History UnderfootAtlanta
  • Spring
  • Water
  • known by the early 1800s; resort from the 1870s
  • City of Atlanta
  • Location approximate

Ponce de Leon Springs

Sulphur-tasting springs in John Armistead's beech grove, two miles east of downtown, that became a resort and then the Ponce de Leon amusement park.

See it on the map All Water records

The record

Wikipedia says the springs were known in the early 1800s and used for drinking water by the 1830s, and that a retired physician, Henry L. Wilson, named them for Ponce de Leon in the 1860s. After Yancey Springs was filled for the Air-Line Railroad in 1868, Atlantans turned to Armistead's springs (Southern Spaces). Bottled delivery began in 1871, a dance pavilion followed in 1872, and in June 1874 the streetcar reached the grove over a 250-foot trestle across Clear Creek. Harper's described the water's 'sulphurous, nasty taste.' The springs are counted among Clear Creek's sources.

Today: Under the commercial blocks on Ponce de Leon Avenue at the BeltLine; no spring is visible.

Look for: The low ground along the BeltLine at Ponce is the Clear Creek valley that the 1874 trestle crossed.