Smyrna's New Half-Mile on the Chattahoochee Is Sized for a Walk to Lunch

For years, Riverview Landing has had a kayak launch, an amphitheater, a coffee shop, a brewery and a barbecue counter, all on the Chattahoochee. What it lacked was a paved path along the river that went somewhere. That changed on Thursday, October 8, when the Trust for Public Land, Cobb County and City of Smyrna officials cut the ribbon on a new half-mile section of the RiverLands Showcase Trail at Riverview Park.

Half a mile won't fill a long run. It fits a walk from a parked car to a latte, a pint or a tray of brisket. It is also the visible northern end of a longer corridor that work crews are now building south toward Mableton. Both of those facts shape how the trail works on an ordinary weekend this fall.

What Opened on October 8

The Cobb Courier reported that the paved section opens the northern part of the nearly 3-mile Cobb RiverLands Showcase project. That project is planned to run along the river between I-285 and Mableton Parkway, linking Riverview Park in Smyrna to Discovery Park in Mableton.

In its preview of the opening, Urbanize Atlanta called it the Riverview Park Trail. It reported that Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton and Cobb County Commissioner Monique Sheffield were scheduled to join TPL officials for the ribbon cutting. The same report describes a multi-use path for walkers, runners and cyclists, with river views and shaded stretches. The park sits on the western bank of the river, just north of U.S. Highway 78, also called Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. Images released with the opening show the trail running past one of the park's parking areas.

The rest of the park predates the new pavement. The City of Smyrna's listing for Riverview Park at 6275 Riverview Road includes parking, restrooms, a walking trail, open space, an outdoor stage and amphitheater, and dock and kayak access to the river. The new section adds a paved link along the water to amenities that were already there.

Half a Mile, Measured in Stops

Riverview Landing, at 6255 Riverview Road SE, is next door to the park. It has three food and drink stops, and each one keeps different hours. Their schedules matter more for planning a trail outing than the trail's length does.

Hours come from each business's own site: Chattahoochee Coffee Company, Owens & Co. and Reformation Brewery Smyrna.

Lined up together, the schedules show a pattern. All three are open at the same time only from Friday through Sunday, starting at noon, and the barbecue counter closes when it sells out. That makes a late-morning weekend start the most reliable plan. You can walk the half-mile with coffee in hand, get to the barbecue line around noon, and leave the brewery for later in the afternoon. On a weekday, the coffee shop is the one stop with a full day of hours. On Thursday, the brewery doesn't open until 4 p.m.

Reformation's taproom also has its own calendar. The brewery's Smyrna site lists taproom events running through the end of October.

The Barbecue Stop Has a New Pitmaster and a November Menu

Of the three stops, the barbecue counter has changed the most recently. In January, Rough Draft Atlanta reported that co-founder Bryan Hull left the Owens & Hull partnership the previous October. The restaurant was set to rebrand as Owens & Co., and Hull went on to launch Misfitsss BBQ as a pop-up.

The bigger news came this fall. Atlanta Magazine reported on October 28 that Bryan Furman is now the "official pitmaster" at Owens & Co. Furman is best known for B's Cracklin' Barbecue, which he opened first in Savannah and later in Atlanta's Riverside neighborhood, and he has returned from a nine-month residency in Oregon. The magazine reported that Furman and founder Robert Owens have been friends for more than a decade. They once bonded cooking for 2,400 people in three days.

"It's nice for me to work with true professionals like Bryan. He's one of the best pit cooks in America," Owens told Atlanta Magazine.

Atlanta Magazine reported that the new menu would be available starting November 1. The restaurant still serves its Texas-style barbecue, now with South Carolina touches from Furman. Those include South Carolina hash and rice and a peach-mustard sauce, two dishes the magazine ties to his reputation. The rest of the list includes:

• Brined and smoked turkey
• Smoked beef cheeks
• Tasso ham
• Brunswick stew
• Marsh Hen Mill grits
• Cornbread
• Spicy guava wings
• A Greek-style burger

The menu also adds a planning step. Brisket and short ribs are available Friday through Sunday by preorder only, per Atlanta Magazine. Those are the same three days when all three Riverview Landing stops overlap, so the weekend window for a trail outing also covers the full barbecue menu. If you want brisket at the end of your walk, order ahead.

Where the Trail Goes Next

The half-mile at Riverview Park is the start of a longer route. A Trust for Public Land event page for a September walk said TPL, Cobb County and the City of Smyrna have started construction on a 2.7-mile trail from Riverview Park to Mableton Parkway. That trail will pass under Veterans Memorial Highway and run behind Discovery Park. TPL calls it the RiverLands Showcase project because it is "the first major piece of the Chattahoochee RiverLands vision to become a reality." The larger vision is a 100-mile network of parks, trails and river amenities from Buford Dam to Chattahoochee Bend State Park. TPL hasn't published a completion date for the remaining stretch.

Here is where each nearby piece of the corridor stands, from most usable today to furthest out:

1. Discovery Park, already open. Cobb County describes Discovery Park at the River Line, 6653 Discovery Blvd. in Mableton, as having a flat, paved RiverLands Greenway section, wooded dirt trails and parking. TPL's event page notes the greenway there mixes paved and gravel sections, with natural rest points. For now, it's a separate drive from Riverview Park.
2. The 2.7-mile Showcase connection, under construction. This is the stretch that will link Riverview Park and Discovery Park along the river.
3. RiverLands Gateway Park, projected for Summer 2027. Chattahoochee RiverLands describes this as a separate Cobb County project of nearly 15 acres on land TPL acquired in 2023. The first phase, a $9 million investment, includes a half-mile trail, parking, restrooms, a river overlook, a kayak launch and a boat ramp.
4. The RiverLands Bridge, in study through September 2027. Smyrna is leading a federally funded, 18-month feasibility and design study for a pedestrian and bicycle crossing. The bridge would connect regional trails including the Silver Comet, the Proctor Creek Greenway and the Atlanta BeltLine. The project page projects the study will finish in September 2027. That is the date for the study, and no construction schedule has been set.

Urbanize reported that TPL expects more than 1,000 nearby residents to be within easy reach of the new trail. As the southern segments open, the Riverview Landing block will sit at the north end of a much longer riverfront route. For this fall, the open section covers the walk from the park to the coffee shop, the brewery and the new barbecue menu.

New trails, a new pitmaster and new parks are the kind of local changes that show up in how buyers see a neighborhood. If you own near the river and want to know what your home is worth as the RiverLands corridor takes shape, Property Guys of Atlanta can walk you through it. Request your free home valuation.