Valerie Biggerstaff 10/5/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 10/5/26

Scott Drive-In Theater, Decatur

The grand opening was September 3, 1951. The ad reads “Dress as you like, smoke if you please, and children always admitted free.” Adults had to pay 50 cents for admission.

Valerie Biggerstaff 9/21/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 9/21/26

Historic Black community in Doraville, Carver Hills

The new neighborhood was called Carver Hills, named for George Washington Carver, famous Black scientist and inventor. It was located where Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and I-285 meet. The houses were primarily built between 1945 and 1950.

Valerie Biggerstaff 9/8/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 9/8/26

Kathryne Carpenter, Dunwoody, Chamblee High School and Sears on Ponce

Kathryne Margaret Carpenter rode the Roswell Railroad to shop in Atlanta, traveled in a Model T, graduated from Chamblee High School in 1928 and worked at Sears on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Valerie Biggerstaff 5/4/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 5/4/26

Florence Crittenton Home in Chamblee, 1950-1981

By the late 1800s there were over 50 Florence Crittenton Homes across the U.S. The homes were established to give young women who were pregnant and unmarried a place to live until their baby was born.

Valerie Biggerstaff 4/20/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 4/20/26

Chamblee man aboard Otranto, October 1918

James O. (Ollie) Wilson was born in Chamblee in 1896. He registered for the draft on June 5, 1917 at the A-10 precinct in Atlanta. Three months later he married Elizabeth Delong of Dunwoody and in July of 1918 he was inducted into the military. Wilson began his training at Chamblee’s Camp Gordon but was soon sent to Fort Screven at Tybee Island, Georgia.

Valerie Biggerstaff 3/15/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 3/15/26

First Chamblee Store

The first store in Chamblee was opened in the late 1800s by W. D. Wallace and C. P. Warnock across from the railroad tracks and Chamblee depot. W. D. was known as Dave and C. P. went by Charlie. The building still stands today at the intersection of American Way and Peachtree Road.

Valerie Biggerstaff 1/19/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 1/19/26

Blanton House in Chamblee

According to a 1987 article in the Atlanta Journal, the house was built in 1917.

Valerie Biggerstaff 1/12/26 Valerie Biggerstaff 1/12/26

Chamblee dairies video

Shannon Wiggins, Public Relations and Communications Director for the city of Chamblee, contacted me to give a brief talk on the history of Chamblee dairies.

Valerie Biggerstaff 12/22/25 Valerie Biggerstaff 12/22/25

Early, mid and late 20th century Christmas trees

Sarah Archer, in her book “Midcentury Christmas: Holiday Fads, Fancies, and Fun from 1945 to 1970,” tells how the changes in the U.S. following World War II affected the Christmas traditions.