Lockridge Forest, Winters Chapel and other names

Jeremiah Winter came to an area north of Atlanta in the late 1860s and saw the need for a church. Winters Chapel Methodist Church began in a grove and then Winter decided they could cut logs from the property, “have them sawed and hull us up a church.” The church and road are named for him. (winterschapel.org)

This Winters Chapel church sign and glimpse of the church behind the sign is part of the Doraville archives at DeKalb History Center.

Ralph Glaze shared his memories of the beginnings of Lockridge Forest subdivision along Winters Chapel Road in a 2017 video recording with Dunwoody Preservation Trust. Glaze’s father Herman Glaze owned a store at the corner of Peeler Road and Winters Chapel Road. Herman Glaze bought land from W. Y. Womack, Pink Womack, and Ida Morgan, accumulating about 100 acres at one point. The land purchased from Ida Morgan was where the store was built and is today the location of Auto Zone. Glaze Road is located off Peeler Road

Later Ralph Glaze moved to Lockridge Forest, a neighborhood that is partially in DeKalb County and part is in Gwinnett County. Glaze recalls that a man named Lockridge bought the land to develop from brothers Pink Womack and W. Y. (Young) Womack. Some of the street names can be directly attributed to the Womack family. There is a Womack Road and Womack Court.

There is also a Womack Drive off Winter’s Chapel Road, further toward where Winter’s Chapel Road meets Highway 141.

One of Pink Womack’s children was Geraldine, and Geraldine Court is named for her. She married Buck Kinnard and Kinnard Drive was named for him.

Glaze recalls two sawmills along Winters Chapel Road, one just south of the entrance to Winters Chapel United Methodist Church and cemetery and the other further north, at the entrance of Lockridge Forest today. The sawmills were still there in the 1940s and 1950s. One sawmill was owned by Mr. Tanner from Stone Mountain, who leased the land from Pink Womack.

Glaze believes the Womacks along Winters Chapel Road were third or fourth cousins to the Womacks who owned land at Tilly Mill Road and Womack Road, where Georgia State University Dunwoody campus to today.

There are other names in Lockridge Forest that remain a mystery, Arrie Way, Abby Court, Tilton Lane, and Sumac Court.

Sandy Springs Camp Meeting

Sandy Springs Methodist Church camp meeting was held on church property, conveniently near the spring for which the community is named. The first Sandy Springs Methodist Church building was a log cabin constructed on five acres donated by Wilson Spruill sometime between 1849 and 1851.

Civil War maps, drawn by Union soldiers, show the location of the Methodist campground, indicating the tradition began pre-Civil War. (“Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore)

Each year following the last work on the crops before harvest time, better known as laying by time, families would gather at the campground for five to ten days of religious meetings, singing, food, and socializing. They stayed in small structures called tents, which were log cabins or shacks with sawdust floors.

To prepare for camp meeting, the family gathered food, bedding and cooking utensils. Women sewed new clothes for the family so they could look their best for the event, which was the summer vacation of a farming family. People also brought their musical instruments to entertain friends between sermons.

Sandy Springs camp meeting in 1912 ended on August 11th after almost a week of daily sermons.  “The tents were filled with hundreds of worshipers from the surrounding territory, and the final service was marked by short sermons by four prominent divines,” announced the newspapers. (August 12, 1912, Atlanta Journal, “Sandy Springs camp meeting has closed”)

This photo of the Sandy Springs Methodist campground gives a small view of the tents or small cabins that were located at the campground. The photo is from “Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore. The young women in the photo are Clara, Ella, Flavela and Evelyn Owens.

The preachers who attended camp meeting were provided room and board. A large tent that could hold ten men was located on the camp property where a water tower was later built. (“Sandy Springs Past Tense,” by Lois Coogle)

The 1927 camp meeting was advertised in the Atlanta Journal newspaper. The location was Sandy Springs, 12 miles north of Atlanta on Roswell Road. The advertisement included the names of guest preachers and the directors that year for camp meeting. Directors include President Lon Burdette, Secretary Aldine Chambers, J. A. Mabry, John Copeland, M. P. Powers, J. E. Butler, and J. N. Reed. (Atlanta Journal, August 21, 1927, Sunday services to draw throngs to Sandy Springs”)

Fire destroyed the camp tents and arbor in 1931. A larger more modern arbor was built and used until 1959 when it was removed. The tents were not rebuilt.

Young people often looked forward to camp meeting as a time for courting. One Sandy Springs camp meeting romance was that of Buck Casey and Lizzie Burdette, who married at camp meeting on August 21, 1898, at 3 p.m. The parents of the young woman objected, but the couple planned to meet and marry at camp meeting and “Rev. Whitfield was on hand and quickly tied the matrimonial knot.” This news bulletin was reported in an August 22, 1898 Atlanta Journal article titled “A Runaway Marriage.”

