Georgia - Martin Luther King National Historic Park

While on my road trip to the south eastern states, I needed to visit a National Park Property in Georgia. Since I was in the Atlanta area, I went to all three of the locations in one day. First, I visited the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield, followed by the Island Ford section of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation area, and lastly, the Martin Luther King National Historic Park.

My last visit of the day, which happened to be election day, was to the Martin Luther King National Historic Park. On the day when the entire country was so divided regarding the election of Donald Trump vs Joe Biden, I felt that the visit to the MLK park was more poignant than ever.

The location of this park is in the neighborhood where MLK was born, and where he lived while young. Down the street is the home he was born in, and several of the buildings nearby were instrumental to his youth. The actual NPS building is a large museum, unfortunately it was closed due to the Covid outbreak. I walked around the grounds and learned more about MLK from the plaques and information posted outside.

Across the street from the NPS building is the MLK Center for Nonviolence. It was a beautiful building, closed due to COVID-19. Outside, there was a large courtyard with a big fountain and reflecting pool. In the middle of the reflecting pool was the tomb of MLK and his wife. In the area of the tomb, there was also an eternal flame, and a loudspeaker with MLK speaking. In the concrete on the ground, there were quotes from MLK all over. IT was an immensely powerful place – with the voice, and the stillness while still being in the middle of the city.

One quote I came across said “This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community”. I am writing this post 11 days after that visit – and the winner of the presidential election in Georgia is still not called. After over 4Million votes there, the difference between Biden and Trump is only a few thousand. I thought this quote was so apt for the day!