Fountain Playing - Decatur, Georgia

"Celebration" by Gary Price. (Click Image to Enlarge )
All Photos Copyrighted 2009 Stuart Pearl

I do little out of town travel for my job, but enjoy taking my camera when the trips become necessary. A change of venue is always good for an active lens. Most of last week was spent in Decatur, Georgia in a training class. Evenings were spent exploring the restaurants - and taking pictures.

I'd never visited Decatur and didn't know what to expect. It's about a half hour east of Atlanta. You can't fly there directly from Cleveland. It's necessary to take one of those sardine can commuter jets into Atlanta/Hartsfield which claims to be the largest airport in the world. Based on how much we had to walk I can believe that; the terminal has it's own subway system between concourses.


Decatur is an extremely charming city. It's residents are friendly and the beer is excellent. Tree covered winding roads connect beautiful neighborhoods of old mansions, with urban areas and commercial districts thrown into the mix. It's easy for the non-resident to get lost. We proved this several times with the rental car.


The old town center is built around the Dekalb County courthouse. Late afternoon views of the classic architecture remind me of scenes from Back to the Future.

Adjacent to that is a newer pedestrian mall and shop area that features some beautiful public art and sculpture. I talked to a resident who didn't care for the newer deco look, but to my eye it offered an interesting contrast in differering shapes and textures.


Most interesting was "Celebration" by Gary Price which is featured at the top of this article. Part of this statue's inscription is dedicated to Elizabeth Wilson, who was Decatur's first African-American mayor with her election in 1983.