Baxter Maddox and Mildred Clark Maddox of Happy Hollow

The Cassidy-Lamb Home at 2579 W. Fontainebleau Court was built around 1930 by Clara Cassidy as a summer home. Cassidy purchased 140 acres of land south of Spalding Drive and arranged for a log cabin to be constructed. In 1942, gasoline rationing made it difficult for Clara Cassidy to travel back and forth between Atlanta and her summer home. She sold the home to Baxter Maddox, Vice President and Trust Officer of First National Bank.

The former summer home of three families and the permanent home of two families is known as the Cassidy Lamb Home, located on W. Fontainebleau Drive off Happy Hollow Road.

Baxter Maddox descended from a family of bankers. His grandfather, Robert Flournoy Maddox, came to Atlanta in 1858. Robert Flournoy Maddox married Nannie Reynolds and started the Maddox-Rucker Banking Company. That bank became Atlanta National Bank, which merged with American National Bank, and became First National Bank. First National Bank merged with First Union, Wachovia, and eventually Wells Fargo Bank. (Atlanta Constitution, June 3, 1993, Baxter Maddox obituary)

Robert Flournoy Maddox’ son was Robert Foster Maddox, president and director of Atlanta National Bank and mayor of Atlanta from 1908 to 1910. Robert Foster Maddox married Lorah Lavender Baxter Maddox and they had six children, including son Nathaniel Baxter Maddox. The Maddox family is buried at Oakland cemetery where they have a mausoleum.

Baxter Maddox married Mildred Roberts Clark, who went by Midge. She was one of twelve women referred to as the Dirty Dozen or as Atlanta Constitution society writer Yolande Gwin preferred, the Darling Dozen. The women were members of the Forward Arts Foundation, a group that broke off from the Women’s Committee of the High Museum of Art in 1965.

When their tearoom in the McBurney carriage house behind the High Museum was set to be demolished, they searched for a new location. They found the carriage house of the former home of Edward and Emily Inman-Swann Coach House. The Atlanta Historical Society purchased the Inman property in 1966 and opened it to the public in 1967.

When Baxter and Midge Maddox purchased their summer home from Clara Cassidy, they added a pool, bathhouse, badminton and tennis courts. These additions helped the couple prepare to entertain family and other Atlanta business executives. The Cassidy family referred to the home as The Farm, but it later became known as Happy Hollow and the road that led to the property as Happy Hollow Road.

Maddox sold the home along with ten acres in 1945 to Harold and Charlotte Ebersole. Harold Ebersole was Vice President and Manager of the Davison Paxon Company. The Davison Paxon department stores later went by the name Davison’s.

In the 1950s, Janet Gray purchased the Happy Hollow home. For her surprising and fascinating story, read my article published in the Dunwoody Crier newspaper. Here is a little hint about the complexity of the Janet Gray story-she had 21 aliases! This story was brought to my attention by Marissa Howard of the DeKalb History Center.

Hammond School of Sandy Springs

Hammond School was located at 300 Johnson Ferry Road, where Mt. Vernon Towers is today, at the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Mt. Vernon Roads.

The earliest school on record in the community was established in 1851 on Sandy Springs Methodist Church property. Records show that a one-room school across the road from the church burned in 1897. (“Sandy Springs Past Tense,” Lois Coogle)

Following the fire, the community worked together to build a two-story school at 300 Johnson Ferry Road. It may have been known locally as Hammond School but is first referenced by that name in the Fulton County School records in 1904. (Fulton County Schools Archives, Hapeville, GA)

Hammond Drive and Hammond School are believed to be named for Nathaniel J. Hammond, Fulton County lawyer, educator, and Congressman. (“Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore)

Fulton County Board of Education records lists the 1904 teachers of Hammond as Susan Hines, W. M. Suttles, and Hattie March.

Teachers at Hammond taught high school classes to older students from 1905 until 1915. After 1915, students went to Fulton High School in downtown Atlanta for high school and by 1930 they went to North Fulton High School in Buckhead. Sandy Springs High School was built in 1958.

1908 Hammond Elementary School in Sandy Springs

Members of the local Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization, helped add a room to the school in 1920. They provided framing and labor in exchange for the use of an upstairs room for their meetings.  

Four women represented Sandy Springs at the 1930 Fulton County school board meeting to request a new school building. The new school was built in 1932. It was designed by Robert and Company architects and cost around $20,000.

