Druid Hills Real Estate

Druid Hills

Druid Hills sits in DeKalb County along the northeastern edge of the city of Atlanta, its southern boundary running directly along the Atlanta city line. Ponce de Leon Avenue, North Decatur Road and Briarcliff Road connect the neighborhood to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta in a short, direct drive, while LaVista Road and Lawrenceville Highway lead northeast toward Tucker and the Northlake area. The community remains largely unincorporated DeKalb County, though the section anchored by Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was annexed into the City of Atlanta in 2018.

A Planned Landscape with Deep Roots

Druid Hills began in 1893, when landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, known for designing New York's Central Park and Boston's Emerald Necklace, drew the original plan for developer Joel Hurt's Kirkwood Land Company. Construction started in 1905 and continued under Olmsted's sons, the Olmsted Brothers, after his death, with the neighborhood largely built out by the 1930s. In 1908, Asa Candler, founder of the Coca-Cola Company and a future Atlanta mayor, purchased the development company and built his own mansion along Ponce de Leon Avenue. The neighborhood's name is often traced to Hurt's wish to evoke druids and their sacred groves, paired with the area's rolling terrain. Druid Hills was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, with an expanded historic district listed in 1979, and its parkways still showcase Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Italian Renaissance and Craftsman architecture from architects including Neel Reid and Henry Hornbostel.

Parks and Greenspace Along Ponce de Leon

Six connected garden segments, Springdale, Virgilee, Oak Grove, Shadyside, Dellwood and Deepdene, make up the 45-acre Olmsted Linear Park running along Ponce de Leon Avenue, maintained by the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance. Fernbank Forest, an old-growth hardwood forest tied to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, offers walking paths beneath a mature tree canopy. Lullwater Preserve, a wooded greenspace on the Emory University campus, centers on a small lake and waterfall, and Freedom Park, one of the city's largest linear parks, threads through the area with trails and public art. Smaller trail systems along Peavine Creek and the South Fork of Peachtree Creek add further walking options close to home, and the private, historic Druid Hills Golf Club anchors part of the neighborhood's rolling landscape.

Village Centers, Culture and Everyday Life

Emory Village, a small commercial district near the university's main entrance that took shape in the 1920s, mixes local shops, cafes and restaurants along Oxford Road and North Decatur Road. On Clifton Road across from the CDC campus, Emory Point pairs street-level shops and restaurants with apartment residences. The Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, a Gothic-Tudor mansion built for Coca-Cola executive Charles Howard Candler, hosts classes, concerts and garden tours, and Emory's Michael C. Carlos Museum displays ancient art and antiquities. Emory University itself, founded in 1836 and relocated to its Druid Hills campus in 1914, contributes a collegiate Gothic core of quadrangles and older academic buildings to the surrounding streetscape. Housing in Druid Hills ranges from grand early 20th-century mansions along the main parkways to smaller Craftsman bungalows and later infill homes on the neighborhood's side streets, giving the neighborhood a layered architectural character built up over more than a century.

Local Highlights

• Walk or picnic among the six garden segments of Olmsted Linear Park along Ponce de Leon Avenue


• Visit the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and its adjoining old-growth forest


• Browse shops and restaurants in Emory Village or at Emory Point on Clifton Road


• Attend a concert or garden tour at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center


• View ancient art and antiquities at Emory's Michael C. Carlos Museum


• Walk the wooded paths of Lullwater Preserve on the Emory campus

Frequently Asked Questions

What county is Druid Hills in?

Druid Hills is largely in unincorporated DeKalb County, though the portion of the neighborhood anchored by Emory University and the CDC was annexed into the City of Atlanta in 2018.

How far is Druid Hills from Downtown or Midtown Atlanta?

Because its southern edge runs directly along the Atlanta city line, Midtown and Downtown are a short drive away using Ponce de Leon Avenue, North Decatur Road or Briarcliff Road.

What kind of homes are found in Druid Hills?

The neighborhood's main parkways are lined with early 20th-century homes built in Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival and Italian Renaissance styles, while side streets include Craftsman bungalows and later infill construction.

What areas border Druid Hills?

The City of Decatur lies to the east, the City of Atlanta borders the neighborhood to the south and west, and North Druid Hills sits across the South Fork of Peachtree Creek to the north.

What is Emory Point?

Emory Point is a mixed-use development on Clifton Road, across from the CDC, that combines street-level shops and restaurants with apartment residences; it opened in 2012 as one of the first major new retail projects built in the area in about two decades.

Is Emory University considered part of Druid Hills?

Yes. Emory's main campus has occupied land within Druid Hills since 1914, and the university's collegiate Gothic architecture is one of the neighborhood's defining landmarks, even though the campus itself was annexed into the City of Atlanta in 2018.