Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History
Previously the Kennesaw Civil War Museum, this museum is now operated in association with The Smithsonian Institute, which means that Civil War and transportation objects from the Smithsonian will be incorporated into the exhibits here.It was here that the wild adventure known as the "Great Locomotive Chase" began. The Civil War had been under way for a year on April 12, 1862, when Union spy James J. Andrews and a group of 21 Northern soldiers disguised as civilians boarded a locomotive called the General in Marietta, buying tickets for diverse destinations to avert suspicion. When the train made a breakfast stop at the Lacy Hotel in Big Shanty, they seized the locomotive and several boxcars and fled northward to Chattanooga. The goal of these daring raiders was to destroy tracks, telegraph wires, and bridges behind them, thus cutting off the Confederate supply route between Virginia and Mississippi.Conductor William A. Fuller, his breakfast interrupted by the sound of the General chugging out of the station, gave chase on foot, then grabbed a platform car and poled along the tracks. With him were a railroad superintendent and the General's engineer. At the Etowah River, Fuller and crew commandeered a small locomotive called the Yonah and made better progress. Meanwhile, the raiders tore up track behind them, and when the pursuers got close, the raiders slowed them down by throwing ties and firewood onto the tracks. Andrews, a very smooth talker, managed to convince station attendants en route that he was on an emergency mission running ammunition to Confederate General Beauregard in Mississippi.Fuller's chances of catching the General improved when he seized the southbound Texas and began running it backward toward the raiders, picking up reinforcements along the way and eventually managing to get a telegraph message through to Gen. Danville Leadbetter, commander at Chattanooga. The chase went on, with Andrews sending uncoupled boxcars careening back toward Fuller as obstructions. Fuller, who was running in reverse, merely attached the rolling boxcars to his engine and kept on. At the covered Oostanaula Bridge, the raiders detached a boxcar and set it on fire in hopes of finally creating an impassable obstacle -- a burning bridge behind them. But the Texas was able to push the flaming car off the bridge. It soon burned out, and Fuller tossed it off the track and continued.By this time the General was running low on fuel and water, the Texas was hot on its heels, and the raiders realized that all was lost. Andrews gave his final command: "Jump off and scatter! Every man for himself!" All were captured and imprisoned within a few days. Some escaped, others were exchanged for Confederate prisoners of war, and the rest were hanged in Atlanta, most of them at a site near Oakland Cemetery. Though the mission failed, the raiders, some of them posthumously, received the newly created Medal of Honor for their valor.The museum, occupying a building that was once the Frey cotton gin, houses the General (still in running condition, but don't get any ideas); a walk-through caboose; exhibits of Civil War artifacts, memorabilia, and photographs (including those relating to the chase and its participants); and exhibits on railroads. You can view a 20-minute narrated video about the chase, but if you really want the full story, rent the Disney movie The Great Locomotive Chase, starring Fess Parker as the dashing Andrews. (You can also buy a copy in the museum gift shop.)The museum is 3 miles from Kennesaw Mountain/National Battlefield Park, so consider visiting both of these Civil War-related sights the same day.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History
The largest museum of natural sciences in the Southeast, this architecturally stunning facility borders 65 acres of pristine forest. Architect Graham Gund has achieved a marvelous integration of interior/exterior space The building, which nearly eclipses the attractions inside, centers on a soaring three-story, sky-lit Great Hall -- an Italianate brick atrium with spiral staircases, lofty columns, and windows revealing the woodlands beyond. Look closely at the museum floors, where ancient fossil remains from the late Jurassic period are embedded.When the Great Hall was designed, it was meant to one day be the home of a large-scale permanent dinosaur exhibition, and in 2000, Fernbank became the only place in the world to display a complete mounted skeleton of Argentinosaurus, the largest dinosaur ever found. The dramatic permanent exhibit, "Giants of the Mesozoic," features the 90-foot-long plant-eater as it defends its nest of eggs against the 45-foot-long Giganotosaurus, the largest meat-eater ever classified. Hovering above in the 86-foot-tall hall are two flying pterosaurs. Dinosaurs just don't get any bigger than this, and it's a little hair-raising to walk into the hall and see these beasts towering over the tiny humans below.There are several other permanent exhibits, including "A Walk Through Time in Georgia," which uses the state as a microcosm to tell the story of the earth's development through time and the chronology of life upon it. Visitors travel back 15 billion years to experience the origins of the universe (the Big Bang) and the formation of galaxies and solar systems, and into the future to consider the fate of our planet. Eighteen galleries re-create landform regions from the rolling pine-forested foothills of the Piedmont Plateau to the mossy Okefenokee Swamp, from the Cumberland Plateau (where you can walk through a typical "limestone cavern") to the marshy Coast and Barrier Islands. Exhibits are enhanced by creative films and videos, informational audiophones, interactive computers, sound effects, and old-fashioned field guides -- not to mention more than 1,500 fabricated plants and mounted specimens of birds and animals."Sensing Nature" tantalizes your senses with hands-on exhibits that explore how we experience the natural world. The room swims with computers, colored lights, and mirrors, and you can step into a life-size kaleidoscope, play with perspective, gaze into infinity, see physical evidence of sound waves, and mix colors on a computer.The "Children's Discovery Room," open daily June through August and on a limited basis during the school year, includes Fantasy Forest, a colorful play area designed for preschoolers (ages 3-5), where kids can become bees and pollinate flowers, climb a treehouse, walk through a swamp, and play at being farmers. The state-shaped Georgia Adventure is a similar discovery room for ages 6 to 10.While you're here, be sure to catch a stunning IMAX film (buy tickets as soon as you enter the museum; they sometimes sell out). The immense IMAX screen -- 5 stories high and 72 feet wide -- puts you right in the middle of all the action.Other museum attractions include a wetlands exhibit, a dramatically colorful living coral reef aquarium, a unique shell display, a gemstone collection, and the McClatchey Collection of jewelry and textiles from the old Silk Road countries. A museum store is stocked with entertaining and educational gifts and books, and there's a restaurant with arched windows overlooking Fernbank Forest and outdoor patio seating.

