Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
U.S. 41, Marietta 770-427-4686
Start your tour at the Visitors Center, which
has exhibits, maps, an audiovisual introduction to the June 27, 1864 battle,
an 
excellent
bookstore, and during the summer, living history demonstrations. Materials at
the Center will guide you to the sites described here. Various trails are available
for hiking over the 2,882-acre park, totalling 2, 5, 10, and 16 miles roundtrip.
One, located behind the Visitors Center, takes you to the top of the mountain
where weather permitting you can get a great view of the Kennesaw area battlefield
and Atlanta. The battlefield has many interesting intact entrenchments from
the battle. At Cheatham Hill, you can see the
site of the fiercest fighting — called the "Dead Angle" —
Confederate and Union trenches,
the magnificent Illinois monument, and the Tunnel
monument which marks where trapped Federal soldiers tried to blow up entrenched
Confederates. Going down Cheatham Hill, you can follow a trail 600 yards to
where the Federal attack began. Notice the granite monument to Dan
McCook, one of the "Fighting McCooks" and former law partner of
Gen. W.T. Sherman, who
died during the assault. For a complete understanding of the battle, travel
to Pigeon Hill, named for the extinct passenger
pigeon, which rested here on its annual migrations. Kolb's
Farm, located near the park, has been restored but is not open to the public.
A pull-off area with markers and interpretive signs help the traveler understand
this bloody battle, which occurred on June 22, 1864. U.S. Gen. Joseph Hooker
used the 1836 cabin as his headquarters after the encounter. A living
history event is held each year on the weekend closest to the anniversary
of the battle (June 27).
- Exit 269 off I-75, west to U.S. 41. Follow signs to Park.
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