At the corner of Brandon Mill Road, where Riverside Drive turns into Dalrymple Road, tucked among 24 forested acres, sits an early 20th Century farmhouse. A vestige of Sandy Springs' past, the old home has found new life as the centerpiece of Lost Forest Preserve. While the preserve isn't slated to officially debut until some time next year, the city has opened the hiking trails to the public until construction begins on the permanent parking lot (at the moment the parking lot is a mulched area). The new park space includes community garden plots, a 4,000-foot-long hiking trail and an ADA-accessible trail through the densely wooded site. For Atlantans seeking an alternate escape to serenity (or those who dig local history), it's certainly worth a visit.
[Gallery images by Curbed Atlanta.]
Originally known as Falling Branches — sharing a name with a creek that runs through the site — the land in west Sandy Springs, not far from the Chattahoochee River, has had only two owners since the days of white settlement in the area. According to the Friends of Lost Corner, the Miles family owned the property for more than a century, with Peggy Miles spending her entire life, from 1922 to 2008, in a home constructed on the site of an antebellum residence. Miles deeded the land and the home to the newly formed city in 2008 via the Trust for Public Land. Since, the site has been a treasure-trove of history. Earlier this year, crews made an explosive discovery — a live, antique mortar round in the soil — and other evidence gives credence to the land's former incarnation as a subsistence farm.
The next chapter of the storied land will allow the residents of Sandy Springs to enjoy the unspoiled natural beauty of the site. And anyone else who can find it.
· Lost Corner Preserve [Sandy Springs Conservancy]
· History [Friends of Lost Corner]
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