At 5383 Tilly Mill Road, between North Peachtree Road and Mount Vernon Road, there is a lovely, older home with a red barn.
This is the home of Carlton Renfroe, who moved there with his family in 1941. Mr. Renfroe, his parents, two brothers and three sisters lived in a home at the intersection of Techwood Drive and Harris Street in Atlanta prior to moving to Dunwoody. They had bought the Tilly Mill Road home in 1925, but Mr. Renfroe’s mother said she would only move there when the road had been paved and phone service was available. That happened in 1941 and the family became residents of Dunwoody.
The house was originally built in 1916 by the Ware family. After selling to the Renfroes, the Wares built another home on property which is now part of Renfroe Lake subdivision. That house has since been torn down.
Carlton Renfroe attended Dunwoody Elementary School after moving to Dunwoody. Then he attended Chamblee High School and graduated in 1950. His good friend Jeff Porter lived across Tilly Mill Road in a house that sat on land where Marcus Jewish Community Center is located today.
Carlton Renfroe and Jeff Porter were members of the first Boy Scout Troop in Dunwoody, which met at the Dunwoody Elementary School. The troop began in 1947 and was led by Reynolds Green, assisted by Hugh Spruill. Reynolds Green was a minister who alternated preaching at Winters Chapel United Methodist Church and Dunwoody United Methodist Church.
The red barn next to the home was there when the Renfroes bought the property. The adjacent subdivision called Renfroe Lake was built on property sold and developed by Carlton Renfroe’s brother. His brother also dug out the land for the lake beginning at the age of 12. He used a tractor pulling a drag pan and continued expanding the lake over several years.
Mr. Renfroe remembers some interesting facts about the surrounding area. He recalls that the mill which gave Tilly Mill Road its name was near the intersection of North Peachtree Road and Tilly Mill Road, across North Peachtree from Kingswood Methodist Church. He recalls the Carpenter family living on the corner where Tilly Mill Road and Mount Vernon Road cross. Mr. Carpenter was a blacksmith. He also remembers that some of the Copeland family home and dairy was located where Mount Vernon Shopping Center is, where Mount Vernon Road and Dunwoody Club Drive meet.
Carlton Renfroe believes the giant oaks surrounding his house were planted by the Wares. They seem to have been planted in rows and add beauty to an already pastoral setting.