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).

Wright Bryan was managing editor for the Atlanta Journal when he went overseas to report on the war. He was a war correspondent for WSB radio in Atlanta as well as for NBC news. He gave the first live broadcast report of D-Day. Before his broadcast, pre-recorded announcements by President Roosevelt and King George VI were aired.

“On mission day we were aroused from sleep at 2 a.m. We had one hour to shower and shave. Showering you could skip, but shaving was a must to make the oxygen mask fit snugly against your face. Lack of oxygen at high altitude meant certain death.”

In 1973, the abandoned Veterans Hospital #48 in Brookhaven was the setting for a haunted house. The Peachtree and Osborne Road location became home to a veterans hospital in 1919, and before that it was Cheston King Sanitarium.

The Head family once lived on both sides of Chamblee Dunwoody Road, just north of where it intersects with Vermack Road. Their homes were where Boxwood Place, Shadow Bend, Shadow Court and Pine Acres Court are located. All five children of Roy and Pamela Head served during World War II.