 Atwater spent time traveling throughout Scotland, Rome, and Naples; on his trip he wrote articles about his observations for local newspapers based in the places he had lived in the United States.In 1871, Atwater returned to the United States to teach Chemistry at East Tennessee University and the next year moved to Maine State College.While there, Atwater met Marcia Woodard (1851-1932) of Bangor, Maine, the daughter of Abram Woodard.