Mount Wilkinson

Mount Wilkinson
Elevation	981 ft (299 m)
Location
Location	Cobb County, Georgia, USA
Range	Appalachian Mountains
Coordinates	33°52′07″N 84°28′00″W / 33.8687150°N 84.4665968°W / 33.8687150; -84.4665968Coordinates: 33°52′07″N 84°28′00″W / 33.8687150°N 84.4665968°W / 33.8687150; -84.4665968
Topo map	USGS Northwest Atlanta

Mount Wilkinson, commonly called Vinings Mountain, is a low mountain immediately north-northwest of and directly overlooking downtown Vinings, in southeast Cobb County, Georgia, USA. Although it rises significantly from the surrounding terrain, it is actually at or slightly below the average elevation for the region, as it is in the Chattahoochee River valley.

It is said that in 1864, U.S. Army General William T. Sherman got his first look at the church spires of Atlanta from the summit of Signal Mountain, a.k.a. Mount Wilkinson.

The mountain, left only partly forested, is now topped with high-rise office towers, part of the Cumberland/Galleria edge city of metro Atlanta. Among these buildings lies a small, private cemetery in which Hardy Pace (1785–1864), a founder of Vinings and operator of Pace's Ferry, is buried. Mount Wilkinson Parkway is one of the roads in the area.

Namesake

Mount Wilkinson was named "Mount Mell Wilkinson", in honor of Mell B. Wilkinson. It is located at what once was the Bert Adams Scout Camp.^{[citation needed]}

A newspaper article of the day read as follows: "Never was a mountain more highly honored in its name than the newly christened "Mount Mell Wilkinson" purchased for the Bert Adams Boy Scout camp, which it adjoined. Formerly known as Signal Mountain, it is the highest point between Kennesaw Mountain and Stone Mountain. It is renamed in honor of Atlanta's "grand old man" of Scouting, Mell B. Wilkinson.^{[citation needed]}

The Atlanta Rotary Club contributed one half of the $5,000.00 cost price of the mountain and the other half was quickly made up by smaller gifts from friends of Mr. Wilkinson. In fact, when the gifts were all in there was $600 extra, to be used to purchase more land at the camp.^{[citation needed]}

Mr. Wilkinson has long been one of the outstanding national figures in the affairs of the Boy Scouts. He was the first president of the Atlanta Council and since then has held high office in the national organization."^{[citation needed]}

The camp also included land that was sold to build the present day Cumberland Mall and surrounding office complexes and apartments. Streets in the immediate vicinity are still named for the camp and the mountain.

References

• "Feature Detail Report for Mount Wilkinson". Geographic Names Information System. USGS. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:332437. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
• "Walk Through Historic Vinings". Vinings Historic Preservation Society. Archived from the original on 2008-04-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080402204802/http://www.vinings.org/walkthrough.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
• "Letters from Readers: Road to Atlanta Revisited". Civil War Times (TheHistoryNet.com). June 2007. http://www.historynet.com/magazines/civil_war_times/7460232.html. Retrieved 2008-03-29 
• Golden, Randy (2008). 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Atlanta. Menasha Ridge Press. pp. 50.