Vinings Neighborhood

Vinings Neighborhood History

Early on, Vinings was known as Crossroads, and then Paces, after Hardy Pace around 1830. He operated Pace's Ferry across the Chattahoochee River, in this area between Atlanta, Buckhead, and Smyrna. Paces Ferry Road is still the main east/west road through town. The Western and Atlantic Railroad laid rail tracks from Atlanta, northwest to Chattanooga in the 1840s. Vinings became a construction station for the railroad, and was inadvertently named for Wlliam H. Vining as he worked on the railroad construction of "Vinings Bridge" laying tracks in the area. The railroad is still state-owned as it was from the beginning, and is now leased to CSX.

The United States Army occupied the Vinings area during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War in 1864 on his March to the Sea. Unfortunately, Pace's home which had been used as a hospital for Union troops was destroyed in the process. Vinings recovered after the war as Governor Brown leased the railroad to Vinings to bring passengers to the springs and pavilions built to encourage a respite from the reconstruction of Atlanta. Vinings was officially recognized as a community in 1904, the same year the one-lane bridge was constructed across the Chattahoochee River. The town was never incorporated, though it had been discussed whether it should become a township.

From Wikipedia