Island Ford Visitor Center

GENERAL INFORMATION

Located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, the Island Ford Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is the central most unit of the park. Fitting to its central location, the unit houses the Recreation Area’s only Visitor Center. This is the sole location at which you are likely to find a park Ranger, though Rangers do sporadically patrol the various park units.

The Visitor Center building was formally the summer home of Samuel Hewlett, an Atlanta attorney. The building was constructed in the late 1930s. It was sold to the Buckhead Century Club in 1950, became a summer camp for the Atlanta Baptist Assembly in 1955, and finally ended up in National Park Service hands in 1979 when the building and the land were purchased for the new park.

OPERATING HOURS

The Visitor Center is open every day from 9 AM to 5 PM except for Christmas Day.

AMENITIES

• Ranger-staffed information desk where you can pick up a park brochure and trail maps
• Book and souvenir store
• Exhibit area in the lobby
• Restrooms

EXHIBIT AREA

The lobby of the Island Ford Visitor Center has a few information panels about the ecology of the Chattahoochee River, as well as the human history of the area. Because the actual information desk is in a separate room, most visitors pass through the lobby without stopping to read the information. As a result, the exhibits seem more of an afterthought, something to browse through while another member of your party is talking with a park Ranger about what there is to do at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. If you do want to read all of the information, it should take you no longer than ten minutes.