John Ripley Forbes set up nature and science centers in over 30 states and 200 communities across the United States. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell and Dunwoody Nature Center. He is responsible for the John Ripley Forbes Big Trees Forest Preserve on Roswell Road next door to North Fulton Service Center in Sandy Springs.

Forbes was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1913. His father was an amateur naturalist who liked to take his son on nature walks. William T. Hornaday, naturalist and director of the Bronx Zoo, was a neighbor of the family and mentor to Forbes.

Forbes first project was setting up a museum in a Kansas City mansion, which became the Kansas City Museum of History and Science. In 1946, he was among those on the board of Fernbank in Atlanta, which became the Fernbank Children’s Museum and later Fernbank Science Center.

Forbes married Margaret Sanders in 1951 and they lived in Connecticut with their two children. In 1958, he was one of the founders of Earthplace, a nature center in Westport, Connecticut. (New York Times, John Ripley Forbes obituary, Sept. 4, 2006)

The family moved to Georgia in 1971. Forbes was concerned about real estate development and began the Southeast Land Preservation Trust.

It was suggested Forbes start a nature center in the mid-1970s on six acres along the Chattahoochee River. He gathered financial backers and others with the same dream. They founded the Chattahoochee Nature Center on Willeo Road in Roswell, which today includes 127 acres.

In 1989, thirty acres of land were for sale on Roswell Road. The land was advertised as ideal for a car dealership. John Ripley Forbes recognized the value of the property from the standpoint of its historic 200-year-old trees as opposed to the financial value. A co-operative partnership was formed between the Southeast Land Preservation Trust, Fulton County, the state of Georgia and private citizens to purchase the land.

In Dunwoody, members of the Dunwoody Woman’s Club, including Kathy Hanna were working to prevent tennis courts going up at Dunwoody Park on Roberts Drive. Forbes suggested, “Create a nature center, Dunwoody doesn’t have one. I can’t fund it, but I’ll advise you ladies and do anything I can to make it happen.” Hanna had served on the board of Big Trees and lived near Forbes.

The first funds for Dunwoody Nature Center came from an event John Ripley and Margaret Forbes held at their home in 1990. They raised $10,000, which served as the first year’s budget for the nature center. He continued to help the group, according to Hanna, by convincing DeKalb County to lease the house on the property for one dollar a year, conducting nature walks, being available any time they called, and offering encouragement.

He was instrumental in the establishment of several other nature centers in Georgia, including The Outdoor Activity Center, Reynolds Nature Preserve, Cochran Mill Nature Center and Arboretum, and Autry Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage Center. (“Nature’s Keeper: John Ripley Forbes and the Children’s Nature Movement,” by Gary Ferguson)

John Ripley Forbes died in 2006. His wife Margaret, who often worked by his side and loved to garden with native plants, died in 2020.

Author Gary Ferguson wrote of Forbes, “…John never lost touch with that precious sense of wonder that nature presents to anyone who cares to embrace it. To his own children, and to countless others, he was a playful, hearty source of both marvel and knowledge, turning walks in the woods into entrancing adventures.”