Trust for Public Land Purchases Acreage for Chattahoochee Riverlands Trailhead in Cobb County

Trust for Public Land has completed its purchase of an 8.6-acre site along the Chattahoochee River to serve as a regional trailhead park for the Chattahoochee RiverLands, a planned 100-mile linear park through the heart of metro Atlanta.

The site, located at the corner of Mableton Parkway and Discovery Boulevard, will be the first of approximately 25 regional trailheads developed for the RiverLands project and will anchor the southern end of a 2.7 mile greenway trail connecting Mableton north to Smyrna. It will also connect to the Mableton Parkway Trail, currently in construction as a direct passage from the Chattahoochee to the Silver Comet Trail.

“This is a capstone project for the Chattahoochee RiverLands, as these trailheads will serve as an access point for the nearly 1 million nearby residents and visitors who will be able to kayak, bicycle, picnic, walk, camp and wheel along the river,” said George Dusenbury, Georgia State Director at Trust for Public Land. “We will be engaging with the public and a design firm to determine what these sites will look like, what features they will include and what experience visitors can expect.”

TPL purchased the site with philanthropic donations and has been working with Cobb County on plans to bring this project to life. Once the property is fully developed, TPL intends to donate it to Cobb County Parks and Recreation to manage and open for public use. Current design ideas include a kayak launch, restroom, picnic pavilion, parking lot and playground.

“We’re excited to be on the ground floor of bringing this magnificent vision to life and creating this new access point where our residents and visitors can enjoy our world-class river. The project will be transformational and will stimulate economic development for the South Cobb community,” said Cobb County District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield.

The acquisition is a boon for the RiverLands as it is essential for the completion of the Cobb County Showcase site. The trailhead sits two miles south of Riverview Landing and will provide a key entry point to Discovery Park at the River Line, where Cobb County already has begun build out of a 1-mile trail along the west bank of the river.

The trailhead site is expected to open in 2026.

About Trust for Public Land

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,364 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, raised $93 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.4 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.