Embry Hills neighborhood and shopping early days

The September 11, 1969 Homes section of the Atlanta Journal newspaper featured an article about the second phase of the Embry Hills subdivision. The neighborhood is described as one mile east of the Expressway (I-85) and just south of the new perimeter highway at Chamblee-Tucker Road. The I-285 Perimeter was not completed until 1969.  

The neighborhood got its name from the owner-developer, Jack Embry of Embry Realty Company. He was both realtor and home builder. Embry later served as President of the DeKalb Real Estate Board and President of the DeKalb Developer’s Association. He was also Chairman of the Board of the Embry National Bank. (Atlanta Constitution, March 31, 2003)

70 homes in the first phase were already sold and occupied by 1960. The first phase included a range of architectural design including contemporary and traditional. The second phase offered 56 lots. Embry announced there would be a total of 233 homes when the subdivision was complete.

Prices in phase two ranged from $25,000 to $37,500 and lots averaged 100 by 200 feet.

One model home is described as a ranch-style brick home with three bedrooms. Another home is a four-bedroom tri-level brick home.

The neighborhood adjoined the site of Atlanta Baptist College, today’s Mercer University of Atlanta. Since the land that became Mercer was originally owned by the Warren family, it seems like Embry Hills probably was as well.

The 14-acre site right next door to the neighborhood was purchased by the DeKalb County Board of Education from the Warren family for a new elementary school. That became Warren Elementary School..

The Embry Hills Club is mentioned in the 1960 article, where a swimming pool was built on 10 acres for resident member of Embry Hills. The first Girl Scout Brownie troop I was in used to meet at the Embry Hills Club in the mid-1960s.

The developer, Embry, also zoned 22 acres at the highway along Chamblee Tucker Road for a shopping center. The Embry Hills shopping center has evolved many times through the years.

I can’t remember much about the early years of Embry Hills, but there was a dance studio and a fitness center. A little research online told me that the fitness center was My Fair Lady “Beauty retreat and figure salon” in 1971 with two other locations at Cheshire Bridge and Sandy Springs.

Everything about this ad for My Fair Lady screams 1970s. It appeared in a 1971 Atlanta Journal.

Alan Wilson remembers working at the Embry Hills Winn Dixie in 1972 when the Doraville refinery fire occurred. He could see flames and smoke from that vantage point.

Other memories for me include Huddle House and S & S Cafeteria and a dance studio. I believe it was called Barbara Bramble Dance Studio, but that is one of those memories that is a bit vague even though I took classes there!

Larkin Copeland store on Chamblee Dunwoody Road

Once I know what used to be in a specific location many years ago; whether it was a home, business, school or church, I imagine that place still being there. That’s how it is with Larkin Copeland’s store. The store was located on land that is now Dunwoody Village. It sat where Walgreens in Dunwoody Village is today. It was a two-level brick store on the east side of the Roswell Railroad tracks near the Dunwoody Depot. The first floor of the store featured an arched doorway and two arched windows on either side of the door. Copeland’s home was next to the store.

Copeland married Lavada Ball in 1887. Both of their families had deep roots in Dunwoody. Copeland was one of nine children of Obediah and Salina Corley Copeland, whose home was where Dunwoody Springs Elementary School is located.

Lavada Ball was the daughter of Martin and Martha Sentell Ball and granddaughter of Peter and Margaret Robertson Ball. Peter Ball operated the mill along what is known as Ball Mill Creek.

Larkin Copeland was a farmer in 1900, according to the U.S. census. The 1910 census indicates Larkin Copeland is operating the store and his oldest son Howell works there as well. Larkin and Lavada’s other children were Ethel, Fred, and Grace. Chamblee Dunwoody Road was the path of the Roswell Railroad during this time, so the census identifies their street as Southern Railway.

The Roswell Historical Society and city of Roswell Research Library and Archives has a photograph of the store in their collections. Along with the photo there is a note identifying Larkin Elijah Copeland standing in front of his store in Dunwoody Georgia. It also identifies the location using the names of today, near the intersection of Chamblee Dunwoody and Mount Vernon Road.

The store photo is a photo card dated 1908 and addressed to Mrs. S. M. Copeland of Chamblee, Georgia. According to the Roswell archives the note on the card reads, “Hello! Grandma, How do you like this?” The card is signed by Larkin and Lavada’s son Fred.

Visit the Roswell Historical Society website to see more photographs and to learn about other items in their archives, including artifacts, maps, manuscripts, newspapers and textiles.

A 1915 map of Dunwoody indicates that Larkin Copeland was planning to divide his land on Chamblee Dunwoody Road into several lots. He died in November of that year and the development never happened. Lavada Ball later moved to Atlanta and lived until 1958.

