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.

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.”

McGaughey home was Serviceman's Shelter

Carroll and Effie McGaughey announced a house-warming party at their new summer home on Spruill Road in Dunwoody in 1939. The Dec. 30, 1939, Atlanta Constitution Society Events column included the announcement, using the alternate spelling of Spruell Road. The gathering was also in honor of their debutante daughter, Mary McGaughey. The couple would later make the Dunwoody home their primary home.

Carroll McGaughey was an electrical engineer and owner of McGaughey Electrical Company.  Effie McGaughey operated an antique shop called Backdoor Studios out of their Atlanta home on Lombardy Way.  The McGaughey’s had two sons, Carroll Jr. and Carrick, in addition to their daughter Mary.

When the United States entered World War II and Lawson General Hospital opened in nearby Chamblee, Effie McGaughey began thinking of ways to help recovering soldiers.  The McGaugheys turned their home from a social gathering spot to a place for relaxation and recreation for injured soldiers, the Serviceman’s Shelter.

Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis describe the McGaughey place in their book The Story of Dunwoody. “Using a rustic building on the McGaughey property and colorful festive lanterns, church groups, community clubs, and Atlanta groups took turns at entertaining the boys and furnishing food and dance partners.” 

This 1945 photo of patients from Lawson General Hospital at the McGaughey home appears in The Story of Dunwoody, by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill.

By 1944 a group of Atlanta women including Effie McGaughey had organized a committee to plan parties for convalescing soldiers at various homes around Atlanta.  An article in the July 12, 1944 issue of The Atlanta Constitution titled Many Parties are Planned for Convalescent Officers describes the upcoming schedule of parties.  The following Friday evening a barbeque supper would be held at the home of Carroll and Effie McGaughey.  The guests would be entertained with swimming, music by the Tech band, and a movie shown on an outdoor screen. 

The schedule for the next two weeks includes parties on Habersham Road and another on Tuxedo Road in Atlanta, followed by a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ryburn Clay on their Chattahoochee River country place known as Lazy River Farm.  The Clay summer estate was on what is now Clay Drive off Spalding Drive.

The McGaugheys place was for the enjoyment of all recovering soldiers.  One soldier from Lawson General Hospital who lost the use of his legs often got a ride to their home courtesy of the Red Cross.  Upon arrival, he would enjoy swimming in the pool. 

The Serviceman’s Shelter and use of the McGaughey’s swimming pool continued into 1946.  In August of that year they hosted veterans of both World War I and World War II, arranged by Veterans Hospital Number 48 in Brookhaven and financed by the Elks Club. (The Atlanta Constitution, August 16, 1946, Veterans Feted by Elks Group)

Effie McGaughey also helped during World War II by donating a movable kitchen in 1942.  The kitchen was operated by the Atlanta Red Cross Canteen Corps and was able to serve two thousand meals and forty thousand cups of hot coffee per day. 

1891 Atlanta, smallpox vaccine debate

Depending on when you were born, you may have a small circle scar on your upper arm as a reminder of your smallpox vaccine. In 1972, it was determined the vaccine was no longer needed and it stopped being administered to children

Looking through cemetery records, it is obvious that many deaths around the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century near Atlanta were due to smallpox. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the discussions regarding vaccines, I found a similarity with discussions of smallpox vaccine from about 130 years earlier.

There were people on both sides of the smallpox vaccine debate in Georgia. A September 7, 1891, Atlanta Constitution column titled “Against Vaccination” featured a lengthy letter from a citizen strongly opposed to vaccination and Atlanta’s rule that students could not attend without vaccination.

The letter is followed by an explanation and opinion by Dr. J. B. Baird, secretary of the board of health. “The more the people become enlightened, the more they believe in it and know its worth, and if wanted of its benefits to humanity, thousands and thousands can be given.”

