Did you know you could see a White House replica just by driving down down Briarcliff Road in north DeKalb County? Or that remnants of a Civil War fort still can be seen in Grant Park? Or that an 1800s cemetery containing the remains of several generations of a local family sits in a mall parking lot on Memorial Drive? These are among several quirky, little-known features of intown neighborhoods.

RENEE' HANNANS HENRY/Staff (ENLARGE)

This White House-in-miniature, a 13,500-square-foot replica of the presidentÕs residence, can be found on Briarcliff Road in north DeKalb County. It even has an oval office.

RENEE' HANNANS HENRY/Staff (ENLARGE)

Sharon Jones, a tour guide for the Atlanta Preservation Center, says visitors are stumped by this structure. The box in Inman Park was a temporary holding cell where police could put rowdy residents.

RENEE' HANNANS HENRY/Staff (ENLARGE)

Little Creek Farm, 40-acre horse farm and stable across from North DeKalb Mall, is owned by DeKalb County for green space but operated by a nonprofit agency.

RENEE' HANNANS HENRY/Staff (ENLARGE)

In the southeast corner of Grant Park are the remnants of Battle of Atlanta earthworks, named Fort Walker.

KEITH HADLEY (ENLARGE)

The south DeKalb community garden emphasizes conservation.

RENEE' HANNANS HENRY/Staff (ENLARGE)

The family cemetery of Benjamin C. Crowley and his descendants has held out against developers.

• See photo gallery of sites
• White House replica on Briarcliff
• Inman Park's 'mini-jail'
• Horses happy near DeKalb mall
• Grant Park fort
• Wonderland gardens
• Buckhead's river park
• Pioneer graves at Avondale Mall

White House replica graces Briarcliff

Metro Atlanta residents don't have to go all the way to Washington to visit the White House. There's one right around the corner.

Fred and Yvonne Milani live in a 16,500-square-foot replica of the presidential residence, which they created at 3687 Briarcliff Road in north DeKalb County.

Milani, an Iranian who immigrated to the United States in 1979, says it started because his wife wanted a columned house.

DeKalb's White House is the spittin' image of the place where America's first family lives, including its white columns and portico. It also has an Oval Office, where Milani works.

Inman Park has 'mini-jail' for rowdy residents

Inman Park, a historic neighborhood on Atlanta's east side, is rife with Victorian homes, pocket parks and charm. At the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Delta Place is an unusual remnant of yesteryear.

The tall, thin structure might remind passers-by of a phone booth that has been plopped down among the flower beds. But it is actually what area resident Sharon Jones calls a "lock box."

Jones, a volunteer with the Atlanta Preservation Center, leads visitors on walking tours of the neighborhood and always lets people guess what the box might be.

"No one gets it," she said with a laugh.

The box and others like it that dotted the city at the turn of the last century was a temporary holding cell for rowdy residents. Beat cops who didn't have the advantage of tossing someone into the back of a squad car would make an arrest and lock the perpetrator in the box until the police wagon came by to pick them up and take them to jail.

"It's always fun to see people try and figure out what it is," said Jones.

Conservancy keeps horses happy near DeKalb mall

Traffic whizzes along Lawrenceville Highway daily, but most people driving past North DeKalb Mall are unaware that horses graze nearby at Little Creek Farm, a 40-acre horse farm and stable.

"We're sort of hidden," said Wendy Bowen, president of the Little Creek Farm Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that helps care for the property and the horses.

DeKalb County purchased the horse farm in 2005 as part of its green space program. The public can visit during normal operating hours, Bowen said, but rides are not available.

"We're having a fall festival Oct. 13 so people can have a farm experience inside I-285," she added.

General's monument endangered

Grant Park, an Atlanta neighborhood south of I-20, has many connections to the Civil War. One that's often mistaken for a big pile of dirt is actually the remnant of a fortification that was built to keep Gen. William T. Sherman and Union troops out of Atlanta.

Fort Walker sits in the far southeast corner of Grant Park, near the intersection of Boulevard and Atlanta Avenue. A state historical marker explains the fort's significance as part of earthworks and rifle pits that extended more than 10 miles.

The lines were designed by Col. L.P. Grant, a construction engineer who gave his land and name to the park and neighborhood. The fort was named for W.H.T. Walker of Augusta, a Confederate brigadier general who died in the Battle of Atlanta.

Today, the area is largely overgrown, said Bill Cuthbertson, director of the Grant Park Conservancy, whose volunteer group has worked to identify and clean up the fort.

"The walls were originally felled trees and mud, and now they're all dirt," said Cuthbertson. "People have been using it as a bike trail, riding up the hills. We've put up some fencing to reduce traffic because once it's gone, it's gone."

Wonderland is a community oasis

Sheldon Fleming's love of nature is on display at Wonderland Gardens, a 20-acre oasis he founded more than a decade ago.

The gardens, on Rainbow Drive in south DeKalb County, are open to the public from dawn to dusk.

The property is owned by the county, but Fleming's nonprofit operates the site as a hands-on community garden with walking trails and a pavilion for outdoor education programs.

Fruit trees, vegetables and flowers grow at Wonderland Gardens, which also has a recycling center.

Fleming, the gardens' executive director, teaches people of all ages about recycling and "the healthy side of life."

Buckhead quietly slopes to river park

Avid outdoors types know there are several locations around metro Atlanta where you can get close to the Chattahoochee River. One of those access points is hidden in a posh Buckhead neighborhood of elegant homes and manicured lawns. There's little signage, so unless you know it's there, you may never find the Whitewater Creek recreation area.

It costs $3 a day to park in the lot alongside a trail that leads to the water's edge. It's a good spot for wading fishermen and an easy place to slip a canoe or kayak into the water. The path along the shady banks is a great place for a walk or jog on a hot day. Bring a picnic and unwind as the river drifts by.

To get there, take I-75 north to Mount Paran Road and turn right. Go left on Harris Trail, then right on Whitewater Creek Road. The park entrance is on the left. Hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

Pioneer graves outlast malls

It may be the only high-rise cemetery in Atlanta — a two-story burial ground at the old Avondale Mall at the corner of Memorial and South Columbia drives.

The Crowley family, which helped settle south DeKalb County, is interred there, behind a locked gate and surrounded by a granite wall.

The cemetery once was located in the middle of a cow pasture. But the family sold the property in the mid-1960s to developers with the caveat that the graveyard would remain.

The land was graded for the old Columbia Mall's parking lot. It remained a curiosity when Columbia Mall became Avondale Mall, which soon will become a mixed-use development anchored by a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter.