Cheek-Spruill Farmhouse (circa 1906)
5455 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GARecognitions: Georgia Register of Historic Places (1999), National Register of Historic Places (1999)Carefully restored today, the now-elegant house had humble beginnings. Originally built as a one-story home in 1906 by Mr. Joberry Cheek for his son, Bunyan Cheek (an engineer involved in the construction of the Morgan Falls power plant), the house sat on 2.5 acres of land that included a pasture, cornfield, barn, smokehouse and chicken house in the heart of Dunwoody. The house features six fireplaces and an additional story that was added later by literally raising the roof and building upstairs rooms between the roof and the ground floor.Subsequent owners were the Crook family, followed by Mr. & Mrs. J.C. Church. In 1945, the home was purchased by Carey & Florence (Warnock) Spruill. Carey Spruill, eldest son of Mollie & Stephen Spruill, was an architect and planter and grew corn and other vegetables on the property, selling the goods at a nearby service station. Until the mid-1970s, Mr. Spruill could regularly be seen plowing his garden with his mule, Shorty. He passed away in 1983, but Mrs. Spruill remained in the home until her death in 1994, at which time their heirs decided to sell the property.This two-story farmhouse in the “heart” of the city of Dunwoody is the reason the Dunwoody Preservation Trust exists. In 1994, rather than see it torn down, our founders rallied the community to save it and founded our organization in the process. Since then, it has become the symbol of Dunwoody, appearing on both the city seal and our own logo.Shortly thereafter, our founders, Joyce Amacher and Lynne Byrd, with help from the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, began the now-famous campaign to “Save the Farmhouse.” They raised more than $200,000. Though it wasn’t enough to purchase the property from the Spruill heirs, Joyce and Lynne were determined to save the farmhouse and refused to give up. When Guardian Savings and Loan, of Houston, Texas, purchased the property in 1998, Joyce and Lynne persuaded the bank to donate the home and one-half acre of land to the DPT.DPT soon began the process of restoring the home. When a bank and a CVS pharmacy were built around the property, the barn was demolished, but the smokehouse and chicken house were saved by being moved onto the donated half-acreage.Today the Dunwoody Farmhouse, at the corner of heavily traveled Mt. Vernon and Chamblee Dunwoody roads, is the geographical and emotional heart of Dunwoody. It is the place where the entire community comes together for special events, including the 4th of July and “Light Up Dunwoody,” which kicks off the holiday season each November.The property is financially self-sustaining thanks to rent from the resident law firm that has its offices there. The house also hosts a History Room, which is open to the public during normal business hours. Visitors can view information about the Farmhouse's history and enjoy a cup of tea.
New Hope Cemetery (circa 1859)
5695 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA Nestled in the heart of Dunwoody is a hidden gem that most residents have never seen nor heard of, New Hope Cemetery. Located about half a mile north from the intersection of Mount Vernon and Chamblee-Dunwoody roads, the cemetery is now found behind the KinderCare Learning Center. Within its fenced borders is the resting place of more than 350 individuals representing the founding families of Dunwoody, including the names Spruill, Manning, Warnock, Cheek and Martin.New Hope Presbyterian Church was the third church established in the Dunwoody area. Established in 1885, New Hope served the local community until it disbanded in 1917. All that remains of this church is this private cemetery. DeKalb County Land Lot records show that Dr. Warren M. Duke donated one acre of land for the church and cemetery in the mid-1880s. Dr. Duke, a prominent physician in the area, is also buried at New Hope.The first known burial was May 1887, with the most recent one in 2019. All individuals entombed here represent either members of New Hope Church or their direct descendants.One couple who played a role in the establishment of New Hope Church was William Greene Akins (1829-1914) and his wife, Elizabeth Cochran Akins (1828-1894). Both William and Elizabeth, who are buried in New Hope Cemetery, were also instrumental in the establishing Providence Church (1853 – 1861). Built on his land slightly north of present day New Hope Cemetery, this one-room log cabin chartered with 11 members and hosted regular services until the outbreak of the Civil War.When the Union Army passed through this area, the majority of the families in the north DeKalb and Fulton counties were dispersed. Many of the men between the ages of 17 and 50 served in the Confederate Army in various capacities. Four known Confederate soldiers who survived the war are buried at New Hope:William G. Akins, Private, Co. F, 36th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennessee C.S.A. William R. Warnock, Sgt., Co. A, 38th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Thomas J. Conway, Private, Co. I., 81st Alabama Infantry, C.S.A. W. Fitts (Jesse W. Fitts), Corporal, Co. B, South Carolina 15th Heavy Artillery Battalion, C.S.A.Aside from Akins and Warnock, little else is known about Conway or Fitts. Did they stop here on the way home? No one knows for sure.The cemetery can be easily accessed from the KinderCare Learning Center parking lot. Parking is also available in the office park next door.
The T.K. Peters House (circa 1945)
5343 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody, GAThis home was built on ten acres of land purchased by Dr. T.K. Peters in 1945. An interesting story about Peters involved the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Having just returned from a tour of China, where he had shot 55,000 feet of film, he was staying in a hotel in San Francisco. When the earthquake struck, he fanatically began to film it. Ironically, he was there to negotiate the sale of his China footage to a California film studio but lost all of it in the fire following the quake.Peters worked on movies making sets including the very famous “parting of the Red Sea” scene in the first filmed version of The Ten Commandments. In 1935, Peters was asked to join a project at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta to archive the history of the world. Peters joined Dr. Thornwell Jacobs in creating the Crypt of Civilization and worked on the project filming books and other reading material for three years. Finally, in 1940, the crypt was closed and was to remain so for the next 6,000 years.This home, made of cinder-block and brick, was built on Wild Cat Creek. In July of 1864, Union soldiers marched south towards Atlanta and Decatur on what is now Roberts Drive and Chamblee Dunwoody Road, directly in front of today’s Dunwoody Nature Center. A story passed down in Dunwoody tells of a few Confederate soldiers firing on the Federal soldiers as they passed; however, Civil War historians do not corroborate this story. However, there are three gun emplacements located just below the house.In honor of the mill that originally stood on the property, Peters mounted a six foot diameter millstone from that mill on the front of the home. He and his wife, Grace, lived on the land in Dunwoody until 1961, when they sold the home and six of the ten acres and moved to California.In 1975, DeKalb County purchased the home and property to serve as an arts center. After several years, the arts center required more space, so it was moved to the North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center. For the three years following the move, vandals destroyed property on the site, and the community stopped using walking trails due to safety concerns. In 1990, a community group got together to create the Dunwoody Nature Center on the site where it thrives today. The building is currently used as office and classroom space for the Dunwoody Nature Center.
Larkin Martin House (circa 1840)
5661 Glenrich Drive, Dunwoody, GAThis house is the oldest home in Dunwoody, built in 1840 by Larkin Martin on more than 300 acres. Just one year later, the house and land were sold on the steps of the DeKalb County courthouse on July 6, 1841, for $180 to John Ford after Martin fell on hard times. The house has changed hands at least 14 times since 1840. Initially built with two bedrooms, a living room and a back porch, the porch was later enclosed to form a kitchen. Two more bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a dining area were added in 1950. Another addition to the home in 1955 was a working ship’s port hole from the USN Atlantic, which serves as a window next to the front door in the original structure.The house currently sits on approximately one acre of land. Much of the 300 acres of land purchased by Martin in 1840 was sold over the years to develop residential areas including the subdivisions of Sellars Farm and Mill Glen.Today the home is a private residence.
Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church (circa 1829) and Cemetery (circa 1880)
7325 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody, GAThe first church established in Dunwoody was Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church in 1829, which is located at the corner of Spalding Drive and Roberts Road. Before the congregation submitted a petition to become a Primitive Baptist Church, Sunday meetings were held in church members’ homes. Some say the church was named after the founder of Dunwoody, Major Charles Dunwody, who is buried in the church’s cemetery along with other soldiers of the Confederacy.Over the years, four church buildings were built. The first one, made of wood, was on the northwest corner of Spalding Drive, diagonally across the road from where the church stands today. The current church was built on the foundation of the third church, which was built on the site of the second church. The story passed down through the church was that Confederate soldiers burned a bridge over the nearby Chattahoochee River to keep Union soldiers at bay. Union soldiers took boards from the first church to build a pontoon bridge.The first members of the church were from families with surnames including Warnock, Ball, Jett, Martin, Holcombe, Abernathy, Roberts, Dalrymple and Adams. Citizens of Dunwoody and surrounding areas drive today on streets named after those families.Primitive Baptist churches do not allow musical instruments in church and instead rely solely on the human voice in what is known as Sacred Harp music. Sacred Harp singing uses four musical notes, called shape notes. The notes, fa, sol, la and mi are each represented by a shape. Singers sit in a hollow square with each of four sections represented by different voice ranges, tenor, alto, bass and …. The song leader or leaders stand in the center of the square.Today, the church is still active, and a sign on the grounds welcomes visitors to Sunday service at 7:00 PM.
