Peachtree Creek

Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for 7.5 miles (12.1 km) almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vinings. Like other "Peachtree" names in the area, the name is most likely a corruption of "pitch tree", from the area's many pines and their sticky sap.

Peachtree Creek is an important part of the area history. Fort Peachtree was built near the creek and the Chattahoochee River to guard against the Cherokee, who were in the Cherokee County territory northwest of the river. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Peachtree Creek was a major battle of the Atlanta Campaign. Pace's Ferry was built across the river near the creek, and Paces Ferry Road still runs roughly parallel to the creek. Another street, Peachtree Battle Avenue, runs in a similar fashion. Because it is usually called just Peachtree Battle (even by GDOT on its overpass of Interstate 75), that part of Buckhead is often called the same, which in turn gave rise to a local play called Peachtree Battle.

Its two major tributaries are the North Fork Peachtree Creek and the South Fork Peachtree Creek. The northern fork begins at the edge of Gwinnett County and flows 13.5 miles (21.7 km) southwest, almost perfectly parallel to Interstate 85 through DeKalb County. It ends at its confluence with the southern fork, next to where the highway meets Georgia 400. The southern fork, 15.4 miles (24.8 km) long, begins in Tucker and flows south then west, passing through Clarkston, then crossing under part of the Stone Mountain Freeway and quickly back again, west (inside) of the Perimeter. It then flows twice through the northern part of the campus of Emory University and its Wesley Woods section. The southern edge of its basin borders the Eastern Continental Divide, including Peavine Creek (which ends next to WAGA-TV) and its tributary Lullwater Creek, which originates in the Lake Claire neighborhood of Atlanta and drains Fernbank Forest and the Druid Hills Golf Club north of Ponce de Leon Avenue. Other major nearby creeks in Atlanta include Nancy Creek (which flows into Peachtree Creek just before the Chattahoochee River), and Proctor Creek (which flows directly into the Chattahoochee).