Newspapers are so fragile and don’t hold up well through the years, but the pages of the DeKalb News/Sun my mom saved from 7/23/1981 are in pretty good shape. The pages are from a special section included in the newspaper about DeKalb County. The title of the section is “Heritage of DeKalb.”
One of the articles is about Rehoboth School, written by Sandy Richardson. She refers to the Pearidge community and how devoted the community was to its Rehoboth School. I don’t recall the name Pearidge, although I grew up not far from this area around the Embry Hills area and later near Northlake Mall.
According to documents in the DeKalb History Center archives, Pearidge refers to an area of Tucker between Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills Road, Burnt Creek and north to the railroad. Several farms were in the area, including the 250-acre R. F. Sams Truck Farm and the Honea dairy farm on Montreal Road.
The following is history from the DeKalb News/Sun article titled, “Rehoboth: A Community Built Around a School.”
The history of Rehoboth School goes back to 1823. It was first known as J. B. Johns School, named for the man who donated the land. The name was changed to Rehoboth in 1854 because the school was located behind Rehoboth Baptist Church on Lawrenceville Highway.
Like other early schools, the materials and labor to build the school were donated by the people of the community. The school was built from logs which had been cut in half. The logs ran vertically rather than horizontally. Hand hewn oak shingles were used for the roof.
Children brought a quarter each Monday to pay the salary of their teacher. Other funds needed for the school were raised by holding raffles.
This photograph appeared in the 1981 DeKalb News/Sun along with the story about Rehoboth School.
There were 50 children attending Rehoboth School in 1912, so a new building was planned. One and a half acres were donated by J. A. Frazier on Lawrenceville Highway. By 1916 a two-room clapboard school was built along with a well. An addition was built in 1929, bringing the classroom count to three.
An additional adjoining eight acres were purchased from H. F. Talton and plans for a new school began in the mid-1930s. The community was able to use Works Progress Administration funds for the new building. This school was made from granite, with six classrooms and an auditorium. It was completed in 1937.
In 1963, a new building was completed and dedicated by Anne Garner, long time teacher and community leader. The Reverend Samuel Christopher of Rehoboth Presbyterian Church, located across the road from the school, provided the benediction. Rehoboth Presbyterian had provided space for the school as it became overcrowded through the years.
Today, the former Rehoboth Elementary School at 2652 Lawrenceville Highway is now William Bradley Bryant Technology Center, part of the DeKalb County School System. Bryant was on the DeKalb School Board for 12 years and served as chairman for seven years.
As I drove down Lawrenceville Highway recently, I noticed a restaurant that has given a nod to the old name Pearidge. Just down the street from the school there is Pea Ridge Kitchen at 2607 Lawrenceville Highway.