Some of the teachers who worked multiple years at Hammond School include Mae Burgess, Katherine Patterson, and Principal J. P. McCleskey. Edith Roberts, daughter of Roswell Railroad engineer Isaac Roberts, taught at Hammond from 1928 to 1932. Teacher Betty Tiller was part of an early Sandy Springs family.

Hammond School in 1933, from the Fulton County School archives.

Annie Houze Cook worked at Cross Roads School and Hammond School before being asked to retire. She then founded the Annie Houze Cook Kindergarten at Providence Baptist Church.

The number of teachers at Hammond increased significantly through the years. In 1941, there were five teachers, a principal and assistant principal. In 1957, 25 people, including teachers and administrative staff, worked at Hammond.

On January 22, 1959, a devastating fire destroyed much of the school. The Atlanta Constitution reported on the fire the following day with the headline, “$275,000 blaze wrecks school in Sandy Springs.” The older classrooms and auditorium were destroyed, but a 1954 addition to the school survived the fire.

Chris Curth lived with his parents and sisters two doors away from Hammond Elementary on Hunting Creek Drive. The children were students of Hammond in 1959 and watched much of their school burn.

A new building was completed in 1960, but in 1975 when a middle school program began, Hammond closed. In February of 1979, bids were received for “sale of surplus school property” and the school and property were sold.  

Most of the history in this article was found in the Fulton County Schools Archives, located in Hapeville, Georgia.

Telephone Party Lines

New history blog posts every Monday.

If you have seen the 1959 film Pillow Talk, you will remember how Jan, played by Doris Day, kept trying to use the phone only to find that Brad, played by Rock Hudson, was constantly on their party line.  A party line consists of multiple telephone subscribers connected to the same land line. 

An incoming call would ring in all the homes connected to the party line, but a different ring would indicate the call was for your household. To make an outgoing call, you had to pick up the receiver and listen to see if someone else was on the line.  If you heard someone talking, you could try again later.    

In 1930, 63% of residential Bell system customer had party lines, according to the AT& T Archives at techchannel.att.com.  Most of these customers lived in rural and suburban areas. That number increased to 75% by 1950, due partially to a need to catch up with the need for private lines following World War II.  By 1965, only 27% of customers were still using party lines. 

Richard Titus describes how a party line was the only option in his book Dunwoody Isn’t Bucolic Anymore: Vignettes, Anecdotes and Miscellaneous Ramblings of the 1950s and 1960s.  The Titus family moved to a home along Roberts Drive in Dunwoody in 1950.  The home still stands on Glenrich Drive and is identified as the Larkin Martin Home circa 1840.

When the Titus family moved into the home, they had a four-party line with a Roswell exchange.  Sometimes it was possible to have a private line for an additional fee, but this was the only phone service available to their home.  If the family made a call to anywhere other than Roswell it was considered long distance. 

Later, their service improved when it changed over to a two-party line and the second party happened to be one of their friendly neighbors.  Then the family telephone service switched from a Roswell exchange to a Chamblee exchange.  They paid extra to call Atlanta and they paid a mileage charge for calls to Chamblee.  

One of the issues of a party line was the possibility of the line being busy in the case of an emergency.  It was also a problem that people occasionally pretended they had an emergency just to get the other party to hang up the line.

In 1946, the Bell System produced a film titled Party Lines to demonstrate proper etiquette for party line customers.  Customers are encouraged to not monopolize the telephone line and not speak rudely when asking others to get off the line.  The film featured the marionettes of Bill Baird, the same puppeteer who did the marionette performance in the movie The Sound of Music. 

My grandparents had a party line in their farmhouse on Covington Highway in the 1960s. 

When this story first appeared in the Dunwoody Crier newspaper, I asked readers to contact me with their party line memories. Here are a few of those memories.

Phil Stovall remembers his family had a party line in their home near Roswell Road and Wieuca Road.  As a teenager with a sister, his sister’s frequent use of the phone was more of an issue than the party line.  As their neighbors were beginning to get private lines, Phil recalls, his father did not want the extra cost of a private line.  This is the reason why many families continued to have party lines after a private line was available.   

Susan and Tom Player moved to Dunwoody in 1968.  Party lines were typical in Dunwoody at the time.  Due to the rapid growth around Atlanta, technicians were brought in from around the country to increase private telephone lines.  Susan recalls that one of her friends met and married one of those hired for the work.

Growing up in the West End area of Atlanta, Joyce Mathis remembers her family started out with a four-party line.  Later, they switched to a two-party line.  She had fun as a child listening in on phone calls.

Mary Lou Brooks remembers when the assistance of an operator was needed to make a call.  The caller would crank the phone and wait for the operator to ask for the number they were trying to reach.  The operator then made the call for you.