This 1915 map of the intersection of Chamblee Dunwoody Road with what is now Mt. Vernon Road and Nandina Lane, shows Larkin Copeland’s plan to divide his land into lots for sale. That never happened. (Map from the archives of Dunwoody Preservation Trust)

The spelling on the photograph of the store and on Larkin Copeland’s grave marker leaves the e out of Copeland. However, most other records of the family show the spelling Copeland.

The Copeland’s daughter Grace went on to run a grocery store in Atlanta along with her husband Dillard Blackwell. Blackwell’s Grocery was located at 1128 Oak Street in Atlanta.

In “The Story of Dunwoody,” written by Ethel W. Spruill and Elizabeth L. Davis in 1975, there is a documented memory of the Roswell Railroad which includes the Copeland store. The memory comes from Annie Roberts Wing, who married Henry Wing and was the daughter of Roswell Railroad engineer Ike Roberts. She remembered riding Old Buck, the engine of the Roswell Railroad, to Dunwoody to pick the first violets of spring and shop at Larkin Copeland’s store. Her purchases usually included shoes and some “eatables.”

Sandy Springs sandlot baseball

Use the search box below to find more local history articles or view the archive at the bottom of the page.

The Morgan Falls Athletic Complex is on 27.26 acres at 450 Morgan Falls Place in Sandy Springs off Roswell Road. The complex includes t-ball and baseball fields, a football field, concession stand, picnic pavilion, and a playground.

The park was first planned by Fulton County in 1967. Two parks were planned for the southern part of Fulton County in Palmetto and near Fairburn, and two parks in Sandy Springs, Hammond and Morgan Falls. (Atlanta Constitution, March 30, 1967, “Four Parks Planned by Fulton”)

Baseball games were popular in Sandy Springs long before Morgan Falls Athletic Complex existed. The community had a sandlot team, sometimes referred to as the “Sandy Springs nine” in the Atlanta newspapers.

According to “Images of America Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore many games were played at an unofficial ballpark between Boyleston Drive, Hammond Drive, Mount Vernon Highway and Roswell Road.

Baseball had begun by 1934 in Sandy Springs, because an outdoor meeting and wiener roast was held in August of that year to plan and raise money for uniforms. (Atlanta Constitution, August 8, 1934)

This 1940s Sandy Springs baseball team includes, front row, left to right, Bill Sewell, Carl Jameson, Al Holbrook, George Coleman and Hubert Nix. On the back row, left to right, Charles Sewell, Billy Hair, Doyle Mabry, Richard Coleman and Richard Johnson. This team played on a ball field between Roswell Road, Boyleston Road, Mt. Vernon Highway, and Hammond Drive. (Photo is from “Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore on behalf of Heritage Sandy Springs.)

When the Regenstein family moved to ten acres on Mount Vernon Highway in 1946, Robert Regenstein became an umpire at the baseball field. When his efforts to bring city of Atlanta water to Sandy Springs were successful in 1950, the community held a Fourth of July celebration, which included square dancing and baseball.

When Robert and Jean’s daughter Barbara was born, employees of Regenstein’s store bought a baby sized baseball uniform for her. The couple took Barbara to the Sandy Springs field in the uniform.

Scheduled league games for August 1, 1948, included Sandy Springs at Roswell and Alpharetta at Austell as part of the North Atlanta League; Dunwoody at Smyrna, State League; Irvindale Dairy vs. Tucker at Piedmont Park and Norcross at Duluth in the County League. 

The Atlanta papers regularly reported on the various sandlot team results and the special achievements of the players. Bill Hardigree of Sandy Springs was the fielding star of a game against the Federal Pen (Penitentiary) team. Sandy Springs won seven to four and Hardigree got six of those seven runs. (Atlanta Constitution, “Hardigree Leads Sandy Springs,” Sept. 17, 1951)

John Davis moved to Sandy Springs with his family in 1962 at the age of ten. Little League baseball had recently become popular in the community. Davis recalled, “By the 1960s, baseball in Sandy Springs had taken on a life of its own and had become part of the town’s spirit, even if there was no official place to play it.” Local businesses and organizations sponsored teams, buying sports equipment and uniforms including Arlington Cemetery, the Optimist Club, Swofford Shoes, Northside Pharmacy, and Bondurant Sporting Goods. (Sandy Springs Gazette 2018, “Root, Root, Root for the Home Team”)

Davis played on a team sponsored by Arlington Cemetery. He remembered the team marching down Roswell Road as part of a parade. The league played on fields at Mount Vernon Baptist Church and St. John United Methodist Church and at local elementary school fields.

According to the Oct. 1, 1948 Atlanta Constitution, the Sandy Springs baseball team of 1947 won the Fulton County sandlot baseball team title. They were honored with a banquet held by the East Point Elks Club.



