Ponce de Leon Avenue

Ponce de Leon Avenue begins at Spring Street at the south edge of Midtown Atlanta, though prior to the construction of the Downtown Connector, it started a block further west at Williams Street (across from Georgia Tech, one block east of Bobby Dodd Stadium)[5] It passes West Peachtree Street and then Peachtree Street, the city block which has the BellSouth Building (now Tower Square) and the historic Fox Theatre on the north side of the street. At the next two intersections, it takes multiple numbered routes from North Avenue, which runs one block to the south and forms the boundary between Midtown and downtown Atlanta. Via one-way Juniper Street southbound and Piedmont Avenue (formerly part of Georgia 237) northbound, it gets U.S. 29 north, U.S. 78 east, U.S. 278 east, and Georgia 8 east.

Passing Piedmont Avenue and the Edward C. Peters House, Ponce forms the border of NRHP-listed Historic Midtown to the north and Old Fourth Ward to the south. Here are found the historic Mary Mac's Tea Room, the Kodak Building, the Atlanta Eagle, Atlanta's original Krispy Kreme store, and Grace United Methodist Church. After drifting toward the east-northeast, it passes Boulevard (which continues north as Monroe Drive), and after Glen Iris Drive it passes the north side of the hulking former Sears building, later used as City Hall East, and now as Ponce City Market, a food hall and mixed-use complex. Before Sears, the Ponce de Leon Amusement Park was located here. On the north side of Ponce is the Midtown Place strip mall, on the site of the Ponce de Leon ballpark, which was home to the Atlanta Crackers and Atlanta Black Crackers baseball teams.

Ponce de Leon Avenue then passes under a former rail bridge which is part of the BeltLine trail, after which it forms the border between the Poncey-Highland neighborhood to the south and Virginia-Highland to the north. After the now-redeveloped Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant bordering the BeltLine, it passes the Clermont Hotel and Clermont Lounge and then the north end of Freedom Parkway, where it also picks up the route designation Georgia 10 east. It then passes 725 Ponce, a mixed-use development on the former site of a supermarket nicknamed "Murder Kroger".[6] A few blocks further east is the intersection with North Highland Avenue (from which the name of Poncey-Highland is derived), and at this intersection are found the historic Plaza Theatre and Briarcliff Hotel, designed by the same architect as Atlanta City Hall and once home to Coca-Cola heir Asa G. Candler Jr. Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, despite the name, is also located in this area, across the street from Briarcliff Plaza.

After crossing the intersection of Georgia 42 (Moreland Avenue south and Briarcliff Road north), it gets a sixth route number: U.S. 23 north. Although still within Atlanta city limits, it also crosses the county line from Fulton into DeKalb at this street and enters the Druid Hills neighborhood. Here are the early 20th century mansions of Atlanta's wealthy including the St. John's Chrysostom Melkite Church along in Druid Hills, Atlanta, 2012, formerly the mansion of Asa Griggs Candler (Senior), and Rainbow Terrace, home of Lucy Beall Candler Owens Heinz Leide at number 1610.

The Druid Hills Historic District incorporates the earlier Druid Hills Parks and Parkways Historic District that was listed on the National Register in 1975, specifically recognizing the parks and parkways along Ponce de Leon Avenue.[7]

The road begins to gradually curve back and forth, and is followed on its south side by South Ponce de Leon Avenue, the land between them being Oak Grove Park. A second segment of linear park is called Dellwood Park, and around Clifton Road it finally leaves the city, just before passing the south side of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. A third segment called North Ponce de Leon Avenue surrounds a heavily forested county park called Deepdene Park,[8] and on its south side, mainline Ponce de Leon Avenue loses U.S. 278 and Georgia 10 at a split with East Lake Road.

After a northward curve, it loses its other four route numbers at a split with Scott Boulevard, and continues eastward into the city of Decatur as West Ponce de Leon Avenue. Crossing the centerpoint of downtown at Clairemont Avenue (north) and McDonough Street (south), near city hall and the Decatur MARTA station, it becomes East Ponce de Leon Avenue.

It then continues on through Scottdale and downtown Clarkston to become Main Street southward through downtown Stone Mountain, then becoming Stone Mountain Lithonia Road on its way south to Lithonia.

It is also an exit at mile 40 off Interstate 285 ("the Perimeter") north. The only way to access I-285 south is to exit onto Church Street, since this is a split diamond interchange, and the two roads run parallel to each other with a railroad line in between these roads.