When Mary Lou was a child, her mother would take the family to visit a friend with a party line in Vergennes, Vermont.  The friend’s phone number was 133 ring 3.  This meant that the phone would have to ring three times, then pause, then keep ringing until someone at the house picked up the phone.  This ring pattern is how you knew the call was for your household and not for another home. 

When Mary Lou’s family moved to Georgia and Nancy Creek Heights in 1955, they had no phone line at all.  There were not enough phone lines in this area off Ashford Dunwoody Road in Brookhaven, considered far away from Atlanta at the time. 

The family’s next home was in Warren, Ohio, where they stayed for fourteen years.  This home had a party line.  Mary Lou says you never knew who was on the line and you never had privacy.  

Another movie that incorporates the party line is Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962).  In this film, two women are on the party line gossiping and talking about their ailments every time Mr. Hobbs, played by Jimmy Stewart, needs to use the telephone in his vacation house.  

Lost Corner Preserve and the Miles Family

Last Monday was April 1, April Fools Day, and I played a joke on myself. I thought I posted this article, but didn’t hit that final button. So here it is, a few days late!

The home and property known today as Lost Corner Preserve, at the corner of Dalrymple Road and Brandon Mill Road in Sandy Springs, was previously owned by the Miles family. Margaret (Peggy) Miles shared the story of her family’s move to Sandy Springs and life on the property in “The Story of Dunwoody,” by Ethel W. Spruill and Elizabeth L. Davis.

Nancy Hill Miles and Fred Harrison Miles were feeling crowded in their neighborhood near Atlanta and wanted to move to the country. They purchased a farm from the McMurtrey family in north Fulton County in Sandy Springs.

Nancy and Fred, along with seven-year-old Edward and five-year-old Alice (called Totsey), moved in April of 1915. Fred Miles, Jr. was born in 1916, Peggy in 1922, and Henry in 1929.

On the day of the move, Fred Miles worked half a day at his downtown job with Georgia Power, then rode the streetcar to meet his family in Buckhead. The family brought their possessions, including chickens, in a wagon pulled by a mule. They also brought their cow Betsy and her calf who walked behind the wagon. Betsy “had no time to chew her cud and meditate that day” as the family continued down Roswell Road.

When they arrived at their farm, they found a log home consisting of one large room, two lean-tos and a chimney made of red mud and sticks. By fall of 1915, a new home had been built on top of the old foundation.

The home of Nancy and Fred Miles, which they called Lost Corner, is now Lost Corner Preserve in Sandy Springs.

One of their neighbors was the Mayfield family, who lived east on Dalrymple Road. They were descendants of John Dalrymple. Janice Self and her son James also lived on part of the old Dalrymple farm.

Another neighbor was Granny Mack McMurtrey and her granddaughter, part of the family that originally owned the Miles property. Granny Mack remembered the Creek and Cherokee living along the Chattahoochee River and across the creek behind the Dalrymple Place.

Fred Miles and Hugh Spalding brought electricity to the farm with a line from the power plant at Morgan Falls. Spalding also ran a line to his summer home on the river.

The children walked three miles through the woods to Morgan Falls School along Roswell Road. Camp meeting services at Sandy Springs Methodist Church were attended by the family. Later they became members of Dunwoody Methodist Church. They were instrumental in the organization of Sunday School programs at Dunwoody Methodist and Edward Miles hand crafted furniture for the chapel.

The farm became known as Lost Corner because people who came from the city seldom found it on their first try.

The last family member to lived there was Peggy Miles. She lived in the home up until her death in 2008. She had already made plans for the home and property to be preserved and today Lost Corner Preserve is a Sandy Springs Park. The home place sits among nature trails and a community garden. The support of Friends of Lost Corner provides funding, community engagement, programming, and volunteers.

As Nancy Miles grew older, Peggy recalled that her mother would remind her each year, “when the whippoorwill calls and the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear, it’s time to plant the corn and pay the taxes.”

WPA, Works Progress Administration projects

The October 14, 1935, edition of the Atlanta Constitution announced two Works Progress Administration projects for DeKalb County schools. Four classrooms had recently been added to the Westside School on Constitution Road and a new 300 seat auditorium would soon be added to the Dunwoody School. Construction cost for the Dunwoody auditorium was expected to be $9,000. Previous DeKalb County school WPA projects were completed at Eastside and Panthersville schools.

