One year after the tornado, Lemonade Days had its beginnings. Dunwoody Homeowners Association and Dunwoody Preservation Trust began a campaign called “Replant the Dunwoody Forest.” The campaign was led by Joyce Amacher and had a goal of planting 20,000 trees to replace all the ones uprooted or snapped in two. (Story of Dunwoody; Ethel W. Spruill, Elizabeth L. Davis, Joyce Amacher, Lynne Byrd)

In 1994, the fate of the home and 2.5 acres were uncertain after the owner, Florence Warnock Spruill, passed away. Her husband Carey Spruill had died in 1983. The couple’s sons, Hugh and Edwin, inherited the property and were interested in saving the home. They worked along with Dunwoody Preservation Trust to come up with a solution.

Carl T. Hudgins completed a report on the history of Native American trails in DeKalb County on January 22, 1951 which is among the archives at DeKalb History Center in Decatur, Georgia. He begins his paper by explaining the problems of telling the history, calling it “fragmentary, obtainable a little here and a little there.” The written history of the trails came from people who lived long after the Native Americans were forcibly removed and long after the first white settlers had died.

As a person who is always curious about “what was there before”, when Hickory House closed and the news came out that another bank would be built there, I decided to see what I could find out. Most folks wouldn’t remember the time before the Old Hickory House restaurant, but I went to someone who would remember, Ken Anderson. Anderson grew up in Dunwoody on the old Carpenter and Anderson farm at the intersection of Tilly Mill Road and Mount Vernon Road.

A list of men from Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, and Chamblee who were drafted for World War I in 1917 was among the documents found in a box of Dunwoody postal records. The box of historic documents was donated for preservation by the granddaughter of Sentell Spruill. Spruill was postmaster of Dunwoody, Georgia from 1949 until 1969 and his home sat where Dunwoody Baptist Church is now located at the corner of Mount Vernon Road and Ashford Dunwoody Road.

This history came to my attention from Richard Adams, who shared his memories of working at Atlanta Paper Company and in particular, for Arthur L. Harris. The story includes an everyday item that we purchase at the grocery store and the history behind how it evolved, but it also involves WWII and art in Atlanta.

A small country store once sat at Jett Ferry Road and Mount Vernon Road. Later, the country store included a gas station, with the typical Coca-Cola sign painted on one side. It was built and run by Joe Kelly. Next owners of the store were Georgia Carpenter Anderson and husband Offalee Anderson. Georgia grew up at her family’s home just down Mount Vernon Road, built by her father, Cicero Carpenter.

The property was on the verge of being developed as county tennis courts and the remaining property would be sold off and developed with houses. Kathy Hanna and Pat Adams did a survey of the area and determined there was no need for additional tennis courts. The two women, along with Marilyn Dalrymple, Eleanor Lehner, Rita Langley and Carolyn Jones are the founders of Dunwoody Nature Center.

Ken Anderson was eleven years old when Bud Crews, who worked for DeKalb County, graded land along Mount Vernon Road and what is today’s Dunwoody Village Parkway for a baseball field. Crews built wooden bleachers for the field and was manager of the Dunwoody baseball team.

Before there was a Rich’s Pink Pig, the traditional “Lighting of the Great Tree” took place at the downtown Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta for the first time in 1948. A 70-foot live tree was placed on the roof of the store that year and the lighting took place on Thanksgiving night.

William Akers and Ida King Akers built a country home along Spalding Drive in what was considered Dunwoody around 1935. The name Idalakers evolved from Ida Akers name and from the idea of many “idle acres” surrounding the home. The property included forty-five acres on a hill with lovely views of hills and valleys all around.

The building was a store and post office. It was first the location of the Nash Store and later became Thompson’s Grocery. The door on the left led into the post office. The middle and right door led to the grocery store. Mrs. Thompson, known by the locals as Miss Lottie, would ring up the sales on the cash register.

There were several dairies in north DeKalb County in the 1930s and 1940s, including Chamblee, Dunwoody, and Brookhaven, but the C. S. Webb Dairy began when Cliff and Clara Webb came to Sandy Springs in 1924. The dairy was located where Aberdeen Forest subdivision is now located, at the intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Glenridge Drive.

J. W. Warren (1857-1940) and Emily Francis Stanton Warren (1860-1925) moved from Conyers, Georgia to Chamblee, purchasing land on Chamblee Tucker Road. Warren Elementary School was built on land that the family owned and of course the school carries their family name. Later they sold property to Atlanta Baptist College, which is now Mercer University.

A couple of years ago Dunwoody was given the temporary nickname of Bankwoody. It was during a time when branch banks were constantly being built and old bank buildings remained but under new names. This has slowed down recently, but the community still has many banks. As usual, I like to think of what used to be in these locations and often wish the old landmarks could return.

Mr. W. T. Donaldson was born in Dunwoody on July 1, 1921. He was born in the family home on North Shallowford Road across from where Emory Hospital was later located, with Dunwoody’s Dr. Puckett attending. W. T. Donaldson’s parents were Mattie Azilee Eison Donaldson and James W. Donaldso

On May 31, 2008, I was honored to be invited to a reunion of people who attended Dunwoody School between 1928 and 1955. Carlton Renfroe, Jeff Porter, and Margaret Henderson Jenkins planned the reunion. Looking back on this opportunity, I wish I had an audio or video recording of the event. However, I was new to the group and wanted to get to know them first, so I listened and took note

Daniel McBride, who parachuted from a C-47 in 1944 was among the veterans who returned to Normandy to commemorate the momentous day in 2019. A few months before the trip, I spoke with Mr. McBride, who was living in New Mexico.

In November of 2018, I had the honor of meeting ninety-two year old World War II veteran George Grant. Richard Adams, born along what is now Dunwoody Club Drive in 1933, introduced me to his friend George Grant of Hollywood, Georgia. Grant shared his experiences in Italy during the final months of the war. Mr. Grant died January 30, 2020 at the age of 93.

Fred Donaldson remembers that after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he and other young men gathered at a small local store called Nash’s in Dunwoody,, Georgia to talk about the tragic event. In June of 1942, he enlisted and began a journey that would take him across the United States and across the world.