Alpharetta Tours

Whenever we visit a new city, I try to find ways to fill in the night time gap… this time, while in Atlanta for a basketball tournament, I checked out different tours and found Jen…
Making a private tour request was easy, loaded up the van with 10 teenagers (mostly girls) and we headed to Alpharetta…
Having a historian guide us almost made the tour more intriguing… it wasn’t cheesy or theatrical, she simply told stories… and well, even the most skeptic person would at least think twice…
Whether or not you believe in the supernatural, the history piece was very interesting… and if half these kids didn’t catch on camera and video what we experienced… I wouldn’t believe it in a million years!

Jen is a funny, adorable, and extremely knowledgeable young woman who has energy plus!!! A group of us (women) took her tour this past Friday night and had a great time. I have only lived in Georgia for about seven years, so Jen’s thorough knowledge of the area’s history was extremely interesting to me. I had no idea of the area’s ancestry and local figures of the 1800’s and Jen’s presentation keeps you listening and interested! I also enjoyed the fact that I got some light exercise while taking the tour. There is a lot of walking and standing, although you don’t travel great distances. For a reasonably active senior (which most of us were), it was fine, but if you have trouble standing or walking you might want to think twice. But the highlight of the evening, for me at least, was the trip to the Cemetary. I have always loved reading tombstones and you couldn’t do much of that in the dark, but it dates back to the 1860’s and I will probably go back at some point the daylight to further explore, now that Jen has piqued my interest! All in all, a very enjoyable evening, particularly at this time of year.

A group of 11 Unilocalers went on Alpharetta Tours’ HOWLpharetta Ghost Tour this past Thursday night (⁹⁄₅). Thanks to Unilocal OTP intern Sarah G. for organizing (
). We were originally scheduled to do the ghost tour on August 8, but forecasted inclement weather at the time postponed our event. The day of the originally scheduled event, I received a phone call from Alpharetta Tours informing me of the event postponement. I also received an email with a new set of tickets. The process was handled well.
Tickets were $ 12 per person. We got a special group rate. The regular price is $ 15 per person.
We met up with Jen Hunt, owner/​operator of Alpharetta Tours, around 8:15pm in front of the Dodd Hotel in historic downtown Alpharetta. This was just around nightfall. The tour lasted about 2 hours and it was a walking tour. Bring comfortable walking shoes!
Jen was a really cool tour guide. She’s a history buff and you can tell she knows her stuff, especially when it comes to the City of Alpharetta. She has done her research.
The HOWLpharetta Ghost Tour can kind of be thought of as two tours in one: (1) a history tour of Alpharetta and (2) a ghost tour. We learned a lot about many of the buildings in downtown Alpharetta — what they used to be, who used to live/​work in them, etc. We learned that Old Roswell St. used to be the main thoroughfare through town. We learned that Native Americans used to be shackled, transported barefoot, and buried in the surrounding area.
The HOWLpharetta Ghost Tour is more of walking, educational, and historic tour more than anything else. If you’re looking for a scary, haunted house experience, then you’ll probably be bored. We spent a good amount of time at each stop. Jen gave us more than enough information on the history and backstory behind many of Alpharetta’s historic sites and buildings. We learned about multiple prominent families in Alpharetta’s history, such as the Dodds and Webbs.
The tour involved a lot of walking and standing. Most of us were tired at the end, both because of the walking/​standing and because it was the end of a long (week)day. We stayed within a 2-​mile radius of the downtown area. Most of the walking was done on paved surfaces such as sidewalks and asphalt. However, there was one part where we were behind an old cotton mill (IIRC) and were walking in the dark on gravel. Speaking of the dark, a flashlight would prove useful, though it’s not necessary. We visited many closed/​empty storefronts, businesses, and houses (with permission). We also visited the nearby local cemetary, Resthaven Cemetary.
I have never seen nor experienced a ghost or paranormal activity in my life, but I don’t rule out the possibility of these entities existing. However, I do tend to be a skeptic. I find the whole «orbs» thing to be funny. Jen explained that if we snapped a photo and saw orbs in our photo, that the orbs represent young spirits unable to fully manifest themselves yet. I personally think these orbs are just specks of dust or other matter flying in the air or perhaps light reflecting strangely through the camera lens.
I did get some nice shots of orbs. You can check out the photos I’ve posted with this review to see them. Jen posted one of them to the Alpharetta Tours’ Facebook page and Twitter feed:
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Jen was also a jokester. She told a lot of corny ghost jokes. I couldn’t believe how many she had in her repertoire.
Before going on the tour, be sure to read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on Alpharetta Tours’ web site. It has a lot of useful and helpful info. There are no restrooms on the tour route, so be sure to go before you start the tour. Also, you may get bitten by a mosquito or two, so you might consider putting on some insect repellent. Finally, be sure to tip your guide at the end, especially if you had fun.
We had fun because of our guide and because of the company.

We had such a good time with Jen last night. Even with the Ghost Jokes!!! (Which i thoroughly enjoyed) I have lived in Alpharetta for 14 years now, and didn’t know ¹⁄₃ of what she told us. It takes alot of hard work, patience and persistence to get information, especially personal accounts or experiences, and Jen sounds like she is a Pro, She is super sweet and easy to talk to. What better way to experience downtown in a new light, then by foot, and learn about all the stops along the way. I would recommend this for families or even like a field trip with school. And very reasonably prices. I also liked that they clearly state this is a historical tour with some ghost possibilities. Its not cheesy.
We will def do this again. Sounds like they have some interesting upcoming events!
Thank you again for an awesome night

Jen was amazing from the planning of our private ghost tour until the end of the tour itself. Our originally scheduled tour was postponed due to the chance of severe weather and she was so easy to work with throughout rescheduling and was very accommodating. We emailed back and forth so much that I felt like we were friends! :)
First of all, she is adorable — corny jokes and all — and I was really impressed with her knowledge of the history of Alpharetta. She’s not only been thorough in her research, but I can’t believe she’s memorized all of that. She’s a great storyteller.
As far as paranormal activity, I’m a skeptic, but I’m also easily spooked, so I thought this would be a really fun activity. Plus you get a bit of exercise walking around! I definitely saw some stuff, or at least think I did. Moving mirrors inside of buildings, flickering lights, etc. It was just the right amount of spooky. Even if you go and don’t see anything, there’s still lots of creepy stories to be heard!
My only complaint, and this has nothing to do with the tour itself, is that there were still a fair amount of people out/​cars driving by/​etc. from 8:30 — 10:30. It might’ve had to do with the fact that we went on a Thursday after Alpharetta Food Truck Alley, but I would have loved a darker, quieter setting just to enhance the mood.
Plan a private tour and get 10+ of your friends together (or plan a UYE like I did!) for a group discount. I’m sure the public tours are great, too, and they’re every Friday and Saturday night.
Be sure to follow AT on social media. Jen posts discount codes and giveaways!
I can’t wait to see what else Alpharetta Tours has in store for the community! Jen mentioned trying to put together a pub crawl and I would be allllll over that once it’s organized.

Our tour guide was great! The information, both historical and paranormal, was all very interesting. It was a different perspective of the City we have lived in for more than 20 years. A unique outing for date night that we would highly recommend.

What a great tour.
The guide was very knowledgeable on both the history of Alpharetta and the lore surrounding hauntings and paranormal activity.
The length was just right and the pace was perfect.
What a great addition to Alpharetta.