Chattahoochee River

whitewater rafting

Nantahala Outdoor Center marks 50 years of whitewater adventure

March 8, 2022 – AJC
By Blake Guthrie

whitewater rafting

Photo courtesy of  Nantahala Outdoor Center

“The ballet that takes place with getting people on the river is amazing to watch,” said Nantahala Outdoor Center president Colin McBeath about the daily spectacle that unfolds on the NOC campus during peak season. “It’s not just about getting people wet, it’s giving them an experience, it’s educating them about the local environment. We like to think we’re the five-star experience for rafting.”

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Chattahoochee River May 2020

SING! “Song of the Chattahoochee”

with Meridian Herald and Hosted at the Chattahoochee Nature Center

Jane Thorpe, Meridian Herald Executive Director
July 14, 2020

Timothy Miller
Timothy Miller

End your day right with a live-streamed concert of songs about the beauty of nature and water on July 26, 2020. Taking place at the Chattahoochee Nature Center at 6:00 PM, after the gates close, the virtual concert will be hosted by environmentalist and journalist Sally Sears and performed by brilliant singers Timothy Miller and Wanda Yang Temko of the award-winning Meridian Chorale under the direction of Steven Darsey. Tune into the 6:00 PM live-stream concert on the Meridian Chorale Facebook page. 

Children who visit the CNC on Sunday afternoon, 12:00-3:00, July 26 will receive a packet (via QR code) of fun activities related to music, poetry, nature and science, play “Song of the Chattahoochee” hopscotch, and participate in a video recording of the poem “Song of the Chattahoochee” by renowned Georgia poet Sidney Lanier.

Wanda Temko
Wanda Temko

Timothy Miller, affectionately known as the “tenor lion” is famous for his rendition of “God Bless America” at Atlanta Braves games. Wanda Yang Temko is known for her thrilling soprano performances in opera and concert. The Meridian Chorale is sponsored by Meridian Herald, a choral arts non-profit that sings to make the world a better place. Combining music, literature, history and science into unique programs Meridian Herald aspires to build community and promote intellectual curiosity, empathy, understanding, and racial reconciliation.

SING! “Song of the Chattahoochee” is part of Meridian Herald’s newest program series Confluence. A confluence means the place where two rivers come together. It can also mean a place where ideas meet and grow.

Meridian Herald’s Confluence is the intersection of the environment and the arts. Produced by the Governor’s Award winning arts and humanities non-profit Meridian Herald and guided by a steering committee that includes 100 Miles, the Chattahoochee Nature Center, the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Georgia Humanities Council, the South Fork Conservancy, the Trust for Public Lands, and individual artists and community volunteers. Confluence will present a series of programs in 2020 and 2021 focused on art of all types—visual, musical and written—created by Georgia artists, amateur and professional, children and adults, who have been inspired by Georgia’s natural beauty and whose works inspire others to preserve and protect Georgia’s environment.

Check out Meridian Herald’s “Bound for the Promised Land,” produced by and recently listed for 2020 Grammy consideration by five-time Grammy Award winning producer Elaine Martone. See a video of the final work from Meridian Herald’s live gala concert, “Bound for the Promised Land,” here.

Tune in July 26, 2020 at 6:00 pm to the Meridian Chorale’s Facebook page and enjoy the “Song of the Chattahoochee”. 

Georgia Humanities logoGeorgia Council for the Arts logo

LS_Canoe

Connecting with the Chattahoochee River

A Journey Down an Amazing River

Written by Larry Strott, Canoe Coordinator at the CNC
June 15, 2020

The Chattahoochee River starts as a small spring trickling out of an Appalachian Mountain hillside called Jack’s Knob, located about 10 miles north of Helen in Chattahoochee Gap. The tiny pool formed as water flows out of the ground is inhabited by tiny fish. The spring is also recorded as a reliable water source for hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Right from its modest start, the Chattahoochee River supports both natural and human lives. The water follows gravity down the mountain, across the state of Georgia, and eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico about 550 miles south. Hundreds of tributaries make up the watershed that converges into the Chattahoochee River until it becomes large enough to support the needs of millions of people in 3 states. If you live in the vicinity of the Chattahoochee, there is a very good chance that the 60% of your body that is made of water, is in fact, Chattahoochee River water. The river is literally our life blood.


The transformation from the small trickle in the north Georgia mountains, to the beautiful river that flows past the Chattahoochee Nature Center, happens over many miles, growing in size from the many smaller tributaries along the way. The Chattahoochee Nature Center’s transformation from its own modest grassroots beginning back in 1976, to today’s 127-acre facility that touches the lives of more than 130,000 people each year, happened over many decades, thanks to thousands of members, sponsors, and volunteers, building a strong foundation. The river brings life-giving water to nourish our bodies and the Chattahoochee Nature Center provides unique natural experiences to enrich our minds. The Chattahoochee Nature Center Canoe Programs allow people to experience the natural world of the Chattahoochee River up close. In 2019 we had over 900 participants join us on the water through the CNC canoe programs! 

Like many people here in Atlanta, the Chattahoochee Nature Center brought me together with the Chattahoochee River as a child back in 1979, when I took a canoe class on Kingfisher Pond.  A decade later, still as a young man, I took a naturalist class at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. By this time, I had explored nearly every inch of Bull Sluice Lake in my canoe. My wife and I had our first date at Island Ford, sitting on a rock overlooking the river.  We married on the same spot, and after which, I paddled my new bride 3 miles downriver to the Roswell River Landing where we held our reception. Not too many years later we would bring our own children back to the Chattahoochee Nature Center to let them start on their own path of natural discovery. Now I have come full circle and returned to the river and the Chattahoochee Nature Center, as a Canoe Guide. My journey with the Chattahoochee Nature Center has taken me down our amazing river for over 40 years. It has shown that the Chattahoochee Nature Center is not a resource just for children, but an invaluable source of natural experiences for all ages.