Prior to the arrival of European settlers
in north Georgia, Creek and Cherokee Indians inhabited the area. Standing
Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the
Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta.
As part of the systematic removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia
from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821, and white settlers arrived
the following year.
In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted
to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to provide a