The following year, an addition was built at Brookhaven school and a canning plant was built next door to Chamblee High School. Tucker High School and Rehoboth Elementary School were also constructed as WPA projects in 1936. (University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries, WPA collection)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to help the country during the Great Depression by providing jobs. It was part of a group of policies, programs and projects known as the New Deal. Many public works projects were part of the program, as well as projects in the arts. Over 8.5 million people participated in the WPA.

Road building was an important part of the WPA program. Mount Vernon Road in Dunwoody was paved as a WPA project. Lavista Road from Tucker to Decatur was also constructed as a WPA project. Throughout Georgia, 85 miles of roads were paved with WPA funds, in addition to the building of unpaved roads and sidewalk construction.

WPA funds were used to purchase a bookmobile for DeKalb County in the late 1930s, where there were only two library locations-Decatur and Lithonia. Maud Burrus was using her personal car to take books around the county. Once the bookmobile was purchased, Louise Trotti drove the bookmobile, making stops at schools, gas stations, post offices, homes and other gathering places. (Historic DeKalb County: An Illustrated History, Vivian Price)

A new DeKalb County water system was constructed in 1940 with WPA funds, under the direction of DeKalb County commissioner Scott Candler. The plans included a water system to serve Decatur, Druid Hills, Emory University, Brookhaven, Avondale Estates, Clarkston, Tucker, Dunwoody, Panthersville, Doraville and the Federal Honor Farm (prison farm). A storage lake and filter plant would be constructed between Doraville and Dunwoody. This is today’s Scott Candler Water Treatment Plant on Winters Chapel Road. (Atlanta Constitution, Sept.18, 1940, “DeKalb County sells bonds for water system”)

The golf course and amphitheater at Chastain Park were also built with WPA funds. The park was originally known as North Fulton Park, opening July 4, 1940, with a celebration and exhibition match on the golf course. (Atlanta Constitution, June 30, 1940, “North Fulton club opens July 4, program set”)

Projects around Atlanta included the golf course and amphitheater of Chastain Park, seven new buildings at Georgia Tech, two buildings at the alms house (part of Galloway School), new buildings at Fort McPherson and five buildings at Grady Hospital. By 1942, the number of WPA workers was decreased, and the program ended in 1943. (Atlanta Constitution, May 1, 1943, “Georgia WPA office closes after 8 years”)

McGaughey home was Serviceman's Shelter

Carroll and Effie McGaughey announced a house-warming party at their new summer home on Spruill Road in Dunwoody in 1939. The Dec. 30, 1939, Atlanta Constitution Society Events column included the announcement, using the alternate spelling of Spruell Road. The gathering was also in honor of their debutante daughter, Mary McGaughey. The couple would later make the Dunwoody home their primary home.

Carroll McGaughey was an electrical engineer and owner of McGaughey Electrical Company.  Effie McGaughey operated an antique shop called Backdoor Studios out of their Atlanta home on Lombardy Way.  The McGaughey’s had two sons, Carroll Jr. and Carrick, in addition to their daughter Mary.

When the United States entered World War II and Lawson General Hospital opened in nearby Chamblee, Effie McGaughey began thinking of ways to help recovering soldiers.  The McGaugheys turned their home from a social gathering spot to a place for relaxation and recreation for injured soldiers, the Serviceman’s Shelter.

Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis describe the McGaughey place in their book The Story of Dunwoody. “Using a rustic building on the McGaughey property and colorful festive lanterns, church groups, community clubs, and Atlanta groups took turns at entertaining the boys and furnishing food and dance partners.” 

This 1945 photo of patients from Lawson General Hospital at the McGaughey home appears in The Story of Dunwoody, by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill.

By 1944 a group of Atlanta women including Effie McGaughey had organized a committee to plan parties for convalescing soldiers at various homes around Atlanta.  An article in the July 12, 1944 issue of The Atlanta Constitution titled Many Parties are Planned for Convalescent Officers describes the upcoming schedule of parties.  The following Friday evening a barbeque supper would be held at the home of Carroll and Effie McGaughey.  The guests would be entertained with swimming, music by the Tech band, and a movie shown on an outdoor screen. 

The schedule for the next two weeks includes parties on Habersham Road and another on Tuxedo Road in Atlanta, followed by a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ryburn Clay on their Chattahoochee River country place known as Lazy River Farm.  The Clay summer estate was on what is now Clay Drive off Spalding Drive.

The McGaugheys place was for the enjoyment of all recovering soldiers.  One soldier from Lawson General Hospital who lost the use of his legs often got a ride to their home courtesy of the Red Cross.  Upon arrival, he would enjoy swimming in the pool. 