Swancy Farmhouse (circa 1889)
5308 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody, GAWillis J and Clara Swancy purchased this home, which originally sat on 31 acres of land, in 1930. Clara’s family lived in a home across the street on land that is now the site of the DeKalb County firehouse on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.Wills and Clara’s family included two children, who all lived in the three-room house. They also had a barn on the land. Willis later added a kitchen and a porch onto the house, tore down the original barn and built another. In the 1940s, stairs were added, and an upstairs room was built.The home did not have electricity until 1945 because a nearby farmer did not want power poles on his property. The farmer thought the power poles would lower his property value. Indoor plumbing was added in 1950.The family raised chickens and cows. In 1966, Willis and Clara sold 21 acres of their property and built a new brick house behind their original farmhouse. The Knollwood subdivision was developed on the 21 acres. They sold more acres in the 1980s, and the home currently sites on one acre.Swancy family members lived in the original farmhouse until 1996, when it was sold to its current owner, who added more rooms and remodeled the home.Today the home is a private residence.
Railroad Section Gang House (circa 1880)
5518 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA Construction of a railroad track through Dunwoody began before the Civil War, was suspended with the track unfinished during the war and resumed in the 1870s. Between 1880 and 1921, the Roswell Railroad ran between Roswell and Chamblee with a stop in Dunwoody along what is now Chamblee Dunwoody Road. The train, referred to as The Dinkey or Old Buck, made two daily trips from Roswell to Chamblee. The train carried lumber, cotton, woolen goods and produce to Chamblee. Supplies, manufactured goods and catalog orders were carried back to Roswell. Mr. Ike Roberts served as the only engineer for The Dinkey for its entire forty-one years of operation.Along with five or six flat or freight cars, there were also a baggage car and a passenger car. The crew consisted of Ike Roberts the engineer, a fireman, a conductor, a brakeman/baggage-man and a flagman. The Dunwoody Train Depot was the train's third of four scheduled stops along the 9.8 mile route between Roswell and Chamblee, although, if flagged, the train would stop anywhere along the track to pick up or drop off passengers. The railroad established the region between Mt. Vernon Road to the Chamblee Dunwoody Road/Roberts Road split as the business center of Dunwoody. Just north of the depot, the railroad built three section houses, small white clapboard structures, to lodge work crews in charge of maintaining the train's roadbed. There is only one section house left today. The other two were demolished in 1994 for commercial development and prompted the formation of the Dunwoody Preservation Trust (DPT) to preserve the history and heritage of Dunwoody. The remaining Section House has housed the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce and today is a Music Store.Fun Facts:Major Charles Dunwody (just one o) completed the track in 1880. Though he was born in Roswell, he spent most of his life in the area that came to be named for him, now spelled with two o’s.The train only faced one direction as there was no turn-around at either end. The train traveled forwad to Chamblee and travelled backwards back to Roswell.Roberts Road in Dunwoody is named after Ike Roberts, who served as the engineer for forty-one years.
Dunwoody United Methodist Chapel (circa 1941)
1548 Mt. Vernon Road, Dunwoody, GA The Dunwoody United Methodist Church began in 1899 as an inter-denominational Sunday School whose members met at the Dunwoody schoolhouse for the first four years. At that time, the Dunwoody School was where the current Dunwoody Library now exists.As the congregation grew, so did the need for a permanent place of worship. So, in 1903, four men met at Cephas Spruill’s blacksmith shop at the corner of Chamblee-Dunwoody and Mt. Vernon Road and made plans for a new church. The four were: John Cates, who donated the land for the new chapel, and three members of the Spruill family: Stephen, J.C. and Henry. This original wood frame chapel was built that year in 30 x 54 x 14 foot dimensions for a cost of $500. It was located across Mt. Vernon Road from where the current chapel, built in 1941, exists today.In 1935, Euil Spruill and a team of workers broke ground on what would become the site of the current brick chapel, on the north side of Mt. Vernon Road and behind Nandina Lane. Will Donaldson, son of WJ Donaldson, whose circa 1870 farm is now called the Donaldson-Bannister Farm, did the masonry work. Will and his sons Fletcher and Fred had to drive to Stone Mountain, which in those days was a long drive, for the granite. In the mid-1950’s, an addition was built in the back of the chapel and a cover added over the front door. The building is still used today as a Chapel and for children’s Sunday School classes.
