The bar at Vinings Jubilee's old Stockyard space has moved. The half walls that split up the dining room are gone. Arches and niches now line the walls, with stucco, neutral tones and olive-green accents. Outside, an open-air patio seats 40. The room is the same one the Kinseys ran for nine years. What they serve in it has changed.
That pattern holds across Vinings this October. The biggest dates on the local calendar take place in rebuilt spaces: a renovated restaurant room, an 1874 railroad pavilion that was moved across the village, and a riverfront park that has finished one phase of its renewal and is still raising money for the next. You'll find a few brand-new storefronts, but most of this fall's energy comes from familiar addresses that were reworked.
Nine Years Of Burgers, Then Wood-Fired Pizza
Chef Scott Kinsey and Alexis Kinsey ran Stockyard Burgers & Bones at Vinings Jubilee for nine years. In late September they reopened the same space as Cotto Modern Italian. The AJC's September 19 restaurant roundup already listed Cotto as open in Vinings.
Vinings isn't Cotto's first location. The Kinseys opened the original in Gainesville three years ago, and they also run Taqueria Tsunami, Silla del Toro and Forno Vero around metro Atlanta. Scott, a former corporate chef for Macaroni Grill, leads the Vinings kitchen each night. The menu covers antipasti, pasta, mains and 10-inch wood-fired pizzas, and most dishes are built for sharing. Atlanta Magazine named the gnocchi, pollo saltimbocca and cacio e pepe as early favorites.
Here's what has changed for a weeknight dinner on Paces Ferry:
- Hours: dinner nightly, plus weekend brunch
- Seating: 75 inside and 40 on the open-air patio
- Booking: reservations and walk-ins both accepted
- Wine: 85 Italian bottles, plus a seasonal cocktail list that includes the Fly Me to the Moon and a bourbon-and-amaretto Tuscan Ember
One practical note: the Jubilee's online directory still shows Cotto as "Coming Soon." The restaurant is open, so trust the press coverage and Cotto's own site over the directory listing.
The Year's Big Party Happens In An 1874 Railroad Pavilion
Across the village, the Vinings Historic Preservation Society calls its Party for Preservation the "Party of the Year" in Vinings. This year it runs Saturday, October 24, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., at the Pace House and Old Pavilion. It's the society's main annual fundraiser, and it supports upkeep of the village's most historic buildings. Invitations go to VHPS members. Attendance, auction donations and sponsorships are handled through the Party for Preservation page.
Both buildings are on their own second or third lives. The Old Pavilion went up in 1874, built by the Western & Atlantic Railroad as a gathering spot for day-trippers. Later it was enclosed and used by antiques dealers. In 1996 it was moved to the Pace House grounds, and it now has a deck, a catering kitchen and restrooms.
The Pace House next door also has a layered history. VHPS dates the current house to between 1865 and 1874. Solomon Pace built it after his father, Hardy, left Vinings during the Civil War, and in the summer of 1864 Gen. O.O. Howard used the earlier house on the site as a headquarters. The society acquired the three-room house in 1994. A deck now connects it to the pavilion, and the combined complex is available for event rentals.
The society's third property explains a detail that puzzles a lot of newer neighbors. Yarbrough House, built in 1880 at the corner of Paces Ferry and Paces Mill, was leased for restaurant use starting in the late 1970s. After Ruth Carter Vanneman died in 1992, the restaurant moved across the street, and VHPS now runs the old house as a Vinings welcome and history center. That restaurant is Old Vinings Inn, which still operates at 3011 Paces Mill Road SE.
As of late September, the October 24 party is the only fall event on VHPS's upcoming-events page, which tells visitors to check back for more.
Paces Mill Is Halfway Through Its Own Renewal
Down the hill at the river, the same story is playing out at a larger scale. The renewed Paces Mill area of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area held its ribbon cutting in June 2025, finishing Phase One of the New Day Palisades project. That phase cost $6.3 million: $4.3 million from the Cumberland CID and $2 million in federal appropriations. It added a new parking hub and bus-drop loop, rebuilt boardwalks, gently graded paths down to the water, and room for a native meadow with bioswales to filter stormwater.
"We imagined a front porch on the Chattahoochee in the national park that belongs to everyone." Bob Voyles, board chair of the Cumberland CID, at the June 2025 ribbon cutting
Phase Two, which has not been built yet, has slipped. At the ribbon cutting, the $9.5 million second phase was set to start in 2026 and finish in spring 2027, if funding came through. Plans call for an ADA-accessible visitor center with restrooms and changing rooms, an open-air pavilion, broad river steps beneath the U.S. 41 bridge, and river overlooks. The project page, updated in May 2026, now lists Phase Two as "funding needed," with a fall 2027 start that still depends on funding and an expected finish in spring 2028.
The Phase One improvements are what you can use on an October weekend right now. According to the National Park Service map last updated in August 2026, the West Palisades–Paces Mill unit has trails, boat and canoe launches, a picnic area and restrooms. The final segment of the Bob Callan Trail opened in September 2025, linking Paces Mill to Terrell Mill Road.
How October Lines Up From The Jubilee Outward
With Cotto open and the river park in use, the rest of the month centers on Vinings Jubilee, with one big event a short drive away in Cumberland. In date order:
- Thursdays, 2:30 to 6 p.m. The Vinings Jubilee Farmers Market runs every Thursday through the season, with seasonal produce, baked goods, specialty foods and artisan vendors.
- October 17 and 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first Cumberland Art Festival takes over Galleria Gardens at 100 Galleria Parkway SE, with more than 125 artisans, live entertainment and 12 food trucks. The Marietta Daily Journal is sponsoring the event.
- October 23 through November 1. The Jubilee's Partners Card offers savings at participating shops and restaurants, with proceeds supporting Camp Twin Lakes.
- October 24, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Party for Preservation at the Pace House and Old Pavilion.
You may have already seen some of what's new at the Jubilee. Warby Parker held its grand opening there on July 25 in Suite 226 at 4300 Paces Ferry Road SE. On October 1, the free Design Walk sent guests to Redefine Home for a floral experience with The Anik Collective, to California Closets for fall wreath making, and to The Shade Store for a custom Pillow Party. In August, the Jubilee hosted the after-party for the 30th annual Vinings Downhill 5K, which the Vinings Rotary says drew more than 1,300 registrants.
Neither the Jubilee nor VHPS had posted a November or December holiday event as of early October. Check both calendars again after Halloween.
The Village Tables Still Taking Reservations
The two best-known restaurants at the village end of Paces Ferry are still open this fall. Canoe, at 4199 Paces Ferry Road SE, opened in 1995 and was showing open reservation times for early October. Old Vinings Inn, the restaurant that once operated inside Yarbrough House, lists current hours and takes bookings at its Paces Mill Road address.
That puts the core of a fall Saturday within a short drive. You can walk the rebuilt boardwalks at Paces Mill in the morning, stop by Yarbrough House, where Old Vinings Inn first served, and have dinner under Cotto's new arches in the space that was Stockyard for nine years. For more ideas around the village, our local's guide to dining, shopping and river views in Vinings and the Vinings neighborhood page cover the rest of the map.
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