Peachtree Hills Park's New Playground Replaces the One Neighbors Built Themselves
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
In September 2003, about 50 volunteers installed new playground equipment at Peachtree Hills Park. A committee of neighborhood mothers had picked the pieces. Kathleen Moriarty led a fundraising drive that brought in about $70,000, and the companies developing the Lindbergh MARTA property gave $42,000 toward the equipment. By November the play turf was down and children were using it. Looking back this summer, the Friends of Peachtree Hills Park wrote that the group raised the money, got the permits and built the playground itself, and that many of the people involved had no children of their own.
That playground is now being replaced, and the work has been divided up differently this time. The City of Atlanta is paying for the new equipment. The neighborhood's donations go to the space around it: a pavilion with a new roof and stonework, the first lights the playground area has ever had, and the reinstalled commemorative bricks from the earlier playground project. The neighbors used to build the playground. Now they are finishing the setting around it. Meanwhile, two city projects that donations can't steer are set to change other parts of the park.
The Friends began in 1995, when resident Barbara "Fannie" Schubert looked down at the overgrown park from the end of Hurst Drive. The group was Park Pride's first official "friends of the park" organization. For the 2003 playground, the neighbors took on almost everything. In 2026 the work is split.
| 2003 playground | 2026 playground | |
|---|---|---|
| Play equipment | Neighborhood fundraising plus a $42,000 gift from Lindbergh MARTA developers | City of Atlanta funding |
| Who chose and installed it | A committee of mothers chose it; about 50 volunteers installed it | Parks Department contracted Lichty Commercial Construction |
| Pavilion | Not part of the project | New roof, stone column details and seat walls, paid for with private donations |
| Lighting | None | First-ever lighting for the playground and pavilion, paid for with private donations |
| Commemorative bricks | Laid as part of the original project | Reinstalled, with new personalized bricks added |
The reason for replacing it is simple. The Friends wrote that the old playground was more than 20 years old, and that a public playground's safe lifespan is about 15 years. In its August newsletter, the group described the new one as an accessible playground for all ages.
The Friends' newsletters show how a city project's dates slip. Their email archive shows the steps:
As of today, no ribbon-cutting date has been announced. The October date on the signs now looks about right, even though the Friends had hoped to beat it. Families waiting to use the new playground should watch the Friends' newsletter for the date.
The bricks are the most local detail in the whole project. The Friends are reinstalling commemorative bricks from both the earlier playground and an earlier flagpole project. Donors who gave $500 or more could have a new personalized brick laid alongside them. The deadline was August 26, then moved to Wednesday, September 16. The Friends say donors who reserved a brick will hear about inscriptions and installation timing. General fundraising for the playground is still open.
The lights matter more day to day. The Friends' project page says lighting will reach the playground and pavilion for the first time, improving visibility and making the space usable for more hours. The pavilion is also where neighbors gathered for this spring's groundbreaking.
This is also not the first time the neighborhood has helped pay for public improvements around the park. In 2002, after negotiations with nearby neighborhoods, Carter and Associates, MARTA and BellSouth, impact fees from the Lindbergh development were set aside for traffic calming and sidewalks. Those fees secured a two-for-one federal grant totaling $4 million, which paid for continuous sidewalks on both sides of Peachtree Hills Avenue leading to the park.
The playground is the project the Friends could help shape. Two other park projects announced this year are entirely in the city's hands.
The first is a sewer line. In its July newsletter, the Friends reported that the city planned to start replacing the existing sewer line with larger pipes in September, to comply with the federal consent decree covering Atlanta's sewer system. The route described runs from Peachtree Hills Avenue along the side of the recreation center next to Hillgrove, through the mulched trail area, back along the creek, and eventually up to Alexander Park across Lindbergh. The same newsletter explained what that means for the trees:
"So, all the pine trees along the Rec Center along with the 100 year old oak and beech trees, will be cut down."
The Friends pointed readers to the city's Department of Watershed Management for more information and to ask whether another route is possible. Our research found no later confirmation that the work has started, so treat the September start as a plan for now. About two weeks after that newsletter, the Friends invited volunteers to mulch trees that earlier Trees Atlanta projects had planted in the park. That workday was Saturday, August 8.
The second is the recreation center at 308 Peachtree Hills Avenue NE. The Friends' history notes that the building was once the oldest in the city's parks system. A year-long renovation starting in early 2002 added new bleachers and a gym floor, renovated restrooms, two upstairs meeting rooms and an elevator. In May, the Friends reported that the Parks Department would soon renovate the building again, including restrooms open to the public. Making the building slightly larger will mean removing the light blue mosaic on its front, and that could damage it badly enough that it can't be put back. The pet murals on the side were mounted on panels so they can be taken down, stored and reinstalled. The Friends listed (404) 546-6788 for questions. We found no announced start date, cost or contractor for the renovation.
The construction fence hasn't stopped the park's usual schedule. The Friends' events page lists these dates:
The creek work is the longest-running volunteer effort in the park. Through Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, part of the Georgia EPD's Watershed Protection Branch, volunteers have tested the park's small stream at site 2033, near the Peachtree Hills Avenue parking lot entrance, since 2010. A second site upstream by Hurst Drive, site 7603, was added in 2023. Results from the most recent sampling, on October 2, are posted on the Adopt-A-Stream site. Hurst Drive is the same spot where Barbara Schubert pictured the park without its kudzu, back in 1995.
The Friends also have a newly rebuilt website, put together by a volunteer, with an Animals in the Park section and a calendar that takes event submissions from neighbors. The group asks whether a great park is worth "20 cents a week" when it invites neighbors to join. For more on everyday life around the park, see our guide to everyday living in Peachtree Hills and the Peachtree Hills neighborhood page.
Mary Stuart Iverson keeps track of changes like the new playground lights, the planned sewer route and the rec center renovation as they happen in Peachtree Hills. If you're wondering how park projects like these affect your own home's position, Schedule a Free Consultation.
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