Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area Turns 20!

For two decades, the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area has had a hand in many significant preservation/conservation projects in east Metro Atlanta, including stabilizing Lyon Farm in Stonecrest and rescuing the ruins of Lithonia’s historic Bruce Street School.

Arabia Mountain might be 400 million years old, but the organization that helps steward and tell the region’s story just turned 20! Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area was designated by congress in 2006 and is now one of three National Heritage Areas (NHAs) in Georgia. Under the National Park Service, there are more than 60 NHAs across the nation, each one serving as a kind of museum without walls that tells the broader story of a whole region, connecting the dots between many significant sites and preserves.

Unlike National Parks, however, NHAs specialize in the interpretation of living landscapes that intersect with nature, culture and history. In other words, people and businesses and whole cities live in Heritage Areas. At least 100,000 residents call Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area home, although many may not know they live in Atlanta’s only Heritage Area as it stretches across three Metro Area counties: DeKalb, Rockdale and Henry.

“Our National Heritage Area started because a small group of individuals saw the value of protecting public lands for the sole enjoyment of others,” said Revonda Cosby, Executive Director of the Arabia Alliance, the nonprofit organization that manages the 40,000-acre Heritage Area. “Flash forward 20 years, we’re still proud to be protecting these places that tell America’s story. As one of 63 national heritage areas across the country, we’re looking forward to building economic vitality and driving tourism that never loses its sense of community.”

The Arabia Alliance staff pose in front of the NHA’s sign. From left to right: Jennifer Dickie, Aleksandr Johnson, Revonda Cosby, Jeff Dingler, Brigette Jones, and Ranger Joel Slaton.

Every NHA fills a different niche or need in its region. Some are metropolitan like the Baltimore NHA or Motor Cities NHA in Detroit, while others are almost completely rural like Great Basin NHA out in Nevada and Utah. All tell stories that reflect this nation’s diversity, heartiness and ingenuity.

For Arabia Mountain NHA that work has meant creating public-private partnerships, including with DeKalb County to stabilize and save Lyon Farm, the county’s only extant plantation home. It has meant working with communities like Lithonia to create a grass-roots revitalization and fundraiser that will transform the historic Bruce Street School ruins, DeKalb’s first public school for Black people, into an outdoor classroom and museum space. It’s also meant countless cleanups along the South River and sponsoring events and water testing for the South River Watershed Alliance. At Panola Mountain State Park and the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve, it has translated into partnering with Birds Georgia and others on removing invasive plants and trying to restore natives. For the Monastery of the Holy Spirit at the southern tip of the Heritage Area, it has become an ongoing relationship in offering monthly tours at Georgia’s only monastery of cloistered monks. And on Klondike Road near the heart of the NHA, it’s meant preserving iconic Vaughters’ Barn and Meadow and revitalizing Vaughters’ farmhouse into the offices of the Arabia Alliance.

S. B. Vaughters (center with baseball cap) was thrilled to sell his land to the state. The dedication was held in front of his barn and included then-DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones and famous landscape architect Roy Ashley. On the barn is one of the earliest banners of the Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance.

Perhaps most important of all, the Arabia Alliance hosts fun creative events from hikes and readings to outdoor yoga and free fishing classes for the people who call this Heritage Area home. Speaking of… To mark 20 years of this nonprofit’s work in preservation, conservation, and community engagement, the Arabia Alliance is throwing a big birthday bash for the community! Our 20th Anniversary Celebration will be held on Sunday, October 11 from 2-6pm. The celebration will take place across the street from the Arabia Alliance office at Vaughters’ Barn at 3366 Klondike Road in Stonecrest. Expect a festival-like atmosphere with live blues, bluegrass and rock music, free ice cream, local food vendors, and a popup exhibit about the history of Arabia Mountain NHA inside historic Vaughters’ Barn, itself.

“While the rich history of the National Heritage Area predates 2006, we are extremely proud of the tremendous feats of the Alliance over this 20-year span,” said the Arabia Alliance’s assistant executive director Brigette Jones. A historian by trade, Jones recently co-authored Images of America: Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, part of Arcadia Publishing’s bestselling photographic history series for the Arabia Alliance’s 20th anniversary celebrations. “I’m so proud of that book,” said Jones. “It’s been a peak part of my experience at the Arabia Alliance. And we’re looking forward to continuing to create new and innovative ways to meet people, as we like to say, at the intersection of nature, culture, and history.”

