Community page: ATL QA

Have questions about metro Atlanta but were afraid to ask? Well, this is the place. Send your inquiry in an email to AJC freelancer Lori Johnston at lori@fastcopy.biz and she'll dig into it. But for starters, here are three questions she came up with.

Q: Why is Georgia nicknamed the Peach State if it’s not No. 1 in production?

A: In other words, why in the world would our state take the sweet rights to claim the peach from others? Well, it has nothing to do with who produces the most fruit (if you really want to know, that's California, followed by South Carolina and then Georgia, which has peaches available 16 weeks a year). Georgia became designated the peach state in the decades following the Civil War because we were the first state able to ship our peaches to the north, with New Yorkers clamoring for a bite of our fuzzy fruit. A new method for shipping in champagne baskets helped preserve their flavor, so cheers to Georgia for taking the name of the Peach State and never letting it go. The Peach State moniker has prevailed, with more than 40 varieties and 10,212 acres of peaches grown in Georgia last year, and the image of a peach on our license plates.

Q: Where did the Big Chicken come from and why is it still there?

A: Consider this one unique version of the "why did the chicken cross the road." I choose to believe the Marietta landmark is there for me to use when giving people directions in Cobb County, not for grabbing a bucket of KFC (extra crispy, all the way for me). If you use it for that reason, too, you can thank a Georgia Tech architecture student in 1963 for designing the 56-foot-tall mascot with a movable beak and eyes. The KFC connection wasn't originally there, either. S.R. "Tubby" Davis used the seven-story, steel structure to advertise Johnny Reb's Chick, Chuck and Shake drive-in on U.S. 41. The restaurant isn't there anymore, but the Big Chicken remained after he sold the restaurant three years later to his brother, a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee. Give the chicken some credit too, for making this KFC a top store until I-75 siphoned traffic away from U.S. 41. It's avoided the fryer over the years, with protests in 1993 leading KFC to repair the poor bird, which had been damaged by heavy winds. Now here's the real question: Does a Big Chicken Christmas ornament hang on your tree? That's how you know you're a real Atlantan.

Q: How long did it take to carve the face of Stone Mountain?

A: Atlantans might take this attraction for granite, but this mountainous project was completed after a 60-year process, amid racial tension, world wars, the Great Depression and other circumstances that slowed progress. C. Helen Plane, charter member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, came up with the grand plan in 1912, but the mountain wasn't even deeded over to the group until four years later. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was hired and created the head of Robert E. Lee by 1924, but he was fired after being accused of wasting too much time and money, and the carving was blown up. He went onto bigger things, like carving Mount Rushmore. Fast forward to 1958, and the state purchased Stone Mountain and got approval to go forward with the memorial, featuring Lee, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and Jefferson Davis. Other sculptors – Augustus Lukeman and Walker Kirkland Hancock (along with his chief carver, Roy Faulkner) – completed the three-acre carving, which is 400 feet above the ground and was finally dedicated in 1970. But not the end of the story – the park says finishing touches were made in 1972, setting the stage for the oohs and aahs of laser show fans.