Alexander Memorial Coliseum
This 10,000-seat stadium -- renovated for the Olympics -- is home to Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets college basketball team. Parking is limited around the stadium; it's easiest to take MARTA.

The Westin Buckhead Atlanta
Nearby Airports: * Dekalb Peachtree Airport - 5 Miles * Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport - 20Miles Nearby Cities: * Atlanta - 5 Miles * Sandy Springs - 7 Miles * Atlanta - Peachtree - 8 Miles * Decatur - 9 Miles * Dunwoody - 9 Miles * Smyrna - 12 Miles * Tucker - 13 Miles * Roswell - 14 Miles * Marietta - 16 Miles * Kennesaw - 23 Miles * Jonesboro - 26 Miles * Woodstock - 27 Miles * ...

Crowne Plaza Hotel ATLANTA-RAVINIA(PERIMETER CTR)
Take a VIDEO TOUR of our hotel. The Crowne Plaza Ravinia sets the standard for quality and convenience at Atlanta®s Perimeter Center. Situated in Ravinia Office Park, the hotel boasts ease of accessibility to all major highways, the Perimeter Mall, many restaurants and a variety of entertainment options. The hotel features high-speed internet access in all rooms, an indoor pool and health facility, three restaurants, a separate lounge, and Sylvia®s Coffee Cafe featuring Starbucks coffee. ...

Omni Hotel at CNN Center
The Omni Hotel at CNN Center is located in the heart of downtown Atlanta within the CNN world headquarters, directly next to the Georgia World Congress Center, Phillips Arena and one block from the Georgia Dome. The hotel is also only four blocks from the business district and one block from the new Coca Cola museum. One block from the new Georgia Aquarium. Beautifully situated across the street from Centennial Olympic Park, a 30-acre park honoring the 1996 Olympic ...