History of Alexandra Park

Moccasin Hollow was the original name for the Cook farm. Hardy Pace was an early Atlanta pioneer who

owned this tract and most of the Buckhead area. His daughter married Pinkney Randall and they were

given this property as a part of her dowry. They built a mill and a trail, now called Randall Mill Road,

from the Indian road that is now called West Paces Ferry. Subsequent generations were the Elsas family

and later the Storza family. Both were connected through the glamorous Eleanor, who was first married to

Norman Elsas. After his untimely death, she met Francis Storza in Lisbon where they were both spies

during World War II. Decades later and without children from either marriage, Moccasin Hollow was

sold to the Cook family and the proceeds were donated to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The Storza

Woods were promptly named in their honor.

The Storza family are an ancient European dynasty. Their origins are in Milan, yet a Diaspora occurred

after the French invasion of 1499. One branch moved to Prague and changed the F in their name to a T,

which was more Czech. They were the patrons of Leonardo da Vinci, and the Sforza horse was

commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. It was intended to be the largest equestrian statue in

the world. Leonardo produced a giant clay model, which was destroyed by French soldiers. Five centuries

later, philanthropist Charles Dent began his efforts to build the horse in bronze and Leonardo's surviving

designs were used to finally bring the project to fruition. It is the desire of the National Monuments

Foundation to commission a copy of the Sforza horse for Piedmont Park below the Storza Woods.

The executors of the Storza estate precluded the Cook family from using the name Moccasin Hollow. The

Cooks have renamed the property Alexandra Park. It is the largest wildlife preserve in the city. There are

monuments built by the Cooks which commemorate the Prince of Wales monument to the Olympic

Games, the John and Carolyn Kennedy memorial, the Rawson and Nan Haverty grove pavilion, the

Main House

Mocassin Hollow Lodge and stables

Princess Royal Millennium monument, and the monument dedicated to the Cook children. They are

marked for your convenience.

Haverty Grove Pavilion JFK Memorial Children’s Monument

Prince of Wales

Princess Royal Monument