History behind road names Abernathy, Winters Chapel, and Irvindale
When I wanted to discover the history behind the name Abernathy Road in Sandy Springs, I turned to Lois Coogle’s “More of Sandy Springs Past Tense.” The Abernathy family once owned a farm between Abernathy Road and Mount Vernon Highway, according to Coogle (that’s Coogle, not Google).
John Davis Abernathy and Rhoda Abernathy came from South Carolina to settle in Georgia. In 1850, they lived in the Shallowford District of DeKalb (Dunwoody). By 1860 the family had moved to Oak Grove District of Fulton or what we know today as Sandy Springs. The couple along with many of their descendants are buried at the Sandy Springs Methodist Church Cemetery. The Avernathy family married into other pioneer families in the area, including Grogan, Burdett, Spruill, and Copeland.
Winter’s Chapel Road is named for Jeremiah Winter, who came to the community in the late 1860s. Winter believed the community needed a church. Sunday School classes took place in a grove where Winter lived, on the property of Adel Woodall. No money was available to build a church, so Winter advised, “We can go to the woods, cut logs and have them sawed and hull us up a church.” Georgia property tax digests for 1872 to 1875 indicate that Winter lived in Gwinnett County. (winterschapel.org)
I love the story of how W. T. Donaldson met his wife at Winter’s Chapel Methodist Church. He lived with his family in the first part of the 20th century along N. Shallowford Road, just south of where it meets with Chamblee Dunwoody Road. Donaldson was visiting the church when he met his wife, Lilliam Grace Robbs. She sat next to him on a dare from her friends. W. T. Donaldson served during World War II and he and Robbs married in 1943 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1943.
Irvindale Way, which runs off Broad Street in Chamblee is named for Irvindale Dairy. P. E. Hyde started Irvindale Dairy in 1918. This was a time of tremendous growth for Chamblee with thousands of soldiers and employees at World War I Camp Gordon. The dairy was in the area along Broad Street and Irvindale Way near today’s Chamblee post office.
Hyde started out small, with just six cows and a horse and buggy for delivery. By 1931, the dairy had grown to 125 cows, producing 220 gallons of milk a day. Irvindale farm later moved to Duluth and the dairy operations to Spring Street and 14th Street in Atlanta.
Visit my blog post on Irvindale Dairy to learn more.