The Serviceman’s Shelter and use of the McGaughey’s swimming pool continued into 1946.  In August of that year they hosted veterans of both World War I and World War II, arranged by Veterans Hospital Number 48 in Brookhaven and financed by the Elks Club. (The Atlanta Constitution, August 16, 1946, Veterans Feted by Elks Group)

Effie McGaughey also helped during World War II by donating a movable kitchen in 1942.  The kitchen was operated by the Atlanta Red Cross Canteen Corps and was able to serve two thousand meals and forty thousand cups of hot coffee per day. 

1891 Atlanta, smallpox vaccine debate

Depending on when you were born, you may have a small circle scar on your upper arm as a reminder of your smallpox vaccine. In 1972, it was determined the vaccine was no longer needed and it stopped being administered to children

Looking through cemetery records, it is obvious that many deaths around the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century near Atlanta were due to smallpox. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the discussions regarding vaccines, I found a similarity with discussions of smallpox vaccine from about 130 years earlier.

There were people on both sides of the smallpox vaccine debate in Georgia. A September 7, 1891, Atlanta Constitution column titled “Against Vaccination” featured a lengthy letter from a citizen strongly opposed to vaccination and Atlanta’s rule that students could not attend without vaccination.

The letter is followed by an explanation and opinion by Dr. J. B. Baird, secretary of the board of health. “The more the people become enlightened, the more they believe in it and know its worth, and if wanted of its benefits to humanity, thousands and thousands can be given.”

Nine years earlier Atlanta’s Superintendent of Schools, William Franklin Slaton, stated that every child in Atlanta schools was vaccinated against smallpox. When one student’s family asked for her not to be vaccinated, she was removed from school. (Atlanta Constitution, April 28, 1882)

A notice titled “Public Schools” on August 31, 1882, informed the public that the “Office of Superintendent, 75 E. Mitchell, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the next three days. Persons applying for school tickets must bring certificate of vaccination.”

Whether the vaccine was required or even available to the small communities surrounding Atlanta, I do not know. I do know that smallpox was causing devastation to these communities.

At Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Brookhaven, Solomon Goodwin was buried in 1849 and is believed to have died of smallpox. Goodwin was later reinterred on Goodwin land along Peachtree Road only to be later moved back to Nancy Creek Cemetery.(“The History of DeKalb County, Georgia 1822-1900, Vivian Price)

In Dunwoody, the Bennett-Rainey cemetery and Donaldson cemetery had their beginnings around the time of a smallpox epidemic. The Bennett-Rainey cemetery was referred to as a smallpox cemetery by Franklin Garrett, Atlanta historian who documented cemeteries in DeKalb County in 1931. (Atlanta History Center, Franklin Garrett necrology, 1931) Fannie Adams, Lonnie Adams, Maggie Adams, and Minnie Adams all succumbed to the disease around 1884 and 1885 and are buried at Bennett-Rainey Cemetery, a small, unmarked cemetery along North Shallowford Road.

The Donaldson cemetery, adjacent to Donaldson-Bannister Farm, includes the grave of Nuty A. Donaldson who died in 1883. She was the daughter of original owners William J. Donaldson and Millie Adams Donaldson. On her marker are the words “died from smallpox.”

Smallpox began over 3,000 years ago according to cdc.gov. History tells us that Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto brought smallpox to Mexico in 1520. The first smallpox epidemic in New England occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.

Native Americans of Georgia were hit hard by smallpox outbreaks in 1735 and 1759.

Dr. Edward Jenner’s discoveries in 1796 led to a vaccine. Concentrated efforts by the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox began in 1959. By 1966, smallpox was considered eliminated in North America and Europe. The Intensified Eradication Program began the next year and in 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated.

The November 25, 1974 Atlanta Constitution carried the headline, “Within a Few Months Smallpox Will Have Been Wiped Out.” They reported that 43 countries had outbreaks of smallpox in 1967 and that number had been reduced to four countries in 1974.

Lord family farm at Mt. Vernon Road and Wickford Way, Dunwoody

Not far from the crossroads of Mt.Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road was the home of George Washington Lord and Dicey Ann Wade Lord. George Washington Lord was born in 1852 in Madison County, Georgia.   Dicey Ann Wade (full name Dicey Ann Sarah Frances Wade) was born in 1856 in the Oak Grove community of Fulton County, which is now part of Sandy Springs. 

George and Dicey Lord married in 1875 and had twelve children. Sometime before 1900, they moved their family to the Shallowford District of DeKalb County, or Dunwoody. They established a home and farm in the area where Mount Vernon Road and Wickford Way intersect.  Their neighbors were the Cheeks to the west and the Warnocks to the east. 