Nine years earlier Atlanta’s Superintendent of Schools, William Franklin Slaton, stated that every child in Atlanta schools was vaccinated against smallpox. When one student’s family asked for her not to be vaccinated, she was removed from school. (Atlanta Constitution, April 28, 1882)

A notice titled “Public Schools” on August 31, 1882, informed the public that the “Office of Superintendent, 75 E. Mitchell, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the next three days. Persons applying for school tickets must bring certificate of vaccination.”

Whether the vaccine was required or even available to the small communities surrounding Atlanta, I do not know. I do know that smallpox was causing devastation to these communities.

At Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Brookhaven, Solomon Goodwin was buried in 1849 and is believed to have died of smallpox. Goodwin was later reinterred on Goodwin land along Peachtree Road only to be later moved back to Nancy Creek Cemetery.(“The History of DeKalb County, Georgia 1822-1900, Vivian Price)

In Dunwoody, the Bennett-Rainey cemetery and Donaldson cemetery had their beginnings around the time of a smallpox epidemic. The Bennett-Rainey cemetery was referred to as a smallpox cemetery by Franklin Garrett, Atlanta historian who documented cemeteries in DeKalb County in 1931. (Atlanta History Center, Franklin Garrett necrology, 1931) Fannie Adams, Lonnie Adams, Maggie Adams, and Minnie Adams all succumbed to the disease around 1884 and 1885 and are buried at Bennett-Rainey Cemetery, a small, unmarked cemetery along North Shallowford Road.

The Donaldson cemetery, adjacent to Donaldson-Bannister Farm, includes the grave of Nuty A. Donaldson who died in 1883. She was the daughter of original owners William J. Donaldson and Millie Adams Donaldson. On her marker are the words “died from smallpox.”

Smallpox began over 3,000 years ago according to cdc.gov. History tells us that Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto brought smallpox to Mexico in 1520. The first smallpox epidemic in New England occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.

Native Americans of Georgia were hit hard by smallpox outbreaks in 1735 and 1759.

Dr. Edward Jenner’s discoveries in 1796 led to a vaccine. Concentrated efforts by the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox began in 1959. By 1966, smallpox was considered eliminated in North America and Europe. The Intensified Eradication Program began the next year and in 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated.

The November 25, 1974 Atlanta Constitution carried the headline, “Within a Few Months Smallpox Will Have Been Wiped Out.” They reported that 43 countries had outbreaks of smallpox in 1967 and that number had been reduced to four countries in 1974.

Lord family farm at Mt. Vernon Road and Wickford Way, Dunwoody

Not far from the crossroads of Mt.Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road was the home of George Washington Lord and Dicey Ann Wade Lord. George Washington Lord was born in 1852 in Madison County, Georgia.   Dicey Ann Wade (full name Dicey Ann Sarah Frances Wade) was born in 1856 in the Oak Grove community of Fulton County, which is now part of Sandy Springs. 

George and Dicey Lord married in 1875 and had twelve children. Sometime before 1900, they moved their family to the Shallowford District of DeKalb County, or Dunwoody. They established a home and farm in the area where Mount Vernon Road and Wickford Way intersect.  Their neighbors were the Cheeks to the west and the Warnocks to the east. 

Three of the Lord children married members of another early Dunwoody family-the Mannings.  Margaret Adella Lord married John Manning, Effie Elizabeth Lord married Starling Manning, and William Alexander Lord married Mary Angie Manning.  These children each owned land in the same area along Mount Vernon Road, then known as Lawrenceville Road or Norcross Road.

In The Story of Dunwoody by Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis, some of the memories of Fannie Mae Lord were shared through daughter-in-law, Cletis French Jackson.  Fannie Mae Lord was one of the other children of George and Dicey Lord.

When Fannie Mae grew up in Dunwoody, she attended the old Dunwoody School, located where the Dunwoody Library and Spruill Center for the Arts are today.  It was the only school in the area, sparsely populated with farmhouses. 

She remembered the day the boiler at the Cheek cotton gin exploded on the southeast corner at Mount Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road.  It was November 21, 1920, the day before Thanksgiving.  Her brother-in-law, John Manning died from injuries during the explosion. 

