virginia–Highland Security Patrol
About Virginia–Highland
Video snapshot of Virginia–Highland
History of Virginia–Highland
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
– architecture of Virginia Highland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia-Highland
Streetcar suburbs
Neighborhoods in Atlanta
*
Bungalow architecture in Georgia (U.S. state)
Restaurant districts and streets in the United States