Stephen Martin Cemetery (circa 1859)
244 Perimeter Center Parkway, NE, Dunwoody, GA Sitting quietly between an office building and a shopping center is a small family cemetery that very few folks know about. The family cemetery of Stephen Martin is hidden between commercial development at the Hammond Drive/Perimeter Center Parkway intersection and I-285. Access to this cemetery is off of Perimeter Center Parkway just south of Hammond Drive. Though small and seemingly inconsequential, the cemetery caused a slight rerouting of I-285 during construction. An old road running along the south side of the cemetery is still visible today.The land which encompasses Dunwoody was once home to the Cherokee. In 1821, the Georgia Land Lottery attracted pioneers from South Carolina looking to own land in Georgia. One such pioneer was Stephen Martin, who with his wife “Fanny” and first-born son James Martin made the journey from Laurens County, South Carolina. By the time Stephen passed away in the mid-1860s, he had amassed over 400 acres of land.This family cemetery is home to 42 known burials and 29 other visible graves – mostly those of children (per Franklin Garrett, 1933). Many graves in the cemetery are unidentified, some marked only with one fieldstone or with a head stone and a foot stone. Rows four, seven, nine, ten and eleven have only unidentified graves. The earliest known burial here was that of Stephen Martin’s first wife, Francis Elizabeth “Fanny” Garrett Martin (ca. 1802-1847), but it is likely some of the unmarked graves are from an earlier date. The most recent burial was in 1992.Upon entering the cemetery, you will quickly see three stone cairn graves at the front of the cemetery. These graves belong to Stephen Martin and his two wives. It is believed his first wife, “Fanny,” is buried on the right as you view the graves from the kiosk and his second wife, Sarah Crowley Cahela Martin, is buried on the left with Stephen Martin in the middle. The smaller stone grave to the right of Fanny is believed to be one of the children. Sarah’s grave at one time had a wooden shingle-type cover.Frances Elizabeth “Fanny” Garrett was born around 1802 in Laurens County, South Carolina, and married Stephen Martin in 1819. Before her death in 1847, she bore seven children: James C., “Parthena,” Sarah J., Martha S., Benjamin S., Naomi A. and Sophia C. After the death of Fanny, Stephen Martin married Sarah Crowley Cahela in 1854. She bore three children: Margaret S., Nancy J. and William S Martin.Fanny and Stephen’s daughter Naomi, known as Omie, married Thomas Franklin Spruill in 1866, about a year after Thomas returned from serving in the Civil War (Company C, 63rd Georgia Infantry). Thomas and Omie’s graves, along with those of four of their children and one grandchild, can be found just north of the kiosk in a row which is surrounded by a stone border. All of these children died early in life, as was common during this time.Margaret Spruill, one of Thomas and Naomi’s children, married Moses B. Reeves, and they are buried in the second row of the cemetery. The rows begin at the furthest point away from the kiosk. The first row contains only one grave, that of Edward Keith Moore, whose parents were Huie Keith Pete Moore and Vera Magnolia Reeves. He is the grandson of Moses and Margaret Reeves and died as an infant.In 1864, at the age of 21, Stephen and Fanny Martin’s daughter Sophia married Joseph Spruill. They had eight children. Their daughter Luvader Spruill married James Tilman Morgan. In the fifth row of the cemetery are buried Joseph and Sophia Spruill and some of their children, including Sarah Cordelia, William S. Spruill and his wife Tempie, their children Ollis and Lilla Mae, Nolia Spruill and his wife Nina May and their child Elbert. Luvader and James Morgan’s child Homer Morgan is laid to rest here, though his parents and siblings were buried in Turner County, Georgia.Between 1930 and 1932, Atlanta historian Franklin Garrett recorded all the known cemeteries in DeKalb County, including the Stephen Martin Cemetery. Seventy-three years later, Phillip B. Anglin, surveyed all of Dunwoody’s cemeteries and published his findings in the book “Dunwoody, Georgia, Historic Cemeteries: Silent Storytellers.” The listings are shown by rows, with each row numbered with a number for each corresponding grave. This cemetery has fourteen rows. Some rows have ten or more graves, and others have only one.
