OUR HISTORY

50 Years of Connecting People with Nature

Founded by local citizen activists in 1976, CNC has been nurtured by hundreds of people who have worked to build a strong grassroots environmental learning center, touching the lives of more than 144,000 children and adults each year.

Our Founders
Citizen activists and government leaders willing to form public-private partnerships were rare in the early 1970’s. Concerned citizens in North Fulton County began working with some extraordinary visionaries. John Ripley Forbes, a natural “Johnny Appleseed”, was one such visionary.

Green spaces in Atlanta were rapidly being developed as companies expanded into the southeast. The conservation field was wide open here. Forbes started the SE Land Preservation Trust, to conserve green space and respond to the need for these facilities. He solicited movers, shakers, developers and philanthropists to support his land trust movement. Frank McCamey was recruited from Michigan, to help him establish nature centers in the Atlanta/Roswell area.

Searching for local sites, Forbes and McCamey considered Bulloch Hall and the Roswell Mill areas until Roy Wood, an official with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and father of Roswell’s Mayor Jere Wood, redirected them to a large privately-owned tract in Roswell on the Chattahoochee River. The entire tract of land previously known as the American Adventures Club was for sale and, after several months of negotiations, the Foundation purchased the initial 6.7 acres, including a building for offices and exhibits, a pond and woodland areas for trails. The first land purchase in 1976 was the beginning of what is now the 127 acres of the Chattahoochee Nature Center.