The parking lot at McConnell Drive and Mason Mill Road doesn't look like much. It sits next to the Mason Mill Tennis Center, and the paved South Peachtree Creek PATH trail starts at its edge. From December into January, that lot is the starting point for almost every public program DeKalb's park naturalist runs at Mason Mill Park.
The same corner shows up twice in DeKalb County's latest capital-project report. The county lists a new tennis center for the site beside the lot, with bids under review, and the trail leaving the lot is the start of a longer link the county has authorized toward the former North DeKalb Mall site. So the people who park there for a December bird walk are using the spot where the park's next stage begins.
One trailhead, most of the calendar
Most of the South Fork Conservancy events calendar for Mason Mill this winter is led by Ranger Jonah, DeKalb County's park naturalist at Mason Mill. Here is what's listed from publish week through the holidays:
| Date | Program | Time | Meeting point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 20 through Fri., Dec. 18 | Mason Mill Nature Play Adventure, ages 3 to 8 | 10 to 11 a.m. | South Peachtree Creek trailhead |
| Tue., Dec. 1 | Nature walk with Ranger Jonah | 10 to 11 a.m. | South Peachtree Creek PATH trailhead |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | ASL-interpreted Mason Mill nature walk | 10 to 11 a.m. | South Peachtree Creek PATH trailhead |
| Thu., Dec. 10 | Mason Mill bird stroll | 8 to 9 a.m. | Mason Mill playground |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | Stories & S'mores | Listed at 6 p.m. | Trailhead, then a half-mile walk to the Old Decatur Waterworks |
| Wed., Dec. 23 | Full-moon night walk | 7 to 8 p.m. | South Peachtree Creek PATH trailhead |
| Dec. 23, 2026, through Jan. 23, 2027 | Just Walk with Carolyn Hartfield | 10 to 11 a.m. | Mason Mill trailhead |
Only the bird stroll starts somewhere else, at the playground. Two Conservancy events nearby fall outside the park. A volunteer workday at Herbert Taylor Park is listed for Saturday, Dec. 12, from 8 to 9 a.m., meeting at the park kiosk at 1343 Pasadena Ave. A fungi class is listed for Dec. 19 from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Toco Hill-Avis G. Williams Library. Pair the class with the campfire that evening and you have a full Saturday without leaving the area.
The "Just Walk" entry appears on the calendar as one listing covering Dec. 23 through Jan. 23. Check the Conservancy calendar for the specific mornings before you head out.
The half-mile walk to the campfire
Stories & S'mores is a good example of how this park works. According to the event page, it's a family campfire with Ranger Jonah, and you're invited to bring chairs, a blanket or a picnic dinner. The Dec. 19 session is listed at 6 p.m. The page also gives a general timeline for the program: the fire starts at 5:00, storytelling at 5:15, s'mores at 5:40, more stories at 6:15, and the program ends at 7:00. Registration runs through Eventbrite from that page, so confirm your arrival time when you sign up.
The walk from the car to the fire uses the busiest stretch of the network:
- Park at the South Peachtree Creek trailhead near the Mason Mill Tennis Center, at McConnell Drive and Mason Mill Road.
- Follow the signs along the paved trail. The organizers allow 10 to 15 minutes for the half mile.
- Cross the railroad bridge.
- Continue to the campfire site near the Old Decatur Waterworks. The last stretch is a set of uneven stone stairs.
The route stays on concrete and boardwalk until those stairs. It's more than 10 feet wide, a few spots run slightly above a 5 percent grade, and curb cuts handle the changes between surfaces. Most of it is under tree canopy. The campfire site has no facilities. Public restrooms are near the playground, and the tennis center has bathrooms at the top of the purple pyramid when the Pro Shop is open. The program is canceled if it rains, leashed dogs that are comfortable around large groups are welcome, and the page suggests a flashlight or headlamp for the walk back. If you have questions about whether the walk works for your mobility, the page lists Ranger Jonah's county email: [email protected].
The detail about the bathrooms shows how the park is set up. The tennis center does more than share a parking lot with the trail. It provides some of the trail's basic services.
What the map says about wet weather
The county's Mason Mill trail map gives the distances from the trailhead. The full South Peachtree Creek PATH is 2.6 miles. Mason Mill to Medlock Park is 1.2 miles, Mason Mill to North Druid Hills Road is 0.8 mile, and Mason Mill to Emory University is 0.6 mile. The PATH Foundation describes the same trail as the link between Medlock Park, Mason Mill Park and Emory, with the railroad bridge as one of its features and Lullwater among the nearby attractions.
The dirt trails off the paved spine are where winter weather matters. The Dog Park Trail is a 0.2-mile out-and-back that leads to the Mason Mill dog park over stepping stones across Burnt Fork Creek, and the map warns that the crossing can be impassable in bad weather. On a wet morning, the dog park's other parking area on Jamestown Road is the dry way in.
Two other loops fill out a short visit. The Privet Path & Champion Tree Loop is a 0.5-mile floodplain trail. It runs through a tunnel of privet along Burnt Fork Creek and passes what the county map calls the largest red maple and river birch trees in the city. The 0.3-mile Labyrinth Loop winds back and forth over Ginger Hill, with views of the creek. With bare winter trees, December is when those views open up.
The building next to the parking lot is out to bid
DeKalb's parks page lists the Mason Mill Tennis Center with 16 hard courts, 10 of which can also be used for pickleball. The county's SPLOST project highlights report, prepared in August 2026, includes the Mason Mill Tennis Center in its group of trail and recreation projects moving toward construction, with bids under review. The report names the bid award for a new $4.5 million center as the next milestone.
For trail users, the project matters because of where it sits. The trailhead lot, the trail signs and the Pro Shop bathrooms that the Conservancy points families to are all at this one facility.
The other end of the trail is out to bid too
The tennis center isn't the only Mason Mill-area project in that report. In the same group, the county lists the South Fork Peachtree Creek Trail segment from Medlock Park to Lulah Hills as out to bid, with $8.0 million authorized. The report says the segment extends the trail toward a connection with the Atlanta to Stone Mountain Trail. A smaller segment, Briarcliff to Margaret Harris Park, is listed alongside it with $450,000 authorized.
Measured from the Mason Mill lot, Medlock Park is 1.2 miles up the paved trail. If you walk that far, you're at the end of today's trail and the start of the authorized extension. Lulah Hills is the redevelopment of the former North DeKalb Mall. Developer EDENS has forecast its first wave of retail for the first quarter of 2027. The report also notes that DeKalb already maintains more than 120 miles of trails and that the greenway plan behind these segments goes back to a 1999 master plan the county developed with the PATH Foundation.
Taken together, the two projects frame the trail. The new tennis center is at the McConnell Drive end, where almost every ranger program starts, and the extension is at the Medlock end, where the paved trail stops for now. The full-moon walk on Dec. 23 and the morning walks into January cover the stretch between them.
If you're following what the new Mason Mill Tennis Center and the Medlock-to-Lulah Hills trail could mean for your street, I'm happy to talk through it with you. At Lauren Bowling, I track projects like these across North Decatur and Oak Grove so you have the full picture before any decision. Book a consultation when you're ready.
