Please join us EcoAddendum (Eco-A) and West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) in celebrating Atlanta’s southside Chattahoochee watershed for a ½-day fun and educational kayak outing on the Chattahoochee River, just south of Atlanta.

Those familiar with Atlanta’s major tributaries — Peachtree, Proctor and Utoy Creeks — will enjoy seeing where these waters go – into the Chattahoochee which becomes a large, classic southern River as it leaves Atlanta and flows into the lower Piedmont. In this section, the  Chattahoochee opens up into a gentler stream, with fewer shoals and broad “S” curves, that flow past rural farms and forests

We’ll put in at an historic site where the 19^th century South’s most talented architect and bridge builder, Horace King, built a covered bridge over the Chattahoochee River on the old Carrolton Road. Unusual for his time, King was a successful and wealthy African American businessman, who traveled freely throughout the South, keeping homes in both Alabama and Georgia. (See more info about Horace King below.)

From Moore’s Bridge, we’ll paddle a beautiful 3-4 hour section of the Chattahoochee River, taking a stop at the historic site where Lower Creek Chief William McIntosh built an estate called Acorn Bluff, the place where he was later killed for signing over Creek lands to the Americans.

We’ll take out at the Chattahoochee Bend State Park, where camping is an option for those who may wish to stay overnight. Where we’ll be paddling, the Chattahoochee is a calm river with just a small riffles. It’s an easy section for beginners, and being a little south of the city the river is clean and the banks are predominantly natural.

Cost $65 per person (includes kayak rental and shuttle to and from the river, one person per kayak, some 2-person kayaks may be available by request)

Limit 16 participants — 3 scholarship spaces available. 

To register (RSVP) click HERE  Details and directions sent to
registered participants.  A donation of $15 or more helps our programs.

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More about Horace King: Though born a slave of tri-racial heritage, Horace King’s exceptional talent as an architect, builder and project manager was soon recognized and he essentially went into business with his owner as a partner, and was emancipated in the 1840’s. Among the numerous bridges he built in Georgia and Alabama were the great bridge over the Chattahoochee at Columbus, that opened up the “old southwest” for settlement, and the Moore’s bridge, also crossing the Chattahoochee, on the vital road to Carrollton. In his time, Horace King was the most talented bridge-builder in the South, often using the Town Lattice Truss design. He was financially successful, keeping homes in Girard, Alabama and in Georgia near Moore’s Bridge, even supporting his former owner’s children after their father’s untimely death. King’s first wife and children collected tolls for use of Moore’s Bridge, and farmed nearby until the bridge was burned by Union troops just before General Sherman’s advance on Atlanta. For more of Horace King’s story see: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1245

More about William McIntosh: William McIntosh, Jr. was the son of Capt. William McIntosh from Scotland, and Senoya, a high ranking woman of the Creek Wind Clan. One of his first cousins was Georgia’s Governor Troup. McIntosh became one of the most influential figures in Georgia in the early 1800’s, working easily in both Creek and American society. He sided with the Americans against the more traditional Creeks and was arguably responsible for Andrew Jackson’s military success and subsequent rise to political power. Controversially, McIntosh benefitted personally from Creek land sessions to the Americans (including the land that would become Atlanta), and he was killed at his estate on the Chattahoochee for signing over Creek lands without the permission of other chiefs. For more of William McIntosh’s story see:  http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/william-mcintosh-ca-1778-1825