Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve

Atlanta


Smack in the middle of the city (well, OK – out in Decatur, but you get the idea), you'll find this 28-acre nature preserve, home of beavers, foxes, box turtles, red-spotted newts, coyotes and veritable clouds of birds. It's a welcome slice of wilderness in the heart of an enormous urban area.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Atlanta attractions

1. Fernbank Museum of Natural History

3.41 MILES

Fernbank is a supremely kid-friendly museum that explores a bunch of subjects (dinosaurs, geology, shells, IMAX-style theater), all attached to a 65-acre…

3. Atlanta Botanical Garden

5.24 MILES

In the northwest corner of Piedmont Park, this stunning 30-acre botanical garden has a Japanese garden, winding paths and the amazing Fuqua Orchid Center.

4. Historic Fourth Ward Park

5.35 MILES

Behind Ponce City Market, this below-ground-level 17-acre urban park was one of the BeltLine's first projects. It features a storm-water retention pond…

5. Piedmont Park

5.4 MILES

A glorious, rambling urban park and the setting of many cultural and music festivals. The park has fantastic bike paths and a Saturday Green Market (from…

6. Margaret Mitchell House & Museum

6.07 MILES

Operated by the Atlanta History Center, this home has been converted into a shrine to the author of Gone With the Wind. Mitchell wrote her epic in a small…

7. High Museum of Art

6.12 MILES

Atlanta's modern High Museum was the first to exhibit art from Paris' Louvre and is a destination as much for its architecture as its world-class exhibits…

8. Breman Museum

6.19 MILES

Atlanta has the largest Jewish population in the South (outside of South Florida, which is its own region). The Breman Museum explores this history of…