They always had a big garden and lots of fresh green beans, sweet potatoes, and corn every summer. Sometimes we helped pick vegetables from the garden. At dinner time, which is also known as lunch, or supper time, which some people call dinner, my cousins and I would devour multiple ears of corn.

The historic home at the intersection of Chamblee Dunwoody Road and Mount Vernon Road is known as the Cheek/Spruill Farmhouse, however another family lived there between the Cheek and Spruill owners and that was the Church family.

Last week I added another history book to my collection. It is a book of Chamblee history written by Vivian Price Saffold, which I found on ebay.com. The book is titled “Past Memories, Present Progress, Future Dreams, A History of the Community and the City of Chamblee.”

Originating at the post office in Dunwoody, the route went north on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Pitts Road and Roswell Road as far north as John Sullivan’s store (today Northridge Road). From there it went south to the Morgan Falls power plant, to Sandy Springs, to the area of Chastain Park, continuing on Roswell Road to the area known as Poletown; then back in a northerly direction on Mount Vernon Road to complete the circle back to the beginning. With the possible exception of Roswell Road, none of these roads had names at the time.

After World War II ended, there was a serious shortage of housing for returning veterans across the United States. In the Atlanta area, solutions included families living in military tents on rented land or in trailer parks set up for the purpose of housing veterans with families.

The classic movie The Best Years of Our Lives tells the story of three World War II soldiers returning to their hometown after the war ends. One of the soldiers was played by Harold Russell, a World War II veteran who lost both hands in a training accident and ended up at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia. There he received treatment, which included prosthetic hands and training on how to use them in his daily life.

In 1989, thirty acres of land were for sale on Roswell Road and advertised as the perfect spot for another car dealership. Thankfully, John Ripley Forbes wanted to save this land. He recognized that there were many large historic trees on the property.

Fred Donaldson was born at Donaldson Farm in 1925 (today known as Donaldson-Bannister Farm) at the corner of Vermack Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody. One of the wash pots from the farm is still in the family at his daughter Freda’s home and Donaldson recalls how it was used by his grandmother and his parents.

The first Lynwood Park School was built in 1942. J. C. Lynn, administrator of the Cates estate, arranged for a fifty by one hundred fifty-foot lot from the Cates estate to be donated for the purpose of building a school. It was a one-room school constructed on Mae Avenue, with no running water and heat provided by a wood-burning stove.

In my research, the earliest reference to a school in Cross Keys appears in the 1879 Georgia Gazetteer, where towns throughout Georgia are listed.

The Gazetteer describes Cross Keys as a place with a railroad stop known as Goodwin’s, nine miles west of Decatur and 12 and ½ miles north of Atlanta. It further describes the community as having a Methodist and Baptist Church, along with a common school. It also lists a few key residents, such as C. C. Hart, physician and J. H. Polk, teacher.

Dr. Moore arrived at Lawson General Hospital in January of 1945. “I was reamputating soldiers coming from the Battle of the Bulge and the European Theatre,” recalls Dr. Moore. “I had a ward of thirty-four beds kept full. We had five or six surgeons at Lawson.” He performed surgeries ever day of the week, usually with only Saturday and Sunday off.

Ralph Glaze was born in 1943 at Chamblee Hospital, run by Dr. Mendenhall. His parents had moved from Stone Mountain to property along Peeler Road and Cherry Hill Lane just a few years earlier. They opened a small store at this location. A few years later, they purchased property where Tilly Mill Road meets Winters Chapel and opened H. T. Glaze Groceries.

Donaldson-Bannister Farm is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year and to commemorate the occasion I am sharing the stories of the six families who lived there. The last family to live at Donaldson-Bannister Farm was the Chesnuts, who moved there in 1975.

Editor’s note: The pioneering developer of the residential and commercial centers of Dunwoody has been eager to tell his story of how what is now Perimeter Mall almost became a corridor of apartments resembling Buford Highway. We were happy he spent some time with our reporter.

Dunwoody, Chamblee, Doraville, Sandy Springs, Roswell, and Brookhaven.  These neighboring communities north of Atlanta each have a unique story (or stories) for how their names came about. 

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, stars of Hollywood traveled around the United States to promote the sale of war bonds. One of those stars was actress Dorothy Lamour, who came to Decatur and Atlanta in May of 1942 for bond rally events.

This is the story of two soldiers stationed at Camp Gordon in Chamblee, Georgia during World War I. They are Julius Lombardi of New York City and Edward Mauney of Blairsville, Georgia. Thank you to their families for sharing this history.

Julius Lombardi’s granddaughter shared his journey. He first came to New York City from San Marino with his family in 1907, at the age of fourteen. Ten years later, he was drafted and sent to New York’s Camp Upton and soon after to Camp Gordon.

Frank and Hortense Smith, along with their children Frank, Jr. and Bonnie moved into the 1870 home at the corner of Vermack Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody in 1956. Bonnie Smith Nichols has returned to the home and property in recent years to share her memories of the family’s time there.