Three of the Lord children married members of another early Dunwoody family-the Mannings.  Margaret Adella Lord married John Manning, Effie Elizabeth Lord married Starling Manning, and William Alexander Lord married Mary Angie Manning.  These children each owned land in the same area along Mount Vernon Road, then known as Lawrenceville Road or Norcross Road.

In The Story of Dunwoody by Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis, some of the memories of Fannie Mae Lord were shared through daughter-in-law, Cletis French Jackson.  Fannie Mae Lord was one of the other children of George and Dicey Lord.

When Fannie Mae grew up in Dunwoody, she attended the old Dunwoody School, located where the Dunwoody Library and Spruill Center for the Arts are today.  It was the only school in the area, sparsely populated with farmhouses. 

She remembered the day the boiler at the Cheek cotton gin exploded on the southeast corner at Mount Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road.  It was November 21, 1920, the day before Thanksgiving.  Her brother-in-law, John Manning died from injuries during the explosion. 

William Edward Jackson was visiting his sister in Dunwoody in 1906 when he met Fannie Mae Lord.  Jackson worked for the Southern Railway as a switchman.  He rode the Roswell Railroad to visit his sister and later to visit Fannie Mae Lord.   Southern Railway had taken over operations of the Roswell Railroad at this point.  

Fannie Mae and William did most of their courting while on buggy rides.  They married in 1910 and had eight children.  At one time, they lived in a home where the first Austin Elementary School was located on Roberts Drive.  According to ancestry.com, in 1959 they lived in a home on McDonough Street in Roswell.  The home was known as Sleepy Hollow.

Sams Crossing, story behind the name

I am often curious about the history behind road names. Sams Crossing and Sams Street in Decatur are along one of my regular routes and I presumed there was a family named Sams, but wanted to know more about them. At the end of this article you will see that I communicated with a Sams family member back in 2006, but just recently made the connection.

Marion Washington Sams came to Georgia from Greenville, South Carolina in 1870. Sams and his wife Mary Lucia Duncan Sams lived temporarily with his uncle J. H. Nash on Church Street. (DeKalb News Sun, Vivian Price, 7/22/1981)

Sams then purchased property along with a three- or four-bedroom home from Thomas Little. The property was located where Railroad Avenue (today’s College Avenue), Covington Road and Sycamore Street met.

Augustine Sams, grandson of Marion and Mary Sams, was an attorney and later a member of the Georgia general assembly representing DeKalb County. During WWI, Augustine Sams was stationed at Camp Gordon. He is buried at Decatur Cemetery with a marker that indicates he was born in 1893 and died 1978. The marker also recognizes his WWI service as a Captain in the U. S. Army.

When Vivian Price wrote about the Sams family in 1981 a marker had recently been placed by MARTA, naming the overhead crossing Sams Crossing, dedicated to the memory of Marion Washington Sams.

The Sams Crossing marker at MARTA’s Avondale Station reads, "This construction is located near the original 1870 home site of Marion Washington Sams, who settled in this area with his wife, Mary Lucia Duncan, and children, Hansford Dade Duncan, Lewis Reeve, Marion Washington, Jr., Mary Lucia, Joseph Augustine and Miles Stanhope. The rail crossing at this road junction immediately became known as ‘Sams Crossing’.”

Over on the east side of E. College Avenue, a stones throw from Sams Crossing, is Sams Street, named for the same family.

What became Sams Crossing was called Covington Road Crossing back then. The home of the Sams family was called Violet Cottage. There was a large bed of violets planted around a giant magnolia tree in the yard.

Price says “The only thing that is left of the Sams settlement area in 1981 is the plaque in the MARTA Station. Marion Sams at the dedication ceremony, said “So we see now that the first generation traveled by horse and buggy, the second generation primarily by train, the third generation by the old south Decatur Trolley and now the fourth generation will travel primarily by MARTA.”

Back in 2006, I wrote an article about WWI Camp Gordon in Chamblee for the Dunwoody Crier Newspaper. I received emails from a few readers, including one from Joseph Augustine Sams Bond. He shared the followed recollections with me.

This photograph of the J. A. Sams home on College Avenue from 3/4/1927 is from the archives of the DeKalb History Center and appears to be the home that Joseph Augustine Sams Bond describes as his mother’s childhood home.

