Peachtree Street

Peachtree Street is the main north-south street of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The city grew up around this one street, and many of its historical and municipal buildings are or were located along it. Running from downtown to Midtown and on through Buckhead, it is for Atlanta what Broadway is for New York City, New York: the proverbial and legendary heart of the city.

Historically, Atlanta grew up on a site previously occupied by the Cherokee people, and the "peachtree" street was, in fact, not named for a peach tree of any sort. Instead, the Cherokee would, reportedly, use a tree with fresh pitch (the sap of a pine tree) as a site for solemnifying vows and treaties. The "pitch tree" was corrupted to "peach tree", perhaps by mistake, or because it sounded more romantic. While peaches are native to northern Georgia and the Atlanta area, there was apparently no historical peach tree.

Because of the rapid growth of the city of Atlanta, and in particular its suburban communities, visitors to the city can have trouble following directions that include "Peachtree Street", because there are at least fourteen non-intersecting streets including the name "Peachtree". Traffic is also very busy along the street, even as far back as 1949, when Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell was killed as a pedestrian crossing it at the intersection with 13th Street.

Peachtree Street is atop a ridge which is part of the Eastern Continental Divide, with the west side draining into the Chattahoochee or Flint Rivers and therefore into the Gulf of Mexico, and the east side eventually into the Atlantic Ocean. (These watersheds are somewhat less important however, because storm sewers now carry rainwater to a single point.)