Update: June 7, 2021
Since writing this article, I have obtained a copy of the Dunwoody post office application. The application is dated October 19, 1881 and was completed by George Flowers. George Flowers was the postmaster of Doraville,Georgia at the time. Assuming he is also the one that completed the application, he is the one who misspelled the name Dunwody as Dunwoody. Family members have reached out to Dunwoody Preservation Trust to let us know that the name was and still is Dunwody. The name is spelled Dunwody on the grave markers of the family buried in Roswell. In addition, Dunwoody Preservation Trust now has a deed signed by Charles Dunwody with the correct Dunwody spelling. The story passed down has changed a little, because Major Dunwody did not apply for the post office. However, it was named for him for all the reasons mentioned below. It comes down to a spelling error on the post office application itself.
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.
In addition to applying for a post office, Dunwody is credited with building a covered bridge over the Chattahoochee River at Roswell following the Civil War. When Union soldiers approached Roswell in 1864, Confederate soldiers burned down the bridge to try and slow their progress.
Major Charles Dunwody also helped bring the railroad which traveled from Chamblee through Dunwoody and on to Roswell (or almost to Roswell, because it stopped on the south side of the river). The railroad bed construction began before the Civil War and continued several years after. The Roswell Railroad operated between 1881 and 1921. The initial purpose of the railroad was for transportation of goods manufactured in Roswell to be delivered to Atlanta. Many in Dunwoody benefitted from the railroad as well, sending timber and produce on the train to Atlanta.
Dunwody’s father, John Dunwody, was part of a group who rollowed Roswell King from Liberty County, Georgia to the area just north of the Chattahoochee River in the late 1820’s. King first made the trip in search of gold. He thought the surroundings were so beautiful that he decided to make it his home. Roswell is named for Roswell King.
John Dunwody, father of Major Charles Dunwody.
The Dunwodys built a home in Roswell and named it Mimosa Hall, but it burned on the day of the housewarming and had to be rebuilt. Mimosa Hall is a private residence still standing in Roswell. Charles Dunwody graduated from Franklin College in 1848. Following his education, he worked in his father’s businesses and soon began his own venture, a shoe manufacturing company. In 1852, he married Ellen Rice of Charleston.
When the Civil War broke out, Major Charles Dunwody and Captain Thomas King organized the Roswell Guards, Company H, 7th Regiment Georgia volunteer infantry. They fought at the Battle of Manassas in July of 1861. An injury to Dunwody’s hip forced him to resign later that year, but in 1862 he went to a camp of instruction in Calhoun, Georgia.
Following the war, Major Dunwody began farming on land he owned along Chamblee Dunwoody Road where the Redfield subdivision is located today. His home sat in the middle of the Redfield tennis courts. We know this because of history gathered from members of the Spruill family, who later lived in the home and owned the land.
This is the farmhouse that Major Dunwody constructed in what is now the city of Dunwoody. The home was located along what is now Chamblee Dunwoody Road, where the Redfield subdivision tennis courts sit.
Major Dunwody died in 1905 and is buried at the Roswell Presbyterian Cemetery.
The story that Dunwoody got its name due to a spelling error is hard to verify. When researching Major Charles Dunwody or other members of the family, one often sees the name spelled either way, with or without the extra o. The 1850 census lists the family as Dunwoody, however census records are known for having names misspelled. A Confederate pension application also shows the name spelled Dunwoody.
Perhaps the name of the community has as much to do with the covered bridge or railroad, as it does the post office.
I have requested a copy of the Dunwoody post office application from two different archives and will update this blog if I’m successful in getting a copy. In the meantime, since the story is interesting, fun and passed down through generations from the early families who settled in Dunwoody, the tradition will probably continue.