The Dunwoody Old Hickory House Restaurant closed in 2014 and many people in the area were sad to see it go. The barbeque restaurant also served breakfast and was a popular gathering place for club, church and business meetings. The remaining operational Old Hickory House is in Tucker on Northlake Parkway. The Tucker restaurant opened in 1974. There is conflicting information about when the Dunwoody Old Hickory House opened. Some say 1953, but according to oldhickoryhousebbq.com, the first restaurant opened on Piedmont Road in 1955.
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.
He recalled that a family named Heath had a home on that land. Ken gave me a description of the layout and families of that area during the 1940’s.
Beginning on Nandina Lane, where the Dunwoody Crier office is located today, was the Burell’s home. The next house was Dr. Strickland, who ran his office out of his home. He had a separate entrance for patients. Then, there was a driveway leading to the Henderson family’s house, which had a garage apartment. Jack Manning and his wife Hazel Henderson Manning lived in that garage apartment and Hazel drove the school bus for the Dunwoody School.
Right about where the Old Hickory House sat, was the home of Paul and Elmira Heath. Paul Heath did road work with the WPA. The Works Progress Administration was established to help families get back to work during The Great Depression. Paul and Elmira Heath had five children, one of which was around the same age as Ken Anderson.
Just past the Heath home were three Railroad Section Houses, the last remnant in Dunwoody of the old Roswell Railroad. Two were torn down in 1994 to make way for a Boston Market Restaurant, which is now the location of Bank of North Georgia. The next building past the Railroad Section Houses on this stretch of Chamblee Dunwoody Road, was the old location of Dunwoody Baptist Church.
Even though Old Hickory House wasn’t part of this earlier time, it’s country charm and food had a way of making you feel like you had taken a trip back in time. Most people in Dunwoody would tell you that the last thing we needed in the community was another bank.