Spalding Drive namesakes and history
Spalding Drive east of Roberts Drive was originally part of Jett or Jett’s Ferry Road. The old Jett Ferry Road ran closer to the Chattahoochee River near the place where the Jett family operated a ferry. The ferry was where Ball Mill Creek meets the river.
In 1929, the wooden bridge that crossed Ball Mill Creek washed out and that section of the road was moved further south to where Spalding Drive is today. A new bridge was built over the creek, just west of where Spalding Drive meets Ball Mill Road. (“The Writings of Jim Perkins,” Dunwoody Historian, 2006)
According to Jim Perkins, the abandoned stretch of Jett Ferry Road became Clay Drive. Perkins attributes the name Clay Drive to Lucius Clay, but several newspaper articles describing parties at the summer home of Ryburn and Helen Clay indicate they owned the land along the former Jett Ferry Road in the 1930s and 1940s. The Clay brothers may have both owned summer homes and property along the Chattahoochee River adjacent or nearby.
Today’s Jett Ferry Road, past the crossroads with Spalding Drive, was once part of Old Nesbit Ferry Road, leading to that ferry crossing of the Chattahoochee River.
In Lois Coogle’s 1981 book, “More of Sandy Springs Past Tense”, she documents a portion of Spalding family history for which the road is named. The history comes from her interview with Atlanta Journal editor Jack Spalding.
Jack Spalding’s grandfather was Jack Spalding Sr., co-founder of King and Spalding Law Firm. Jack Spalding Jr.’s parents were Bolling Phinizy and Hughes Spalding, Sr. Hughes Spalding, Sr. and Albert Thornton purchased 400 acres on Johnson Ferry Road in 1925. This land later became Breakwater and River North neighborhoods. Hughes Spalding, Sr. also purchased 600 acres for farming which later became the Spalding Woods neighborhood. Local Dunwoody farmer Floyd Spruill oversaw the land.
Local builder Arthur Mabry built the Spalding family a weekend retreat along the Chattahoochee River, which they named The Shack. In 1939, the family built another home on this land and named it Hang Over because it was on a bluff overlooking the river near Johnson’s Ferry Road. Both The Shack and Hang Over burned in the 1960s, but the family had built more permanent homes on the property by then.
Suzanne Spalding Shroder and her son John donated their 20 acres along the Chattahoochee River in 1957 to establish the Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center, which remains today on the same site along Riverside Drive.
A 1981 article in the Atlanta Constitution gives brief histories of several old Atlanta families, including Hurt, Alston, Allen, Candler, Woodruff, Spalding and more. The author,Emma Edmunds, describes a visit with with Hughes Spalding Jr. at Peachtree Golf Club, sitting in wicker chairs on the front porch of the home where Sherman spent one night in July of 1864.(Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 31, 1981, “A Brief History of Some Old Families”)
Hughes Jr., Jack and Phinizy Spalding were brothers. Phinizy was a history professor at the University of Georgia, who also led preservation efforts in Athens, Georgia. Phinizy is the only Spalding brother that has his own page on the New Georgia Encyclopedia. However, I did find a bit more about the three sons of Hughes and Phinizy Spalding at an University of Georgia alumni page.
The family history is long, with many branches and more than can be covered in this blog post, so take a look at these sites if you are looking for more.
Today, the path of Spalding Drive includes Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs again, Peachtree Corners and Norcross. In Sandy Springs, the road begins at Roswell Road and continues past Winters Chapel Road, Holcombe Bridge Road and Highway 141, until it changes to South Old Peachtree Road at Medlock Bridge Road. Perkins says this part of the road was once known as the Lawrenceville Road which is also one of the old names for Dunwoody Club Drive.