Cabbagetown, Atlanta

You can see it from the Oakland Cemetery, it’s reputed to have some of the more eclectic and varied restaurants in Atlanta, and it has an interesting history that is full of exaggeration and hearsay.

The big history first (finally a place I’d studied in my American History courses).

Cabbagetown was originally home to one of the largest of the rolling mills in the south: the Atlanta Rolling Mill. When the Civil War hit Atlanta and while the Battle of Atlanta raged, the mill was one of the first places destroyed by the Confederate army (because a rolling mill can produce a lot of canons for the war effort). This was in 1864.

By 1865 the city had already started to bounce back; however, it wasn’t until 1881 that the mill lot was purchased by the Elsas family. Shortly after the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill appeared (pictured below as converted upscale lofts).

Cabbagetown grew up around this mill as poor Irish/Scottish immigrants and mountain folk who came to the area looking for work. The surrounding houses were built to accommodate employees (some of whom still live in the area) many of which were turned over to employees when the mill closed in 1977.

There are little bits of local history poking out in every corner — and even its name is surrounded by myth and mystery.

The most intriguing piece of “poking out history” I found was related to the Little family, who ran Little’s Grocery for several decades. In the middle of Carroll Street, you’ll find Whisper Garden Park, a tiny house sized lot left vacant in memory of the Little family “for 70 years of service to Cabbagetown.” It’s an overgrown little section of land bordered by multi-coloured stone houses and an art space that displays outside, de gustibus non est disputandum (one must not dispute about tastes).

This little part is a frequent location for small outdoor concerts.

In the end, I think what was most surprising to me was that of all the people I talked to while in Atlanta, not one had heard of Cabbagetown. It’s not even mentioned in Jim Miles’ book Weird Georgia.