Smyrna's Newest Stretch of River Trail Starts at Riverview Park
How much can half a mile of new pavement add to a Saturday at the end of Riverview Road?
On Thursday, October 8, Trust for Public Land, Cobb County and Smyrna officials cut the ribbon on a new half-mile section of the RiverLands Showcase Trail at Riverview Park, according to the Cobb Courier. On its own, that's a short walk. It's also the northern section of the nearly 3-mile Cobb RiverLands Showcase project, which is designed to follow the Chattahoochee between I-285 and Mableton Parkway and eventually link Riverview Park in Smyrna to Discovery Park in Mableton. Today, Riverview Landing's coffee shop, brewery and barbecue counter are the trailhead. In time, the trail will run south to a park with its own Civil War earthworks.
The City of Smyrna describes the new section as a paved, multi-use trail. The city calls it a step toward the larger Chattahoochee RiverLands plan, a 100-mile network of connected parks, trails and river access points. Trust for Public Land's project page says the path was built for walkers, runners and cyclists, with river scenery and shade along the way.
The park around it already had the basics. The city's park listing includes a walking trail, parking, restrooms and a dock with kayak access to the river. For the ribbon-cutting, the city sent visitors to on-street and metered parking at Riverview Landing next door. That's useful to know on a busy weekend, when the park's own spaces may be full.
If you've read about this trail before, the numbers may not match. Trust for Public Land's Smyrna-section page still calls it "Coming Soon," lists a 0.3-mile length and gives July 2026 as the projected completion. The post-opening reporting describes a finished, paved half-mile.
Very little gets built this close to the Chattahoochee. SaportaReport reported in August that development along the river is tightly restricted under the Metropolitan River Protection Act. Riverview Landing's 82 acres could be redeveloped because the land had already been disturbed. It was industrial property, including a landfill.
Under that history, the shops and the river sit side by side. The development's second phase was finished this summer and added 12 acres of linear park along the river. Its commercial space covers about 17,000 square feet and includes a brewery, a coffee shop and a restaurant. Riverview Park's new half-mile sits right against that cluster at 6255 Riverview Road SE. Few spots on this stretch of the Chattahoochee put coffee and a riverside trail this close together.
A half-mile takes about ten minutes to walk. The businesses at Riverview Landing keep shorter hours than you might expect, so their schedules shape the outing more than the trail does.
One update before you go. Older guides, including the RiverLands site's own Riverview Landing page from August, still list the barbecue spot as Grand Champion Barbecue. Rough Draft Atlanta reported in January that the restaurant, which had been operating as Owens & Hull, would rebrand as Owens & Co. The restaurant's own site now uses the Owens & Co name.
| Stop | Where at 6255 Riverview Rd. | Posted hours |
|---|---|---|
| Chattahoochee Coffee Company | The Eddy location | Mon–Fri 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun 9 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| Owens & Co | Building 4000, Suite 100 | Wed 11:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., Thu–Sat 11:30 a.m. until sold out, Sun noon until sold out, closed Mon–Tue |
| Reformation Brewery | Building 4000, Suite 200 | Thu 4–9 p.m., Fri–Sat noon–10 p.m., Sun noon–9 p.m. |
Owens & Co closes when the barbecue runs out, and it suggests arriving at least 30 minutes before it opens. With that in mind, a Saturday that uses all three stops and the trail might run like this:
On Thursdays the order flips. The coffee shop closes at 5, and Reformation doesn't open until 4. The brewery's Music Bingo series runs Thursday nights on November 5, 12 and 19, then every Thursday in December. A walk at sunset followed by bingo fits easily into a weeknight.
Plan around the light, too. Smyrna's parks ordinance says a city park is presumed closed from dusk to dawn unless a sign posts other hours. The same ordinance requires visitors to pick up after their pets. In November, dusk comes early enough that the after-work walk shrinks fast.
The Showcase project's southern goal, Discovery Park in Mableton, shares a piece of history with a Smyrna park just a few minutes from Riverview Road. The River Line Historic Area identifies Shoupades, the Civil War-era earthworks of the Confederate River Line, at River Line Park and at Discovery Park.
River Line Park, at 6043 Oakdale Road, covers 14.2 acres, has its own walking trail and is the site of a Shoupade. No connector between River Line Park and the new Riverview Park section has been announced. For now they're two separate stops, so you'll drive between them. Fall is a good time to do it. The splash pad at River Line Park, which opened May 1, ended its posted 2026 season on September 9, which leaves the earthworks trail quieter.
Seen that way, the new trail starts at a converted industrial site with a brewery and is planned to end near a Civil War earthwork. Today you can walk the northern half-mile. The rest of the route is still in procurement and design.
The next pieces start at the far end. A Cobb County Phase II presentation dated September 24 lays out shared-use paths from Mableton Parkway and Lee Industrial Boulevard north to Nickajack Creek, with a bridge over a small creek and boardwalks. It includes a procurement schedule but no completion date. The same presentation says construction is expected to begin in 2027 on RiverLands Gateway Park, the RiverLands boat launch site and the Nickajack Creek bridge.
Trust for Public Land describes Gateway Park's first phase as a $9 million project with trail connections, parking, restrooms, a river overlook, a kayak launch, a boat ramp, a lawn, a play area and habitat restoration. Its August page targets summer 2027 for completion, while the county's later presentation puts the start of construction in 2027. Treat any opening date as unsettled for now.
The next work is planned for the Mableton end, at Nickajack Creek and Gateway Park. Until then, the Showcase route you can actually walk is the paved half-mile at Riverview Park.
If you're curious how this new stretch of river trail is changing the area around Riverview Road, or you'd like a local opinion on which parts of Smyrna sit closest to it, Jonathan Leach is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.
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