Pace's Ferry

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Through much of the 19th century, Pace's Ferry was an important ferry across the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta. Started in the early 1830s near Peachtree Creek, it was run by Hardy Pace, one of the city's founders. It was an important transportation link to northwestern Georgia, especially prior to the construction of the State Road (the Western & Atlantic Railroad) to Chattanooga.

In Vinings (formerly Paces), Pace's Mill was a gristmill begun by Hardy Pace, founded to diversify his holdings after the railroad was built. The short Paces Mill Road still exists today.

During the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War, the Battle of Pace's Ferry was fought July 5, 1864.

[edit] Paces Ferry Road

In modern times, Paces Ferry Road (dropping the apostrophe) is still an important east-west route across northern Atlanta. West Paces Ferry Road runs as far west as Vinings in Cobb County, where it is the address for the world headquarters of Home Depot. Beginning at Atlanta Road and going east, it crosses I-285 at mile 18, then I-75 at mile 255, south of those two highways' interchange. In between it crosses the river very near the old ferry location, just down from the 1904 bridge that replaced the ferry. That first wooden bridge has been used for pedestrians since being replaced by a concrete one in the early 1970s.

At the river it enters Fulton County and the Atlanta city limits and continues to its Buckhead area, where it is also the address of the Georgia Governor's Mansion as well many of Atlanta's other stately older mansions and estates and their wealthier residents. Unlike many of metro Atlanta's newer suburbs, the area along this street has maintained most of its forest cover, also making it a pleasant and scenic drive. It emerges from this canopy at the center of Buckhead, meeting Peachtree Road and the southern end of Roswell Road.

After passing State Route 9 and U.S. 19 (both routed on Peachtree to the south and Roswell to the north), it becomes East Paces Ferry Road. The toll section of State Route 400, built in 1993, made this a dead-end road. It resumes on the other side of the tollway, along the southeastern edge of Lenox Square, the city's first indoor shopping mall. The road then ends just east of Lenox Road at Roxboro Road.

Pace's Ferry is just one of the many historic ferries of the Atlanta area.