Cobb: Civil War History, Museums and Greenways

The famous locomotive General is housed at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. In Cobb, landmarks like this sit alongside expansive parks, waterfront trails and mountain biking routes. If you’re planning a hotel stay, you can tailor your trip to a wide range of interests, from museums and Civil War sites to wildlife watching and longer excursions.

Museums and Civil War History

The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History features exhibits about soldiers’ daily lives during the Civil War and the Civil War’s Great Locomotive Chase. It also includes a reconstruction of a locomotive factory from around the turn of the 20th century and Georgia’s Merci Boxcar. Together with the famous locomotive General, these exhibits offer a varied look at railroad history and the Civil War, without limiting the museum to a single topic.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park also preserves a battlefield from the Civil War’s Atlanta Campaign. The park covers 2,965 acres. Big Kennesaw is a prominent isolated peak in Cobb County, rising 1,808 feet above sea level. History and landscape come together in a specific place here: the park preserves the battlefield, while the peak gives the surrounding area a clearly defined height and form.

Trails at Kennesaw Mountain

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park has more than 25 miles of trails. Big Kennesaw’s summit can be reached from the visitor center with a one-mile hike. The Kennesaw Mountain Trail is described as a 2.2-mile round trip from the visitor center. The one-mile distance refers to the hike to the summit, while the 2.2 miles refers to the round trip on the trail. This distinction helps put the two route distances in context, rather than focusing only on the total mileage of trails in the park.

Parks, Wetlands and Wildlife Watching

Allatoona Creek Park combines open fields, forests, wetlands and streams. Its mountain biking trail network covers more than 35 miles, including singletrack trails, jump lines and a pump track. The park also provides habitat for deer, foxes, bobcats and various bird species. This means the park features both a range of landscapes and designated mountain biking trails. The Cobb PARKS trail network spans more than 60 miles in total.

At Heritage Park, a 1.7-mile unpaved trail runs one way along Nickajack Creek. Boardwalks over wetlands are also part of the trail. The park also preserves the ruins of Concord Woolen Mill and Civil War-era fortifications; interpretive signs explain this history. The trail thus combines a specific waterfront route with the park’s historic features.

Green Meadows Preserve offers a different focus: quiet wooded areas and meadows are well suited to walking and nature watching, including looking for plants, birds and flowers. A historic garden surrounds a house dating from the Civil War era. For shorter trail options, Leone Hall Price Park has a one-mile Creek Loop and a 0.6-mile Meadow Loop. East Cobb Park, meanwhile, has several walking trails along Sewell Mill Creek.

River Landscapes and Regional Trails

The Chattahoochee RiverLands Trail includes a 0.6-mile paved multi-use path and a boardwalk over scenic wetlands. The site provides public access to the river in southern Cobb County. The waterfront at Discovery Park at the River Line is also on the Chattahoochee River and stretches for more than a mile. The park preserves Civil War-era fortifications and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For a longer route, the Silver Comet Trail is on a different scale: it runs 61.5 miles from Smyrna to the Georgia-Alabama border. This paved, non-motorized trail is intended for walkers, hikers, cyclists, roller skaters, horseback riders and people with dogs; it is accessible to wheelchair users. The length of the full route and the range of activities it accommodates provide a different kind of perspective from the individual park trails.

More Reasons to Visit

Six Flags Over Georgia offers both major roller coasters and rides for young children. Bubbles & Brews is a month-long celebration in March, when visitors can sample drinks at breweries, distilleries and wineries in Cobb County. The event returns every March. If you’d like to plan your trip around it, check current dates and participating businesses in advance.

Explore more destinations: Powder Springs, Austell, Marietta, Mableton, Kennesaw, Acworth, Vinings, Smyrna.

For the broader travel overview: Georgia.