Former Morrison Farms on Osborne Road becomes park land

The city of Brookhaven added to their greenspace and park property in January of 2024 when they purchased 3086, 3068 and 3064 Osborne Road. When I first wrote about 3086 Osborne Road in Brookhaven over a year ago, the former home of the Morrison Farms nursery, the properties were under contract with a different buyer. When that contract fell through, the city made the decision to buy the acreage, bringing total greenspace up to 106.83 acres.

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New photos from Lulah Hills, the former North DeKalb Mall

This week I’m posting some new photographs of the North DeKalb Mall area, which is on its way to becoming Lulah Hills. I wrote about the changes in North DeKalb Mall along with some Rich’s history back in May of 2021.

You can read updates on the changes taking place on the property here. Although I am nostalgic about Rich’s and North DeKalb Mall, I’m looking forward to seeing the development of Lulah Hills.

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Time to talk peaches

The August 13, 1962 Atlanta Constitution featured a story about dried peaches, “Home Dried Fruit Wakes Memory.” You need some dry, sunny weather to dry peaches. Apparently peaches don’t handle a rain shower well. The instructions read, “To dry peaches, you simply wash the peaches, cut in about 1/8 inch slices, lay on a piece of tin and place in the hot sun. Bring in at night and put in a cool, dry place and return to sun the next day. The peaches should be dry. If not, place in a very low oven and stir occasionally until completely dry.”

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WWII Lawson General Hospital discoveries lead to more questions

I have returned to the subject of Lawson General Hospital again and again. It is intriguing to me that during WWII this hospital was located in Chamblee, adjacent to Naval Air Station Atlanta. Also, the people involved were sometimes from Atlanta, Chamblee or other nearby towns, but most of the people who worked, trained, or were treated at Lawson General Hospital were there for a brief time. They went home or to another hospital after being treated or they received their orders and left to serve their country using the skills received as part of the MDTS, Medical Department Training School.

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Katherine Strong Rudeseal, Home Demonstration Agent and Avondale teacher

When Ethel Warren Spruill married Stephen Spruill in 1933 and moved to Dunwoody, she became a member of the Dunwoody Home Demonstration Club. At the time, Katherine Strong Rudeseal was the Home Demonstration Agent for DeKalb County. (“Story of Dunwoody,” by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill)

Home Demonstration Agents traveled around their assigned county demonstrating methods of preserving food, such as canning or freezing. They sometimes shared other skills including sewing. Many counties in Georgia had agents, but not all.

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Jean Fallon and the 1996 Olympics

When Ethel Warren Spruill married Stephen Spruill in 1933 and moved to Dunwoody, she became a member of the Dunwoody Home Demonstration Club. At the time, Katherine Strong Rudeseal was the Home Demonstration Agent for DeKalb County. (“Story of Dunwoody,” by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill)

Home Demonstration Agents traveled around their assigned county demonstrating methods of preserving food, such as canning or freezing. They sometimes shared other skills including sewing. Many counties in Georgia had agents, but not all.

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1996 Atlanta Olympic Torch passes through Dunwoody

In the fall of 1995, newspapers across the country announced three ways to become one of 10,000 torch bearers in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay, which was sponsored by Coca-Cola. 5,500 community heroes would be selected by United Way chapters.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the U.S. Olympic committee selected 2,000 present and former Olympians and other VIPs to complete the list of torch bearers.  According to olympics.com the total number of torchbearers for the 1996 games reached 800 in Greece and 12,467 in the US.

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Irvindale Dairy

Irvindale Way, which runs off Broad Street in Chamblee is named for Irvindale Dairy. P. E. Hyde started Irvindale Dairy in 1918. This was a time of tremendous growth for Chamblee with thousands of soldiers and employees at World War I Camp Gordon. The dairy was in the area along Broad Street and Irvindale Way near today’s Chamblee post office.

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Kresge's Five and Dime

According to the October 1958 Atlanta Constitution, the first Kresge in the Atlanta area was at Broadview Plaza, where Piedmont Road and Morosgo Drive met. The Broadview Plaza store had 14 checkout stations and a lunch counter. When I think of Broadview Plaza, I think of the Great Southeast Music Hall in the 1970s, but that is a subject for another time.

The article indicates two additional Kresge’s were under construction nearby. One of those would have been the Lenox Square store, which I recall shopping at as a child with my parents. Kresge’s and Lenox Square Shopping Center both opened in 1959. Lenox became an enclosed mall in 1972.

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Baxter Maddox and Mildred Clark Maddox of Happy Hollow

The Cassidy-Lamb Home at 2579 W. Fontainebleau Court was built around 1930 by Clara Cassidy as a summer home. Cassidy purchased 140 acres of land south of Spalding Drive and arranged for a log cabin to be constructed. In 1942, gasoline rationing made it difficult for Clara Cassidy to travel back and forth between Atlanta and her summer home. She sold the home to Baxter Maddox, Vice President and Trust Officer of First National Bank.

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