Stephen Spruill Home Place (circa 1867)
4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA Stephen Spruill was a Dunwoody pioneer who owned hundreds of acres of land in the area. When he married Mollie Lee Carter in 1889, he moved into a log home behind his grandparent’s home near the current intersection of Ashford-Dunwoody Road and I-285. Mollie and Stephen had 11 children.In 1905, he moved his family into this home, his grandparent’s home, which was built in 1867. He modified the home into this Victorian farmhouse by covering original logs with wide boards. The house features a stone fireplace, oak floors and an ornately carved mantelpiece.Spruill’s heirs donated the home, two outbuildings, and 5.4 acres on Ashford-Dunwoody Road to the North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center in 1991. The Arts Center agreed to move the home to the current location and use it for educational art purposes. The building is currently part of the Spruill Center for the Arts and houses an art gallery, historic exhibit and gift shop.
Donaldson-Bannister Farm & Cemetery (circa 1870)
4831 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA Recognitions: Georgia Register of Historic Places (2008), National Register of Historic Places (2009)At the end of the Civil War, William James Donaldson, known to his family as WJ, returned to the area after his service to the Confederacy. Born in South Carolina in 1827, he had come to Georgia as a child. In 1850, he was living in Cross Keys, today known as Brookhaven. There, in 1851, he married his cousin Nettie (also called Nutty) Lucretia Reeves and continued living for a while in Cross Keys. By 1859, the year Nettie died, he was living in Calhoun, Georgia, with her and their two surviving children.In 1861, a widower with two young daughters, he returned to Cross Keys and married Sarah Powers. The war began and he joined Company F, 36th Georgia Infantry Regiment on April 10, 1862. He was captured at Vicksburg in July of 1863, surrendered on July 4 by signing an oath not to take up arms again and was released soon afterward.WJ kept his oath and did not take up arms again for the Confederacy, though he continued to serve by making and repairing shoes at the old Atlanta Depot until 1864, the year of the burning and fall of Atlanta. Following the war, he relocated to the area just north of Cross Keys identified on maps as Providence for the church that stood along present Chamblee Dunwoody Road just north of Mount Vernon Road. We know this area as Dunwoody.In 1868, he was married for the third and last time, this time to Martha (Millie) Adams (born 1842) and lived on the land once owned by her father, Jesse Adams, a son of Salathiel Adams, a pioneer who lived in Cross Keys and is buried in a small family cemetery off Oconee Pass. Over a period of several years, WJ, with help from family and friends, built a Plantation Plain-style home on the property. This is the home that still stands on the property.According to the 1890 Georgia census, Millie and WJ had acquired 321 acres between Dunwoody and Chamblee, though family lore has it that he claimed to have a thousand acres. After WJ’s death in 1900, Millie Adams Donaldson, a widow and true steel magnolia, continued to run the farm for the next 30 years.Millie passed in 1930. In the depth of the Great Depression, her family was not able to maintain the large property. In 1934, it was divided and sold at auction, at which time the rest of the Donaldson family built and moved to a smaller house further down on what is now Vermack Road.At auction, another widow, Lois Pattillo, purchased 26 acres that included the old farmhouse and family cemetery. Intending to use it as a summer home, she hired Atlanta architect Francis Palmer Smith to remodel it in the Colonial Revival style. After purchasing the farm, Lois married Leland Bannister, who lived nearby on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, and became known as Lois Bannister. A few older people still alive remember her trotting her Saddlebreds up and down the dirt road along the side of the property, now known as Vermack Road.In 1946, Lois sold the property to Charles Roberts, who immediately sold it to the Henry Ogden family, who lived there for 10 years. In 1955, Frank Smith, a successful Atlanta nursery owner, bought the property and lived there with his family until 1973, when Developer Jim Cowart purchased it while planning the development of an adjoining neighborhood.Though a builder of new homes, Cowart actively sought to find a buyer who would restore the now-historic home and live there. In 1975, he found that buyer in Linda and David Chesnut, who restored and lovingly maintained the property. In 1998, when a tornado struck Dunwoody and severely damaged the house, primarily due to large mature trees falling on the home, the Chesnuts repaired all the damages and restored the home to its glory.The Chesnuts sold the property to DeKalb County in 2005 with hopes that the county would care for the old house. Instead, it sat neglected for years. When Dunwoody became a city in 2008, the home and surrounding property became part of Dunwoody’s Parks and Recreation Department. As the home continued to sit unused and without needed repairs, the Dunwoody Preservation Trust (DPT) stepped in, offering to manage the renovation and operation of the historic home.On May 1, 2018, after many years of fundraising and hard work by many people, the community gathered to celebrate a Grand Opening and Ribbon-Cutting as the old home, beloved by so many through so many years, was brought to life again as the Donaldson-Bannister Farm. Today it is a City of Dunwoody park and houses the offices of DPT. The property is used for educational purposes through programs such as Camp Flashback and History Alive and a place to gather for community events such as Farm to Table dinners, Movies on the Farm and Apple Cider Days. It is also used as a Private Event facility hosting weddings, galas, family reunions and more.
