Bing Crosby and Bob Hope came to Brookhaven in 1943 for a golf match fundraiser. The match was held at Capital City Club, formerly known as Brookhaven Country Club, to benefit the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. Bing Crosby and Ed Dudley played as a team against Bob Hope and Johnny Bulla on a Sunday afternoon in May.

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.

Convict leasing and chain gangs are part of the history of the Southeast, Georgia, and also Sandy Springs. Until 1933, there was a convict labor camp and rock quarry at the intersection of Roswell Road and Hammond Drive where Whole Foods is today. The camp and quarry extended across the area between Hammond Drive and Cliftwood Road on the west side of Roswell Road. The rock quarry included the land behind SunTrust Bank, where there is a sharp drop off going down towards Sandy Springs Circle.

John and Mary Donaldson Copeland owned the dairy in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Their home sat where Lidl and CVS are today in the triangle formed by Mount Vernon Road, Jett Ferry Road, and Dunwoody Club Drive. Dunwoody Club Drive was a dirt road known as Old Lawrenceville Road at that time.

Over on the other side of what is now Dunwoody Club Drive was the dairy operation. This is the location of the Orchard Park Shopping Center and Kroger today.

I’ve been in the area of North DeKalb Mall several times recently and decided to take a couple of photos of what was once Rich’s, the anchor store of the mall, and a place that I visited often from it’s beginnings through the 1990’s. These photos were taken in April of 2021.

By the Fall of 1917, soldiers were getting settled into their new life at Camp Gordon, a World War I encampment located where DeKalb-Peachtree Airport is today. They had left their families and friends and come to live and train at this camp, which just a few months earlier had not existed.

Lowery was responsible for launching the careers of Ray Stevens, Sonny James, Jerry Reed, Mac Davis, Joe South, Atlanta Rhythm Section, the Tams, Tommy Roe, Bertie Higgins, and Billy Joe Royal.

In Pat Conroy’s “My Reading Life,” he talks about his favorite books and the time in his life that he discovered them. Some of those books come from his association with Norman Berg. He tells the story of Norman Berg inviting him to stay at the cottage on his property, which Berg called Sellanraa.

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.

Dr. P. J. Moore, Jr. celebrated his 101st birthday March of this year.

In addition to being a surgeon, Dr. Moore helped soldiers in treatment at WWII Lawson General Hospital see that golf was a sport they could participate in after their recovery.

A 1939 article in the Atlanta Constitution describes Sirron Nurseries as sixteen miles outside of Atlanta and three miles from Chamblee on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. The article states that the 75 acres nursery is owned by Ora Green Norris (Mrs. A. L Norris) and is managed by landscape architect H. K. Shirley. The nursery was particularly known for the shrubbery they grew. There was a small painted white wood building for the nursery with the words Sirron Nurseries across the front. Customers could contact the nursery by calling Cherokee 1922.

Ferries were once the primary way to cross the Chattachoochee River. There were two places to get across the river on foot, where the water was shallow enough for this to be possible. One crossing was at the Shallow Ford, just west of the Roswell Road bridge across the river. The other was the Island Ford, where the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area at Island Ford is today. This article will cover a few ferries, but does not include all the ferries of the Chattahoochee River.

Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church followed the tradition of Sacred Harp Singing. Also known as Fa, Sol, La singing, no musical instrument were used to accompany the voice. The voice was believed to be the only musical instrument needed. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, singing schools were often held at local churches and schools. Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church sometimes hosted these events, as well as Sacred Harp Singing Festivals.

Michael Hitt pointed out that the history of indigenous people goes much further back, before the Creek and Cherokee were in this area. A Georgia Department of Natural Resources chart shows the Archaic period as 8000 BC to 1000 BC. During this time, people would have used natural shelters, such as the the rock overhangs along the paths of the Island Ford Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Sandy Springs.

I recently came across this postcard of a group of soldiers at Norcross Rifle Range and have been researching their names to learn who they were. They are from Company B, 325th Infantry, 82nd Division. I’ll return to this postcard later as more information is discovered, but for now I want to share what I’ve found about three of the men.

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

Roberts Drive in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs is named for the engineer of the Roswell Railroad Isaac (Ike) Roberts. He was the engineer for the entire time the railroad operated-1881 until 1921. People that worked with him and those that lived along the railroad called him Cap’n Ike. The railroad ran between Chamblee and Roswell, with stops at Wilson’s Mill, Dunwoody, and Powers Station.

The story of how Dunwoody got its name has been passed down from early families and it goes like this: Major Charles Archibald Alexander Dunwody applied for a post office for the area and an extra “o” was added to the name.