“My Mother's childhood home was the large Victorian structure that stood where the Sams Crossing MARTA Station south parking lot is today. She was a Sams. Many times I heard my Mother and/or her sister or brother discuss the long, bumpy and dusty wagon rides that they endured traveling from Decatur to Camp Gordon for a dance or other function. Often just to see a friend in the service. My family and friends occasionally enjoy eating at Downwind (restaurant) while the grandchildren watch the runway activity. As I sit there, I often remember the many buildings that once stood on that site and those that served at Camp Gordon as well as Naval Air Station Atlanta.”

Sams went on to tell me that his Uncle Augustine Sams had been at Camp Gordon and his cousins Marion A. Sams and Richard H. Sams were at Naval Air Station Atlanta in the early 1950s. Joseph Augustine Sams Bond died in 2020.

 

Ice Storm of 1973, major power outages around Atlanta

These below freezing days we have been having recently in Atlanta bring my mind back to the ice and snow storms from years past. Everyone knows these storms can bring our city to a halt. It happens so rarely, which means many of us have little experience driving in snow or ice.

The ice storm that struck Atlanta in 1973 is a memorable one for those who lived here. My family moved to a new home off Briarcliff Road in 1972. The ranch home had a fireplace, unlike our previous house. The fireplace was very useful during the ice storm, but I don’t remember exactly how many days we were without power.

A few years ago, I asked some people who were living in Dunwoody at the time about their experience. Time without power ranged from four days to two weeks. Trees and power lines had a thick coating of ice. Kathy Florence remembers pine trees bent over from the weight of the ice and the constant sound of trees snapping.

Lynne Byrd lived on Spalding Drive in the Branches neighborhood in 1973 and was without power for four days. She needed to get to her job at Piedmont Hospital. Lynne says she was able to get up her driveway in her small Volkswagen and drive on to work by not taking her foot off the gas until she got to the office.

Jeff Glaze was in the eighth grade at Peachtree High School and his family was without power for about ten days. Jeff’s uncle owned Glaze’s Hardware at the intersection of Winters Chapel Road and Peeler Road. The recently opened Winn Dixie across the road couldn’t operate because they had electric cash registers, but Uncle Glaze kept ringing up groceries because his older model electric cash register also had a hand crank.

The family lived near high tension lines that were coated with about an inch of ice. Jeff remembers, “…days when temperatures started to rise a bit, the ice would break off those lines and fall to the ground one hundred feet below. Sometimes they would hit the ground vertically and ‘spear’ the ground... it was pretty amazing to see and scary to consider what might happen if you were under them when the ice broke free.”

The January 3, 1973 Atlanta Journal reported that DeKalb police estimated 90% of residents were without power. Police and fire departments were inundated with calls about fallen trees, fallen power lines, and power outages.

I’ve been talking with people that lived in Atlanta during our past ice and snow storms about their experiences. The ones I remember are 1973, 1982, 1993, and then more recent ones. Apparently there was a big one in Georgia in 1935 and 1940, as well as the early 1960s. I was around in the early 1960s, but don’t remember that one. Look for my recent article in the Dunwoody Crier for more memories of Georgia ice and snow storms.

If you live in another state and are thinking those silly Georgians and their reactions to snow and ice, plus their inability to drive, you are right and we know it. Besides, it can be fun to miss work or school just because less than an inch of snow is falling!




Robert Ratonyi at Atlanta WW2 Round Table, "A Holocaust Childhood: Wounds that Never Heal"

As a survivor of the Holocaust, Ratonyi now shares his story with groups of middle and high school children, as well as adult audiences. He has presented at The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and other venues. He wrote a book about his life experiences, “From Darkness into Light: My Journey through Nazism, Fascism, and Communism to Freedom,” published January 12, 2022.

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Chamblee High School photo 1928

This week, I’m sharing a 1928 photo of Chamblee High School graduates. Kathryne Carpenter is in the center of the back row and the photo was shared with me by the Anderson family, descendants of the Carpenters. The Carpenter family lived in Dunwoody, but Chamblee was the only high school in north DeKalb County at the time. Students living in Dunwoody, Doraville, Brookhaven and Chamblee attended Chamblee High School.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I’ll return with a new history post next week.

Swanton House and New Hope Cemetery in need of preservation assistance

As we approach the end of 2023, I want to share with you two local historic sites that are fund raising to assist with ongoing preservation. They are two very different places. One is Swanton House, a circa 1825 home in Decatur. The other is a historic cemetery in Dunwoody. Below is information about each of these efforts, links to read more about the history, and links to donate.

The following information comes from Marissa Howard, Programs and Membership Coordinator of DeKalb History Center. You can read more about the history of Swanton House here.