William Edward Jackson was visiting his sister in Dunwoody in 1906 when he met Fannie Mae Lord.  Jackson worked for the Southern Railway as a switchman.  He rode the Roswell Railroad to visit his sister and later to visit Fannie Mae Lord.   Southern Railway had taken over operations of the Roswell Railroad at this point.  

Fannie Mae and William did most of their courting while on buggy rides.  They married in 1910 and had eight children.  At one time, they lived in a home where the first Austin Elementary School was located on Roberts Drive.  According to ancestry.com, in 1959 they lived in a home on McDonough Street in Roswell.  The home was known as Sleepy Hollow.

Ice Storm of 1973, major power outages around Atlanta

These below freezing days we have been having recently in Atlanta bring my mind back to the ice and snow storms from years past. Everyone knows these storms can bring our city to a halt. It happens so rarely, which means many of us have little experience driving in snow or ice.

The ice storm that struck Atlanta in 1973 is a memorable one for those who lived here. My family moved to a new home off Briarcliff Road in 1972. The ranch home had a fireplace, unlike our previous house. The fireplace was very useful during the ice storm, but I don’t remember exactly how many days we were without power.

A few years ago, I asked some people who were living in Dunwoody at the time about their experience. Time without power ranged from four days to two weeks. Trees and power lines had a thick coating of ice. Kathy Florence remembers pine trees bent over from the weight of the ice and the constant sound of trees snapping.

Lynne Byrd lived on Spalding Drive in the Branches neighborhood in 1973 and was without power for four days. She needed to get to her job at Piedmont Hospital. Lynne says she was able to get up her driveway in her small Volkswagen and drive on to work by not taking her foot off the gas until she got to the office.

Jeff Glaze was in the eighth grade at Peachtree High School and his family was without power for about ten days. Jeff’s uncle owned Glaze’s Hardware at the intersection of Winters Chapel Road and Peeler Road. The recently opened Winn Dixie across the road couldn’t operate because they had electric cash registers, but Uncle Glaze kept ringing up groceries because his older model electric cash register also had a hand crank.

The family lived near high tension lines that were coated with about an inch of ice. Jeff remembers, “…days when temperatures started to rise a bit, the ice would break off those lines and fall to the ground one hundred feet below. Sometimes they would hit the ground vertically and ‘spear’ the ground... it was pretty amazing to see and scary to consider what might happen if you were under them when the ice broke free.”

The January 3, 1973 Atlanta Journal reported that DeKalb police estimated 90% of residents were without power. Police and fire departments were inundated with calls about fallen trees, fallen power lines, and power outages.

I’ve been talking with people that lived in Atlanta during our past ice and snow storms about their experiences. The ones I remember are 1973, 1982, 1993, and then more recent ones. Apparently there was a big one in Georgia in 1935 and 1940, as well as the early 1960s. I was around in the early 1960s, but don’t remember that one. Look for my recent article in the Dunwoody Crier for more memories of Georgia ice and snow storms.

If you live in another state and are thinking those silly Georgians and their reactions to snow and ice, plus their inability to drive, you are right and we know it. Besides, it can be fun to miss work or school just because less than an inch of snow is falling!

• 1960s 6
• 1970s 2
• 1980s 1
• Atlanta 45
• Brookhaven 32
• Camp Gordon 20
• Chamblee 62
• Chamblee High School 1
• Chamblee schools 6
• Christmas 4
• Dairies 5
• DeKalb County 12
• DeKalb County schools 9
• Decatur 15
• Decatur historic homes 2
• Doraville 15
• Doraville Schools 1
• Dunwoody 82
• Dunwoody Historic Homes 19
• Dunwoody Schools 1
• Dunwoody historic cemeteries 4
• Dunwoody historic homes 3
• Dunwoody schools 7
• Dunwoody summer homes 3
• East Lake 1
• Farm Life 2
• Hightower Trail 4
• Lawson General Hospital 11
• Libraries 1
• Lithonia 2
• Memorable years 1
• Milton County 1
• Native Americans 2
• Naval Air Station Atlanta 4
• Norcross 4
• Norcross Rifle Range 4
• Oglethorpe University 3
• Olympics 2
• Peaches 2
• Road names 2
• Roswell 14
• Roswell Railroad 5
• Sandy Springs 34
• Sandy Springs HIstoric Homes 5
• Sandy Springs Historic Homes 7
• Sandy Springs churches 1
• Sandy Springs schools 4
• Small Town Doctors 1
• Spanish Flu 2
• Stephen Martin Cemetery 1

