Lullwater Park: Walking & Running Trails at Emory University

Run or walk the Lullwater Park loop trails, following the banks of a serene lake and crossing a span bridge to explore the ruins of a 1920s powerhouse.

Lullwater Park offers multiple scenic walking and running trail loops nestled within Emory University’s North Decatur campus near Atlanta. The Lullwater Trail passes the Lullwater House mansion, skirts Candler Lake and crosses a span bridge to explore mill beside a tumbling spillway waterfall in a beautiful, wildlife-rich forest.

Visitors should follow the instructions posted at the Lullwater Park entrance: dogs must be leashed, and access to the Lullwater Park trails is limited to Emory students and faculty with Emory identification.

Above: run Lullway Park, located on Emory University’s Atlanta campus, to this spillway waterfall

Lullwater’s many acres offer immediate escape from the city, its towering old growth trees creating a seemingly impenetrable barrier to the gorgeous landscape within. Owls dive through the tree canopy, their intense gaze on the forest floor causing nearby squirrels to freeze their frolic. Fish pause in the shade of overhanging limbs in the Lullwater Pond, and reptiles bask in the sun-dappled forest accessible via the park’s meandering trails.

One of the park’s highlights is the private-residence Lullwater House, a 1926 tudor mansion built with stone quarried on-site for Walter Candler, a son of Coca-Cola’s founder.

The mansion overlooks Candler Lake’s smooth surface, home to waterfowl and fish basking in its shallows’ sunlight. Candler Lake is dammed on its northernmost end, creating a spillway for a powerhouse that once provided electricity for the Lullwater House estate. A wood and steel span bridge crosses downstream of the spillway, offering access to the powerhouse’s stone ruins.

The formerly two-story powerhouse tower is constructed in a octagonal shape. It now stands open to the sky above, ivy climbing skyward across its stone walls.

The Lullwater Park limited access creates a feeling of solitude and privacy – the perfect location for an on-campus escape into nature, a run or fitness walk, or a read beneath a shady tree on the banks of Candler Lake.

NOTE: Parking is NOT available at the Lullwater Park trailhead. Paid parking is available on the Emory University campus; follow on-campus signs for parking info.

GPS Coordinates

33.795800, -84.321350 (N33 47.748 W84 19.281)

Driving Directions

Lullwater Park Trail Map

This map is for general reference, and is not a substitute for park maps, official trail maps or topographical maps.