The Eidson Home Place (circa 1931)
5171 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA Recognition: First brick home built in DunwoodyThe Eidson family members were pioneers in Dunwoody. Boyce and Zachariah were brothers, the first in the family to move to Dunwoody. Both brothers donated land for various landmarks including the original Dunwoody Elementary School (donated by Zachariah) and the Eidson Cemetery on Winter’s Chapel Road (donated by Boyce).Boyce’s son, Douglas, married Margaret Warnock. They had several children including Lon (Lonnie), who built this brick home on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. Lon owned a store and filling station nearby, also on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. Mr. Glen Austin and Mr. Calvin Eidson actually constructed the home and Mr. Havey Drake, a member of the extended Eidson family, completed all the brick and concrete work.Lon Eidson's wife, Bertha Moss Eidson, was the daugher of P.L. Moss, owner of Moss' General Store, the first real store in the Dunwoody community. The turn-of-the-century store, which sold general merchandise and featured a water well for visitors, was located at what is now the triangle formed by Mt. Vernon Road, Chamblee Dunwoody Road and Nandina Lane.Lon and his wife Bertha had two children, Perry and Bertha. Some of the memories shared by the children of moving into this home include building a fire around the wash pot for their first bath in their new home.The house included two fireplaces, which helped provide heat for the house, and a set of French doors which separated the living and dining rooms and helped retain heat in the primary living areas of the home. Bertha was the first president of an organization called the Dunwoody Home Demonstration Club, which began in the early 1920s from a program at the University of Georgia intended to instruct farmers’ wives on optimal methods to preserve and prepare foods. The wives gathered at these home demonstration clubs and learned about canning, pressure cooking and freezing foods. They met initially at the Eidson home and then in the cafeteria/library of Dunwoody Elementary School.In 1999, the Eidson family sold a portion of the family property for residential development - a subdivision named Eidson Hall, in honor of the family.Today the house is a private residence.Eidson Hall, a neighboring subdivision, began development in 1999 after the family sold a portion of their land for the subdivision.
Warnock Cottage (circa 1913)
2081 Mt. Vernon Road, Dunwoody, GAThe Warnock Cottage on Mt. Vernon Road was built in 1913 and is the site of the original house constructed in the late 1800’s by William R. Warnock. William’s family immigrated from Ireland and initially settled in Dunwoody near what is now Ashford-Dunwoody Road. The Warnock family was traveling through dense forests and thickly wooded trails in their covered wagon when they made camp for the night. As the sun rose the following morning, William’s father declared that he was tired of traveling and decided to stay right where they had camped and built a log cabin on the site.Later, William married Martha Amanda Adams, whose family were members of Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church. Near the time of their marriage, William purchased land and built their home on Mt. Vernon Road. William fought in the Civil War and was injured at Gettysburg, when he suffered a gunshot wound through his left ankle. He died in 1908, and he and Martha are buried at the New Hope Cemetery on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.Their son, John, married Ada Baker, and they had four children. A daughter, Florence, married Carey Spruill. Florence and Carey’s family were the last residents of the Cheek-Spruill farmhouse at Mt. Vernon and Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.Today this home is a private residence.
Cassidy House (circa 1930)
2579 W. Foutainebleau Court, Dunwoody, GAMrs. Clara B. Cassidy built the home in 1930 as a hunting lodge and summer home. Forty acres of land surrounded the house, which she purchased for ten dollars per acre. The home's original well and water pump is still located on the porch, now enclosed for use as a breakfast room. A large fireplace, constructed of granite quarried from Stone Mountain, served as the primary heat source for the home. Tongue-and-groove pine paneling covered many of the interior walls and the Casside home featured several coffered, waffle-patterned decorative ceilings.The home was featured on the 1981 Dunwoody Tour of Homes.In 1998, the home received substantial damage in the Dunwoody tornado. Originally condemned by Dekalb County, the homeowners, Ken and Brenda Lamb, received permission to restore the house to its original condition.Today the home is a private residence.
