Smyrna & Vinings Take Shape

By Geoffrey S. Kohl

On a weekday afternoon in Georgia, Kara Vinson is unloading bags of potting soil from her Volvo station wagon and carrying them into her business in downtown Smyrna. Five months ago, she opened the doors to Village Green Flowers & Gifts, a floral boutique in Smyrna’s Market Village, a unique mixed development project that blends live, above 2-story townhomes with commercial space and city property. It’s business start-ups like Vinson’s that have put Smyrna and the nearby Vinings community on the map, so to speak. “Smyrna is really revitalizing,” says Vinson. “It’s really because of the housing. You can get a decent sized house, and for a decent price.”

That sentiment is shared by many of the new homeowners in both Smyrna & Vinings. Over 2,000 homes sold in 2001 in the Smyrna and Vinings communities, an area that bridges the 30080 and 30082 zip codes, with an average sale price in the upper $100s. “Residential development is really strong,” agrees Ernie Franchelle, a co-owner of the nearby restaurant and evening bar Padriac’s (pronounced “Padricks”). Franchelle opened Padriac’s 5 years ago with business partner Joe Freer. They’ve seen the area boom, with the onset of housing developments like the condominium community of Vinings Vineyard and townhouse construction from Torrey Homes, John Willis Homes, Ashton Woods, and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods.

But Franchelle also credits the creation of the East-West Connector, a multi-lane, controlled access highway that cuts like it’s name, east & west through the middle of Cobb County. It feeds right into the Smyrna-Vinings area. With the ease of access, hordes of Atlantans, those both brand new to the city and those who have called it home since birth, rediscovered this Cobb County locale. They enjoyed its quiet streets, the small-town feel within the metropolis and the readily available homes and apartments.

Franchelle, who lives in the area, is enthused about the growth and the new face of Smyrna and Vinings. “This is the place to live. This is the place to raise a family, and this is the place to be single as well.”

It’s the “single” element that has brought in many of Vinings’ newest residents. A well publicized article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reminded Atlantans that Vinings is the home of Atlanta’s young, single, career-driven women. The reasons are altogether apparent: crime is low and the positioning of the village gives relatively quick driving times to Cobb’s Galleria business area, Buckhead, Midtown and even Hartsfield Airport. The shopping doesn’t hurt either. Vinings Jubilee, a multi-stage commercial project mixes a variety of shops in the center of Vinings, from necessity stores that handle alterations and dry cleaning, to the retail bonanza worlds of Banana Republic and White House Black Market, both chain cothing stores with a boutique feel that have settled easily into the Vinings Jubilee development.

At White House Black Market, a women’s clothier that specializes in white and black clothing, assistant manager Mary Hodge testifies to the retail appeal. “On a typical weekend, you’ll see a lot of families here. They’re out with their strollers, walking, and you’ll see people from all over shopping.”

Hodge adds that it’s the wholesome, family appeal that has kept Vinings and Smyrna so strong. “I think originally Buckhead was the place to live and now it’s Smyrna and Vinings because it’s such a family oriented place.”

“This is the area where people are living after they graduate from colleges and when they are wanting to start their careers,” explains Franchelle. “It’s young, very young. People are going outside of Buckhead now, and it’s like Midtown, only cleaner.”

The development doesn’t come without a cost, adds area resident Mark Loiselle. The Home Depot near the intersection of Paces Ferry and Cumberland Boulevard sits on top of a former ski slope (they used synthetic snow) and many of the area’s vintage structures have been replaced by newer construction.

At the Vinings Historic Preservation Society, Executive Director Kitty Langley is trying to keep an eye on the area’s growth. She recounts the area’s history as a railroad stop on the Western and Atlantic.

Like Atlanta, it was all farmland at one point. Ten thousand acres were owned by Hardy Pace (hence Paces Ferry), who purchased the land from the government after it was acquired from the American Indians. His home sat in the center of Vinings and other residences sprung up with the advent of the Western and Atlantic Railroad.

“It was a water and wood stop for the locomotives,” explains Langley, who adds that the city is rumored to be named after one of the locomotive engineers. “They had to refuel every 33 miles.”

When the Civil War reached Atlanta in the summer of 1865, the tall hill between Vinings and Smyrna, the one destined later to become the ski slops and then a Home Depot store, was the location from which Sherman could first spy Atlanta. Even today, with the mass of development in the area, the Downtown and Midtown skyline is clearly visible. Vinings and Smyrna’s stately homes were razed during the war, but the area bounced back as a weekend getaway from Atlanta in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Today, Langley’s organization oversees The Pace House – at least what is left. Though Hardy Pace’s home was burned during the war, the former slave quarters on the property have been lifted from their earlier supports and positioned close together into a facility that predominantly serves as an area for weddings and receptions. The other building from the 1800s disappeared as they fell into disrepair or were overcome by new construction.

The road to preservation is difficult, admits Langley, who moved to the Vinings area 4 years ago with her husband. “It’s not an officially registered historic district.”

Despite the loss of some physical history from the area, the community has focused on retaining some of the traditional architecture. The Vinings Jubilee faces the street with little parking, leaving room instead for walking areas among the white clapboard siding that seems as much at home on The Pace House or the preservation’s society headquarters in the Yarbrough House, as it does covering the retail space.

For Langley’s part, she sees a future in the community. “Shopping and restaurants draw a lot of visitors,” she says. “We know there is a lot of development coming into Cobb County and we want to preserve it as an historical area.”

It seems to be working. Vinings and Smyrna, in their reconstituted forms, still often attract the words “quaint” and “historic,” while locals, residents, and business owners are equally pleased to see new residential development and commerce happening in the area.

“It’s what this area has been waiting for,” concludes Smyrna’s Vinson as she hoists another sack of potting soil into her new business.

This article courtesy of KnowAtlanta magazine. Article first appeared in Spring 2003 edition.