Explore Local: 5 Things to Do in Roswell with Kids

Visit the Chattahoochee Nature Center

This nature center on the banks of the Chattahoochee is a not-to-miss destination for families across the metro area, and beyond. With preserved natural habitats, local wildlife—including an incredible owl habitat and pond with scores of turtles—the Nature Center also offers incredible seasonal programs. In the spring, don’t miss the Butterfly Encounter, where you can go into an enclosed area full of the most vibrant butterflies you could imagine. Grab a nectar stick and delight as they land on them, and grab some incredible pictures. Or, go for the Family Fun Days, which include family canoeing, hiking, and water play.

Don’t Miss: The CNC has partnered with American Adventure Park Systems and Historic Banning Mills to bring you Screaming Eagle Aerial Adventures at the Nature Center. Choose to do the Aerial Adventure Course, Zipline Canopy Tour, or both. See nature from a different perspective and spend a day in the trees.

9135 Willeo Rd.
Roswell
770-992-2055
Online: chattnaturecenter.org

Tour Historic Homes & Gardens

Roswell’s history runs alongside that of Atlanta, with the difference being scale and preservation. While many of the historic sites in Atlanta were razed for developers claiming progress, slower-paced Roswell has held on to some of its more interesting historic homes and sites. 

Good to Know: Hidden among the trees in downtown Roswell, you’ll find historic-homes-turned-museums that give visitors a glimpse into life during Roswell’s earliest days. With ties to slavery, these historic sites explore the role of slaves in the South, in Roswell, and as the foundation of the agricultural economy. For more information on how Roswell addresses its history as it relates to slavery, check out programming and information available through Roswell Roots. 

Constructed by one of Roswell’s founding families, the Archibald Smith Plantation Home was built after the family and 30 of their slaves left two struggling plantations along the Georgia coast to make a new start with 300 acres of cotton farmland north of the Roswell Square. Their home, built by slave labor in 1845, was preserved by three generations of the Smith family and is now open to the public as a museum.

Barrington Hall sits on seven acres in downtown Historic Roswell. In the 1830s, Barrington Hall’s builder, Barrington King, and his father, Roswell King, co-founded the colony which became Roswell. On your visit you’ll hear stories spanning from 1838 until the city of Roswell acquired the home in 2005. On the grounds, explore the only antebellum public garden in the greater Atlanta area, along with numerous original outbuildings.

The childhood home of President Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Martha Bullock, is an 1840 Greek Revival mansion called Bulloch Hall and features restored rooms with period furnishings.

To tour all three historic homes, you can opt between guided tours and self-paced ones. 

Barrington Hall
535 Barrington Drive
770-640-3855

Bulloch Hall
180 Bulloch Avenue
770-992-1731

Smith Plantation
935 Alpharetta Street
770-641-3978