Kennesaw, GA

Kennesaw preserves its railroad origin in unusually tangible form: the steam locomotive General stands inside the Southern Museum only a few hundred yards from the place where raiders stole it in April 1862. The settlement had grown beside the Western and Atlantic Railroad as Big Shanty, a name taken from the workers' shelters near a high point on the line. The Great Locomotive Chase and Civil War fighting made the railroad nationally known, but the rebuilt line also remained the town's economic link after the war. Big Shanty incorporated as Kennesaw in 1887, with its original city limits measured from the depot. Kennesaw grew from 33,036 residents in the 2020 census to a July 2025 estimate of 37,970. Rail history still occupies the downtown through the Southern Museum, its permanent General exhibit, and the historic depot's city-history displays. Depot Park, across from the museum, adds an amphitheater that opened in 2024, and the city's 2026 calendar placed First Friday concerts there from spring into fall.

ATTRJohn Phelan / CC BY 4.0

A different center of activity lies around Kennesaw State University's main campus. The university reported 51,375 students across its Kennesaw and Marietta campuses in fall 2025; its Kennesaw campus is on Chastain Road. For everyday outdoor recreation, 42-acre Swift-Cantrell Park includes paved loops, a splash pad, dog park, inclusive playground, and a 40,000-square-foot concrete skatepark. Nearby Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park has more than 22 miles of maintained interpretive trails, a visitor-center museum and film, ranger programs, and a driving route through battlefield sites. These institutions occupy distinct parts of Kennesaw: the museum and depot downtown, the university to the east, Swift-Cantrell Park along Old 41 Highway, and the national battlefield to the south.