Chamblee High School photo 1928

This week, I’m sharing a 1928 photo of Chamblee High School graduates. Kathryne Carpenter is in the center of the back row and the photo was shared with me by the Anderson family, descendants of the Carpenters. The Carpenter family lived in Dunwoody, but Chamblee was the only high school in north DeKalb County at the time. Students living in Dunwoody, Doraville, Brookhaven and Chamblee attended Chamblee High School.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I’ll return with a new history post next week.

If you have a relative in this photo send me a message!

Swanton House and New Hope Cemetery in need of preservation assistance

As we approach the end of 2023, I want to share with you two local historic sites that are fund raising to assist with ongoing preservation. They are two very different places. One is Swanton House, a circa 1825 home in Decatur. The other is a historic cemetery in Dunwoody. Below is information about each of these efforts, links to read more about the history, and links to donate.

The following information comes from Marissa Howard, Programs and Membership Coordinator of DeKalb History Center. You can read more about the history of Swanton House here.

For this year’s End of Year fundraiser, the DeKalb History Center is focusing on the Swanton House, one of the oldest remaining structures in Decatur.

Early in the year, a massive tree smashed through the Swanton House’s roof causing extensive damage. This uprooted tree presented an opportunity to see what else we could do to preserve this cornerstone piece of DeKalb’s history. We were able to repair the damage, but now we need your help! Not only to replenish our reserves but also to help us keep the lights on and maintain the structure for future generations!

The average annual cost of maintaining the Swanton House, Biffle Cabin, and Thomas Barber Cabin is $20,400. This includes landscaping, utilities (at commercial – not home prices), maintenance, and services such as pest, rodent, and termite control.

As stewards of the Swanton House, we have maintained it since 1970 when it was moved to 720 West Trinity in Decatur to ensure its preservation for Decatur and DeKalb. Over the past 53 years, we have worked diligently to provide necessary maintenance to keep the Swanton House healthy and usable for future generations. The cost of maintaining it is expensive and we would appreciate any help you can provide in preserving this cornerstone piece of DeKalb’s history. Tap the link below to donate.

https://dekalb-history-center.square.site/

Dunwoody Preservation Trust is working to raise money to maintain and restore three historic cemeteries in Dunwoody. New Hope Cemetery, located on Chamblee Dunwoody Road behind KinderCare; Stephen Martin Cemetery, behind the Perimeter Expo shopping center; and Woodall Cemetery, barely accessible and between two Dunwoody neighborhoods. They have already begun restoration of fallen and broken headstones at New Hope Cemetery with the help of experts from Oakland Cemetery. This is an ongoing effort with many challenges.

Fallen headstones at New Hope Cemetery.

A repaired and restored marker at New Hope Cemetery.

Visit the Dunwoody Preservation Trust website and click on Donate to help with this effort.

Read more about New Hope Cemetery and the work of Dunwoody Preservation Trust to preserve Dunwoody’s historic cemeteries in an article I recently wrote for the Dunwoody Crier newspaper, titled “Taking Care of Dunwoody’s Historic Cemeteries.”

I have volunteered with both of these fantastic organizations and am currently on the Board of DeKalb History Center. I served ten years on the Board of Dunwoody Preservation Trust.

Thank you for reading Past Tense GA and Happy Holidays!