It’s been a years, but Vaughters’ Barn has been a locale for concerts in the past, especially country and bluegrass, which S. B. Vaughters was fond of.

For this 20th Anniversary Celebration at Vaughters Barn, the Arabia Alliance will be joined by a number of its partners in pop-up tents with lots of giveaways and activities including walks through Vaughters’ Meadow (the last intact dairy meadow in DeKalb County) led by an Arabia Ranger, cool animal ambassadors from AWARE Wildlife Center, and historic games taught by Panola Mountain Rangers.

But that’s not all! On October 30, the Arabia Alliance will also be hosting an NHA 20th Anniversary Founders Coffee at Panola Mountain State Park’s Event Room. This happening will feature coffee, tea, a light breakfast, and a chance to meet and greet the co-founders of Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area: Becky Kelley and Kelly Jordan, as well as others who were instrumental in the Heritage Area’s formation. Attendees will also be treated to a short “teaser” video about the history of the NHA.

It all started with a conversation between Kelley and Jordan. 20 years ago, Becky Kelley was the DeKalb County Department of Parks and Recreation Director and Kelly Jordan was local developer with a passion for conservation and photojournalism. Both shared a love for the region around Arabia Mountain and saw great potential to develop a kind of recreation and cultural corridor through east Metro Atlanta running from Lithonia down to rural Conyers.

From left to right: Kelly Jordan, Mary Terry (Arabia Mountain’s first ranger), US Senator Saxby Chambliss and Becky Kelley outside the newly created Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Center.

As Director of DeKalb County Parks in the late 1990s, Kelley enlisted Jordan to help create the Arabia Alliance in 1998 to support and advocate for the newly created Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve and other important natural, cultural and recreational resources. Later, as Director of the Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites System, she helped secure matching funds to stabilize historic Vaughters’ Barn. But it was a Lithonia native, US Senator Max Cleland, who first suggested to Jordan and Kelley the idea of making the region a National Heritage Area.

“And we said, what the heck is a National Heritage Area?” recalled Kelly Jordan, who would spearhead the multi-year planning process that ultimately led to congressional designation in 2006. After that, Jordan went on to become the volunteer head of the Arabia Alliance for many years, successfully assembling the expansive green space connections of the Heritage Area. These connections proved vital in the construction of the Arabia Mountain Path System, 30-plus miles of paved trailed that run like a spine through the Heritage Area, connecting our many communities and historic sties.

In 2003, Kelly Jordan (second from right) testified in front of the US Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources about the benefits of forming the NHA. Senator Max Cleland (second from left) was from the area and big proponent of its designation. He signed this photo from that day: “To Kelly, a great American.”

“Looking back on our designation as a National Heritage Area, we pay respects to many who helped along the way,” said Jordan. “We start with then-Senator Max Cleland, who shepherded the bill through the US Senate, Dayton Sherrouse, head of the Augusta Canal NHA who gave early guidance, the Turner Foundation for early support, DeKalb County and its Parks Department, The Conservation Fund who gave invaluable assistance in land preservation, and others.”

After serving on the Alliance board for years, Becky Kelley retired in 2024. As for Jordan, he remains active as the Arabia Alliance Board Treasury, still assisting with multiple projects. As for the Arabia Alliance, what started as a volunteer-only organization has grown into a small but mighty team of six employees, a board, plus a whole network of dozens of volunteers and vendors. Please come celebrate with us on October 11 and October 30. And we can’t wait to see what the next 20 years hold!

If you found this Field Note fascinating, then please check out our new photographic history Images of America: Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area.

Arabia Mountain

Dominated by two granite outcrops, the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area offers natural wonders, compelling history and heart-pumping activity. This nationally significant landscape includes vibrant history, breathtaking beauty and intriguing cultural changes from early settlers to immigrant rock cutters, Trappist monks and one of the oldest African-American communities in Georgia.

Published : October 1, 2026 Category : Featured, Field Notes