The W.N. Ware House (circa 1876)
2690 Mt. Vernon Road, Dunwoody, GA (located in the SE corner of the parking lot of Life Center Family Church)This home is located on the grounds of the Life Center Family Church. It originally faced Mt. Vernon Road, but was moved by the church to its current more secluded spot away from the road, where it serves as a film studio for the church.The house was built in 1876 by John Ware, a dairy farmer from Newton County, Georgia. With roots in England and Ireland, the Wares arrived in America in the 1600s and settled in Virginia.John Ware’s home was built on 170 acres of farm land, which extended to the Chattahoochee River and included land where the Orchard Park Shopping Center stands today. His son, William Newton Ware, Sr., was born in the house in 1877. He married Ella Warnock, another Dunwoody native whose family also owned a house on Mt. Vernon Road that is still standing today (The Warnock Cottage). They had a son, William Ware, Jr., who grew up in the house and attended school in Dunwoody.The Ware family was greatly affected by the Depression and had to leave the farm despite William’s best efforts to retain it. At one point, William operated a still in the area where the Brooke Farm subdivision stands today, but that was not enough to save their land, and they sold it and moved to the Kirkwood area of Atlanta.Meanwhile, in the early 1930s, the Macmillan Publishing Company had sent Norm Berg to Atlanta to cultivate Southern writers. Initially living in Midtown, the Bergs, wanting a quiet rural life with space for Berg’s hunting dogs, bought the Wares’ dairy farm in 1938, named it Sellenraa, turned the old barn into their home and used the farmer’s cottage, called “the little house” by the Berg family, as a guest house and sanctuary for writers.Among the great novelists who lived in the cottage now known as the Ware House were Pulitzer Prize winner Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, best known for The Yearling, and Pat Conroy, who wrote most of his masterpiece The Great Santini while living there.When Berg died in 1977, the Berg family retained the farm.His son, Norman Sean Berg, Jr., known as Sean, lived in the main house until deciding to sell because Dunwoody was losing its rural charm. After selling most of the farm to developers of what would become Orchard Park shopping center and several housing subdivisions, he sold the remaining five acres to the founders of what would become the Life Center Family Church.The church started in 1987, built its current building in 1996 and in 1997 razed the old barn and moved the cottage to the back of the property. The green well house near the road marks the cottage’s original location.
The Wardlaw House (circa 1929)
1741 Houghton Court South, Dunwoody, GAOriginally facing Mt. Vernon Road, the house is located in Dunwoody Club Forest on Houghton Court. Commonly referred to as “The Shack” by the family, the home features high ceilings, spacious rooms and an interesting style of architecture.Mr. William C. Wardlaw and his wife, Gertrude, built the house as a summer home in 1936. The family also had a home on Juniper Street in Atlanta, where William was Vice-President of the Trust Company of Georgia. As the banker of Ernest Woodruff, Wardlaw amassed a large fortune by helping Woodruff take the Coca-Cola Company public in 1919.Some say “the New Atlanta” was born on the property because the Wardlaws were well connected, and often entertained early 20th-Century Atlanta leaders and their families on their bucolic property, for summer swimming in their pond, barbecues and dinners.The Wardlaws had two sons: William, Jr., and Platt. Platt died of pneumonia at the age of 14 on January 1, 1924.William, Jr., an honor student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, graduated in the late 1920’s with a degree in textile engineering and was an active member of the “Tech” community for more than 50 years. He founded Wardlaw & Company, an investment advisory firm in Atlanta, and was president until his death in December 1983. The Wardlaw Center, a multipurpose facility serving the athletic program at Georgia Tech, was created with donations from his widow and is named for him.William had a very bright, rather eccentric son, who chose to go by the name of B (with no punctuation). During his youth, on a wooden Adirondack-style gazebo were nine arrowheads from the property that had been formed into his initials “BW.” As a young man, B rebelled against his idyllic, privileged childhood and told his story in a book titled “Coca-Cola Anarchist.” The gazebo is now gone, destroyed in 2003-2004 when a 200 -year-old oak tree fell on it.Today the home is a private residence.
