Places We Go – Atlanta

Since 1988, Harsfield-Jackson Airport has been the busiest airport in the world. In December 2015, the airport became the first airport in the world to serve over 100 million passengers in a year.

Coca-Cola’s first sale was in Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8th, 1886. Over 100 years later in 2015, the Coca-Cola Company and the Coca-Cola Foundation has donated more than $117 million to directly benefit nearly 300 organizations across more than 70 countries and territories.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born and raised in Atlanta. He attended Morehouse College at the age of 15. Atlanta honored Dr. King on October 10th, 1980 by establishing The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. The site includes his home and the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he was co-pastor with his father.

Delta’s world headquarters is in Atlanta and contains its largest hub. Delta is the oldest airline operating in the USA. It was founded on May 30th, 1924 in Macon, GA. It was originally a crop dusting operation.

In May 1926, Mitchell had left her newspaper job with the Atlanta Journal and was recovering from an ankle injury. During this time, she wrote Gone with the Wind on her Remington Portable No. 3 typewriter.

The Georgia Aquarium opened its doors in November 2005 and was the largest aquarium until 2012. The aquarium uses 10 million gallons of marine and salt water. It is the only institution outside of Asia that houses whale sharks.

Atlanta’s nickname is the “City in a Forest”. This is because 48% acres of land within it’s city limits are covered by tree canopy. That is over 40,524 acres of land in Atlanta.

The Varsity sells more Coca-Cola products than any other place on earth. The Varsity sells over 2 million cups annually. The restaurant serves 15,000 people each day and doubles that during Georgia Tech football games days. They serve 2 miles of hot dogs daily.

Georgia Institute of Technology, “Georgia Tech,” was founded in 1885 as a trade school. Georgia Tech is ranked #7 among the best public universities in the U.S., and it is ranked the highest Industrial Engineering Undergraduate program nationally. Georgia Tech is one of the South’s largest industrial and engineering research institutions.

Stone Mountain is one of the largest blocks of exposed granite in the world. It rises 1,683 feet above sea level; it covers 583 acres; and it has a base circumference of 3.8 miles.