At A Glance
Framed by the energetic thoroughfares of Roswell, Peachtree and Piedmont Roads, the Buckhead Forest neighborhood is a true gem in the heart of Buckhead. The southern side of the neighborhood directly abuts Buckhead Village with its entertainment, high-end boutiques, and dining at Buckhead favorites such as Atlas, Umi, and Souper Jenny. The Atlanta History Center is also nearby and offers interesting exhibits, events, and beautiful gardens. On the northern side of Buckhead Forest, the idyllic homes surrounded by lawns contrast sharply with the gleaming office towers of Buckhead’s office district and tech corridor anchored by Atlanta Tech Village. For an increasing number of residents, the commute to the office is measured in steps instead of miles.
The 36-acre neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January of 2015, changing names from the “Alberta Drive-Mathieson Drive-West Shadowlawn Avenue Historic District” to simply “Buckhead Forest,” a far better and less complicated name for this beautiful community. Developed as four separate subdivisions between 1911 and 1945, the earliest developments were considered a “streetcar suburb” after the Georgia Railway and Electric Company extended its trolley line from downtown Atlanta in 1907. Later developments were built after the introduction of the automobile.
Rolling topography, curvilinear streets, and large homes set back far from the street gave the neighborhood a park-like charm which persists to this day. Home styles vary from English Cottages and American Small Houses to ranch houses. Most renovations to these classic small homes have occurred on the backs of the properties which has helped to preserve the neighborhood’s curb appeal even as larger new construction homes have become increasingly common.
Buckhead Forest exhibits a strong sense of community, and together the neighbors have worked to prevent development of surrounding areas and the implementation of GA-400 from negatively affecting these quiet, rolling drives. Mathieson Drive, for example, used to connect from Peachtree Road to Piedmont Road, but when the city added in the Lenox Road connector to the interstate, neighbors quickly acted to prevent through traffic by changing the last strip of Mathieson to a walking path. This effectively preserved the sense of community and prevented Buckhead Forest from becoming a cut-thru for cars even as Buckhead has grown and densified at a meteoric pace on all sides.
