The June 11, 1942, edition of the Atlanta Constitution shared an announcement from Washington, D.C., “Scrap salvage campaign will begin shortly.” The War Production Board asked that everyone across the country collect metal, rubber, fats and oils.

Whatever community you lived in, there was a Blockbuster, Hollywood Video or perhaps a smaller chain or independent video store. Other competitors in the Atlanta area included All Star Video, The Movie Store, National Video, and West Coast Videos. Record stores also entered the video rental business.

The next owner was Eugene S. Luckie, followed by W. T. Ashford, who purchased the home and land in 1903, naming it Southlook. Ashford operated a nursery business on the property.

Residents of DeWald’s Alley rented from Clyde and Susie DeWald, who lived nearby on Spruill Road, later known as Meadow Lane Road. Susie DeWald would go door to door collecting rent each month. The houses of DeWald’s Alley had outhouses, no electricity, and well water. Pumps were eventually installed.

When Ralph Glaze was a boy growing up along Winters Chapel and Peeler Road, he remembers the rumor of moonshine production between Happy Hollow and Winters Chapel Road along what is now Dunwoody Club Drive. Adults used to say, “don’t go down there,” sometimes using the story of a monster to keep children away.

In Lois Coogle’s 1981 book, “More of Sandy Springs Past Tense”, she documents a portion of Spalding family history for which the road is named. The history comes from her interview with Atlanta Journal editor Jack Spalding.

When Dunwoody Methodist Church contructed a new sanctuary in 1970, a small tin salve box was discovered in the ground.  The box read “Eureka Ointment, Eureka Laboratory, Dunwoody Georgia.  Price 25 cents.

One of the ferries was run by the Jett family. James Jett and Rosanna Gregory Jett brought their family from South Carolina to Georgia around 1810. The couple had ten children. According to “Roswell: A Pictorial History,” James Jett began operating a ferry in 1819.   

The bell was purchased near Roswell and brought to Dunwoody by horse and buggy. Who the bell was purchased from is not included in the story.

Carlton Renfroe and Jeff Porter grew up in Dunwoody in the 1940’s and they both shared their memories of being part of a Boy Scout troop which met at the Dunwoody Grammar School, located where the Dunwoody Library is today.  The troop was started in 1946 by Reverend Reynold Greene of Dunwoody Methodist Church.

When 92-year-old Sally O’Keefe Gurley Batson joined us for the tour, she was able to provide additional history.  Mrs. Batson and her sister Clara O’Keeffe Black are granddaughters of the original owner, Clara Belle McMullen Cherry Cassidy.  They often visited their grandmother’s home as children along with their mother Willie Belle Cherry O’Keefe.

When Ethel Warren Spruill married Stephen Spruill in 1933 and moved to Dunwoody, she became a member of the Dunwoody Home Demonstration Club. At the time, Katherine Strong Rudeseal was the Home Demonstration Agent for DeKalb County. (“Story of Dunwoody,” by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill)

Home Demonstration Agents traveled around their assigned county demonstrating methods of preserving food, such as canning or freezing. They sometimes shared other skills including sewing. Many counties in Georgia had agents, but not all.

When Ethel Warren Spruill married Stephen Spruill in 1933 and moved to Dunwoody, she became a member of the Dunwoody Home Demonstration Club. At the time, Katherine Strong Rudeseal was the Home Demonstration Agent for DeKalb County. (“Story of Dunwoody,” by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill)

Home Demonstration Agents traveled around their assigned county demonstrating methods of preserving food, such as canning or freezing. They sometimes shared other skills including sewing. Many counties in Georgia had agents, but not all.

In the fall of 1995, newspapers across the country announced three ways to become one of 10,000 torch bearers in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay, which was sponsored by Coca-Cola. 5,500 community heroes would be selected by United Way chapters.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the U.S. Olympic committee selected 2,000 present and former Olympians and other VIPs to complete the list of torch bearers.  According to olympics.com the total number of torchbearers for the 1996 games reached 800 in Greece and 12,467 in the US.

If you look up 1225 Meadow Lane Road in Dunwoody on Google maps, you end up in the middle of the road between Walton Ashford Apartments Homes and Target near Perimeter Mall. This is where Country Squire Farm was located, the home of Arthur King Adams and Marie Butler Adams.

The Cassidy-Lamb Home at 2579 W. Fontainebleau Court was built around 1930 by Clara Cassidy as a summer home. Cassidy purchased 140 acres of land south of Spalding Drive and arranged for a log cabin to be constructed. In 1942, gasoline rationing made it difficult for Clara Cassidy to travel back and forth between Atlanta and her summer home. She sold the home to Baxter Maddox, Vice President and Trust Officer of First National Bank.