Roswell, Georgia, an 1839 mill town turned bustling Atlanta suburb, became my home somewhat by default. We initially moved here for my husband’s job, then after a few years up in New York and yearning for the familiar, we returned. It just made sense to purchase a tiny brick ranch in my sister-in-law’s leafy neighborhood and make our home here.
For a writer like me, home is a place where I can disconnect from the minutiae of life and dream. In Roswell, I feel like a living ghost sometimes—returning again and again to haunt the familiar spots I love. Locations with history, with cracks and corners and quirks.
Spots for outdoor dining line Canton Street.
Fellows Cafe, a fairytale breakfast, brunch, and lunch eatery located in an 1890s home shaded by a hundred-year-old oak, is one of those places. I have history with Fellows—in the summer of 2021, hemmed in by the four walls of my house and grappling for a new direction in my career, I asked my friend Christina DeVictor if she had a job for me at her restaurant that had recently reopened after Georgia’s lockdown.
The porch outside Fellows Cafe.
She said she could use a host, so despite having zero experience in the service industry—and being quite a bit older than your average newbie—I started working there. The whole experience was life changing. It gave me a second wind, and incidentally, I was inspired to make the main character of my latest book a restaurateur.
“The Usual,” a bowl with scrambled eggs, bacon, veggies, and toast, from Fellows Cafe.
City Antiques & Interior Arts, the largest antique mall in town, is where I go when I want to lose myself in the world of other people’s lives. My version of heaven is winding slowly through the more than 150 booths and display cabinets, earbuds in, checking out the treasures on display: midcentury living room sets, stacks of china, vintage movie posters, brass doorknobs, and someone’s dusty, full-length mink coat. I always leave with something special and extremely low blood pressure.
The lively, bustling Roswell Area Park, with its wide paths and game fields ringing with the sounds of children’s soccer, baseball, and football games, is my go-to when I need exercise. In my twenties I ran the trail. In my thirties I watched my boys play sports there. Now I walk with my friend after she’s finished middle school drop-off, catching up and making a fuss over every passing dog. This park is the beating heart of Roswell and a living, breathing scrapbook of life here.
Drinks and dessert at Table & Main.
For date-night dinners, celebrations, and the most incredible hogs ’n quilts (a delicious play on pigs-in-a-blanket) in existence, Table & Main wins hands down. Owned by Roswell native Ryan Pernice, it’s also located in a century-old, impeccably restored farmhouse and is a 2024 Michelin Bib Gourmand winner. Table & Main is described as “simple, seasonal, Southern,” which, incidentally, also happens to be a pretty accurate description of me. But there’s more to warm a writer’s—or reader’s—heart. In addition to the delicious food, the welcoming staff delivers your check tucked into a classic Southern paperback novel.
Fried chicken from Table & Main.
Emily Carpenter is a bestselling author of novels of suspense. Her next book, Gothictown, about a couple and their young daughter who accept an offer to start their lives over in an idyllic Southern town, only to find that there’s something very sinister going on, will be published by Kensington in March.
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