Freedom Park Peace Crane
An Urban Letterbox
Atlanta, GA

A Japanese legend holds that if a person who is ill makes a
thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant the person's wish to
be well again. In her story "Sadako and the Thousand Paper
Cranes", Eleanor Coerr tells the moving story of Sadako and her
brave struggle against leukemia, the "atom-bomb disease,"
which she developed when she was twelve, just ten years after
the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Now there is a statue of Sadako in Hiroshima Peace Park. She
is standing on the Mountain of Paradise, holding a golden crane
in out-stretched hands. Every year, on Peace Day, children hang
garlands of paper cranes under the statue. Their wish is
engraved at its base:

This is our cry,
this is our prayer:
Peace in the world.

This letterbox was placed one year after the terrorist attacks on
the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Our cry and prayer is the
same.

To find the Peace Crane Letterbox, start at the birthplace of
Martin Luther King Jr. Street parking in this area may be a bit
tricky, so good luck.

Walk northwest along the Freedom Walk. If you are a first-time
visitor to Atlanta, you'll visit a fascinating historic area and the
acknowledged spiritual center of the nonviolent Civil Rights
movement. On your left, notice the AFD #6 building. Here you
can cross the streets and visit Martin Luther King Jr. Center for
Nonviolent Social Change and the historic Ebenezer Baptist
Church. Dr. King's tomb, with its inscription "Free At Last", sits
amidst the waters of a tranquil reflecting pool. Note the street
address of the old, original church.

Return to AFD #6, and take note of the year it was built. Walking
north, cross the street, and head up the boulevard. After less
than a quarter mile, with Dr. King's out-stretched hand on your
left, turn to your right to find a walking and cycling path.
After a short way down the path, you will see a large radio tower
in the distance. Continue the path that heads in the tower's
direction. Notice the multi-language peace mosaic as you pass
under the two bridges.

Continuing on past MM 3, go under the concrete cover, and over
a bridge. Stop on the bridge, and admire the Atlanta skyline. To
your right the road leads to a center that you might want to visit
after finding the letterbox. Turning around, marvel at the sea of
kudzu--the plant that ate the South.

Continue on. Leaving the bridge you will soon come to two right
turn-offs. Take the second, the concrete one. Follow it to the
street. Look both ways, and cross over the street and stand
between the two low granite pillars. Ahead of you is a gnarly old
elm tree. Follow the path to the tree.

Standing under the board, your back to the tree, add the address
of the Ebenezer Baptist Church to the year AFD #6 was built.
Subtract the year Martin Luther King Jr. was born from this
number. Finally, subtract 67. You now have the compass
direction for the final clue. 72 paces in this direction is a tall
tree
with a wide, irregular base. You'll find the letterbox in the
hollowed-out trunk of this tree, under a pile of rocks.

While not right out in the open, this box is in an area popular with
walkers and bicyclists. Please be discreet when retrieving the
box and put it back and cover it well with the rocks.