If you lived in Dunwoody in 1970, you might have noticed a two story home which stood at the corner of Mount Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road, about where Panera Bread is today. The home was built in 1886 by Joberry Cheek. He cut the pine trees, sawed them at his own sawmill and built the home. The ceilings were twelve feet high and 7/8 inches thick.

The home stood out in the 1960s and 1970s because it had fallen into disrepair. Some people thought noone lived there, but Lizzie Cheek Newhard did. Joberry Cheek was her father.

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.

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.

Aside from his own work, Smith taught some of the most well-known architects of the South in the early twentieth century, including Phillip Shutze, Preston Stevens, Flippen Burge, Ed Ivey and Lewis Crook, Jr. Philip Shutze’s work includes the Swan House and Glenn Memorial Church, Burge and Stevens designed the Capital City Country Club in Brookhaven, Ivey and Crooke designed Lullwater House at Emory University and First Baptist Church of Decatur. These are just examples of each of their extensive work.

Obediah and Salina acquired 1,400 acres through the years. They had a general store and post office on their property. At the time, the property was part of the Grogans District of Milton County and the post office was known as Grogans. When Obediah died in 1894, most of his land was sold, but his son Robert Lee Copeland bought 50 acres to keep for himself, including the house and well. Robert Lee Copeland’s daughter Lee Eula Copeland Hembree would remain in the home her entire life, from 1910 until 1995.

Cecil Ramsey went to Georgia Tech and worked as a construction engineer. He planned and supervised the construction of his Dunwoody home. The floors were walnut with wood pegs. A lake was dug out on the property and other children would come over to swim. Carlton Renfroe and Keller Henderson Barron grew up nearby and both recall swimming at the Ramsey lake.

According to the story shared by William C. Wardlaw IV, born in 1938 and known as B., his grandfather won a large parcel of land and a shack that stood on that land as the winnings from a poker game in the 1920’s. The long driveway leading to the home began on Mount Vernon Road.

Thanks to L. C. Orr, I was able to learn the history of the land where Peachtree Charter Middle School is located on North Peachtree Road. Mr. Orr shared his memories of living in a two story farmhouse on the land between 1943 and 1948

Earl and Vivian Lowrey Smith bought a summer home in Dunwoody, later making it their permanent home. The white painted Cape Cod style home sat among lovely oak trees on Chamblee Dunwoody Road just north of Vermack Road. Vivian Smith filled the home with fine antiques.

Earl Smith worked as a city salesman for Norris Candy, a large and successful candy manufacturer in the first half of the twentieth century.