For this year’s End of Year fundraiser, the DeKalb History Center is focusing on the Swanton House, one of the oldest remaining structures in Decatur.

Early in the year, a massive tree smashed through the Swanton House’s roof causing extensive damage. This uprooted tree presented an opportunity to see what else we could do to preserve this cornerstone piece of DeKalb’s history. We were able to repair the damage, but now we need your help! Not only to replenish our reserves but also to help us keep the lights on and maintain the structure for future generations!

The average annual cost of maintaining the Swanton House, Biffle Cabin, and Thomas Barber Cabin is $20,400. This includes landscaping, utilities (at commercial – not home prices), maintenance, and services such as pest, rodent, and termite control.

As stewards of the Swanton House, we have maintained it since 1970 when it was moved to 720 West Trinity in Decatur to ensure its preservation for Decatur and DeKalb. Over the past 53 years, we have worked diligently to provide necessary maintenance to keep the Swanton House healthy and usable for future generations. The cost of maintaining it is expensive and we would appreciate any help you can provide in preserving this cornerstone piece of DeKalb’s history. Tap the link below to donate.

https://dekalb-history-center.square.site/

Dunwoody Preservation Trust is working to raise money to maintain and restore three historic cemeteries in Dunwoody. New Hope Cemetery, located on Chamblee Dunwoody Road behind KinderCare; Stephen Martin Cemetery, behind the Perimeter Expo shopping center; and Woodall Cemetery, barely accessible and between two Dunwoody neighborhoods. They have already begun restoration of fallen and broken headstones at New Hope Cemetery with the help of experts from Oakland Cemetery. This is an ongoing effort with many challenges.

Fallen headstones at New Hope Cemetery.

A repaired and restored marker at New Hope Cemetery.


Visit the Dunwoody Preservation Trust website and click on Donate to help with this effort.

Read more about New Hope Cemetery and the work of Dunwoody Preservation Trust to preserve Dunwoody’s historic cemeteries in an article I recently wrote for the Dunwoody Crier newspaper, titled “Taking Care of Dunwoody’s Historic Cemeteries.”

I have volunteered with both of these fantastic organizations and am currently on the Board of DeKalb History Center. I served ten years on the Board of Dunwoody Preservation Trust.

Thank you for reading Past Tense GA and Happy Holidays!




Icehouses in Chamblee and Doraville

New posts every Monday.

This post was updated on December 18, 2023 with additional information about Goree Ice Company.

5441 Peachtree Road in Chamblee was once the local icehouse. Today, it is home to the Chamblee location of AR Workshop, the DIY business begun by Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff.

Chamblee’s historic icehouse is now home to AR Workshop. Next door is the Frosty Caboose ice cream store and behind the former icehouse is the railroad and MARTA.

I haven’t found much history in my research of Chamblee’s icehouse. I’m sure having an icehouse nearby was helpful to the many dairies in the area. Chamblee had 33 dairies in 1939, plus there were dairies in nearby Doraville, Dunwoody and Brookhaven.

The Pierce Certified Dairy, W. O. Pierce Dairy, and P. E. Pierce Dairy were located on both sides of North Peachtree Road, between North Shallowford Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Irvindale (previously P. E. Hyde Dairy) and Chatham Dairies were located across from the railroad tracks.  A dairy on Hardee Avenue served WWI Camp Gordon and was known as Camp Gordon Dairy. 

The Wright Dairy was located along Briarwood Road near Buford Highway and N. Druid Hills. Ice was delivered every day to the dairy, likely from the Chamblee icehouse.

This photo of the icehouse appears in “Chamblee, GA-A Centennial Portrait, 1908-2008” and indicates the icehouse is still standing in 2008. However, the photo itself is not dated.

The Goree Ice Company of Doraville opened on Buford Highway in 1946. In 1967, in addition to an ice store, Goree’s was a convenience store, gas station, and bait and fishing supply store known as Angler’s Corner. The ice plant sold block ice to restaurants and hotels for ice carvings. The plant was nonautomated and produced 17 tons of ice every two days.(“Images of America: Doraville” by Bob Kelley)

An article was written in the July 26, 1983 Atlanta Constitution about Goree’s titled“The coolest guys are on the block.”. In 1983, the business supplied ice to Allied Concrete to cool its mortar, but it also did a good business selling crushed and snow ice to afternoon picnickers. It was the only block ice business in metro Atlanta in 1983.

If you have memories of the Chamblee Icehouse or of Goree Ice Company, write to me at pasttensega@gmail.com so I can share these memories in a later blog post.