Looking for a weekend getaway that doesn’t require much travel? Just about half an hour outside Atlanta is the Town at Trilith. The community merits a tour all its own. The prolific town planner, Lew Oliver, is known for residential and mixed-use design work in forty new towns from Georgia to Edinburgh, UK and more. Every home is within one block of the town’s ubiquitous greenspaces, which cover 50% of Trilith’s footprint.
Whether a townhome style, single family, energy efficient pre-fab, or a multi-generational estate, every building has a distinct and distinguished character. If it feels like a European excursion just to walk outside, that’s because different neighborhoods were inspired by French provincial architecture, English factory towns, and British Urbanism. And if it seems so peacefully quiet, it’s because not only is the whole town walkable, but there are no air compressors or air condition units in sight. The buildings are all climate-controlled, of course, but they are designed to regulate themselves geothermally as well.
Unlike most neighborhoods, even those with strict covenants, Trilith’s landscaping and design is both unique to each house while cultivating a cohesive aesthetic. Most housing developments start construction by grading all the land first, but Trilith’s construction all adapted to the rolling landscape of the former farmland. There are moments when water runoff goes in seven different directions—certainly not the easiest design, but definitely the long-lasting approach.
Even flood plains, sidewalks, and alleyways are thoughtfully curated. There are no wasted or overlooked spaces at Trilith. And there are lots of shared spaces, meaning a five-minute walk to the community mail room is more like a promenade through familiar friendly faces of makers, thinkers, and dreamers. Artistic expression threads throughout the community in its many murals and installations.
Homes are available to rent long term, as are lofts. For those visiting for a shorter stay, five-story Four Diamond boutique hotel the Trilith Guesthouse of the Marriott Group is the upscale, full-service option, located just inside the town’s entrance. The hotel contains two dining options on site. On the ground floor is the dine-in restaurant, Prologue, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and serving options as wide-ranging as lemon ricotta blackberry pancakes to hot honey chicken sandwiches.
And then there’s the art deco inspired rooftop bar, Oliver’s Twist, which overlooks the whole community. (But don’t worry, sports fans: there are still televisions at the bar where you can catch the score of your game.) Here you can order literary themed drinks and elevated English pub food from happy hour till midnight.
Too, just this past Sunday, ENZO Steakhouse & Bar hosted a semi-formal fundraising gala for Two Sparrows Village, to support residential and daytime programming for adults with special needs. The party screened the Academy Awards to a full house, and at every commercial break, prizes were distributed to those who correctly predicted the categories’ winners.
According to some attendees, ENZO is the main attraction in dining of the entire region. Northern Italian culinary tradition marries southern cuisine in Chef Andrea Montobbio’s menu, and if the seven courses presented at the gala are any indication of its typical fare, the flavor and quality of every dish is impeccable. For this occasion in particular, the chef brought out a wheel of parmesan full of buttered popcorn—now that’s an ingenious way of heightening a lobby snack!
For cinephiles who want to attend the Academy Awards, but have no connections in the Academy, this event was a perfect, luxurious weekend getaway. And for those wanting to experience the bespoke town of Trilith, any time is the perfect time to visit. Handpicked, locally-rooted dining, shopping, and artistic spaces are added regularly and assisted in design by the town planners themselves.
Mary Kay McBrayer is the author of Madame Queen: The Life and Crimes of Harlem’s Underground Racketeer, Stephanie St. Clair and America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster. You can find her short works on history, true crime, and horror at Oxford American, Narratively, Mental Floss, and FANGORIA, among other publications. She hosts the podcast about women in true crime who are not just victims, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. Follow Mary Kay McBrayer on Instagram and Twitter, or check out her author site here.
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