May 13, 2025 - News

Project uses tree rings to determine age of historic Atlanta buildings

Kristal Dixon

A featured image generator showing two students on the left taking photos of the interior of a wooden structure. On the right shows a photo of timber cross section featuring tree rings that can used for dating. — Left: Andrew Ivester and Georgina DeWeese, who teach geology at the University of West Georgia, examine logs at the Power-Jackson Cabin in Cobb County. Right: Tree rings in a timber cross section used for dating. Photos: Trevor Beemon/Cobb Landmarks

A metro Atlanta nonprofit is teaming up with college students to find the exact age of historic buildings using a unique area of study.

Why it matters: While historical documents may say a building was constructed in a certain year, the wood used to create the structure could tell us a different story.

Driving the news: Cobb Landmarks is using dendrochronology — the study of tree rings — to pinpoint when wood for metro Atlanta buildings was harvested for construction.

What they're saying: Trevor Beemon, Cobb Landmarks' executive director, told Axios they are partnering with University of West Georgia students who, under the guidance of two professors, will take 12 to 15 samples from structures around metro Atlanta.

Buildings in the study include the William Root House, Power-Jackson Cabin and Brumby Hall in Cobb County, Mimosa Hall in Roswell and several buildings in Atlanta's South Downtown neighborhood.
"This is an opportunity for us to partner with science to help make sure that the history that we're sharing is as accurate as possible," Beemon said.

Zoom in: Bryan Capps Jr., project manager for South Downtown, said samples will be taken from about three dozen buildings that are undergoing structural rehabilitation and stabilization.

The partnership is "really the one chance" South Downtown has to learn about these buildings before they are redeveloped, Capps said.

The intrigue: Throughout the process, Capps said, they've noticed that many buildings have been "stitched together" with cosmetic fixes over the years, including finding missing walls and plenty of windows that were bricked over.

Beemon said there's a theory that part of the Root House, a Marietta-based museum managed by Cobb Landmarks that documents life in the mid-19th century, was built before the official established date of 1845.
"It's already a significant structure, but it could be even more significant if it predates 1845," he said. "That would make it really one of the oldest structures in Marietta."

The bottom line: Capps said the project could debunk misconceptions that Atlanta was reduced to ashes during Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea.

"What I'm hoping is that it spurs renewed interest in preserving what's left of Atlanta's very old history."

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Project uses tree rings to determine age of historic Atlanta buildings

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