Historic mills of the Atlanta area
Encyclopedia
There were several historic mill
s around the metro Atlanta
area, for which many of its current-day road
s are still named. Most of the mills date back to the 1820s and 1830s, and were built along the area's many stream
s.
), Autrey Mill Road is near Alpharetta actually it is nearby John's Creek off Old Alabama Road about 2 miles from Medlock Bridge Road, as is the Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage
Center.
. Its eastern terminus is at Georgia 120 (Roswell Road) and ascends Blackjack Mountain. The road was severed by Interstate 75
.
in Decatur
, and used to grind corn (maize
) into cornmeal
. It was owned by Major Washington Jackson Houston, who in 1900 converted it into the first hydroelectric power plant in DeKalb County
, and formed the Decatur Light, Power and Water Company. Located above the confluence
of Peavine Creek and South Fork Peachtree Creek, the dam itself still remains, and the remnants of the millrace are still visible along the creek in Emory University
's Hahn Woods park.
. Named after Clark Howell, it was located on Peachtree Creek
. Its original site was located just west of where the road bearing its name, Howell Mill Road, crosses the creek.
There were actually several Howell's Mills. In addition to the most well-known mill on Peachtree Creek, the Howell family established two other mills on Nancy Creek
to the northwest. The mill located south of West Paces Ferry Road and Nancy Creek was known as 'Charley Howell's Mill', after Charles Augustus Howell, one of Clark Howell's sons. It is now the site of the Hardin Construction Company.
The Atlanta Humane Society is located on Howell Mill road, leading one former morning show on a local radio station
to call it "Howl
llllll" Mill Road when doing their pet of the week segments.
near this point. Built by slave
s, the sluice
or flume
for the mill ran back to Clairmont Lake.
in 1828 by Thomas Moore
.
http://www.wabe.org/history/millstone.html
off of the much busier Paces Ferry Road.
as part of an industrial complex, near where it ends into the Chattahoochee River
. Its ruins
are still there, protected by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
. Located in Cobb County, it is accessible via two-lane
Paper Mill Road, which connects to nearby Johnson Ferry Road. In the west, the road briefly combines with Terrell Mill Road just before ending at Lower Roswell
Road as Old Paper Mill Road. Paper Mill Road was carried over Sope Creek by a covered bridge
, which was burned by arson
in the late 1960s.
, a tributary
of Sope Creek. Sewell Mill Road is also located entirely in Cobb County, and runs from Georgia 120 (Roswell Road) east of Marietta, northeastward to Johnson Ferry Road. Old Sewell Road also exists. The old ruins of Sewell Mill can still be seen on a property along Sewell Mill Road, just east of Murdock Road.
, northeast under I-75, then gradually curving north to cross Powers Ferry Road and the east end of Delk Road, before ending at Lower Roswell Road. While the name ends at this point, the four-lane divided roadway (an arterial road
) continues straight northeast on Lower Roswell ever since that road was "broken", forcing drivers continuing on it to make a turn to stay on the same road. Just south of there, Terrell Mill Park is located on the southwest side of the road, where it is now concurrent for a short distance with the original Paper Mill Road. The northernmost section from Old Paper Mill Road (the westernmost section of Paper Mill Road) north to Lower Roswell Road was originally a quarter-mile-long road named Terrell Mill Drive, and Google Maps
still identifies it as such. In the late 2000s, this section was widened along its eastern side to add an extra lane, which continues up Lower Roswell Road to Old Canton Road, bypassing the traffic light
there altogether. This section of both roads is now six lanes: three northbound, two southbound, and a center left-turn lane.
Southwest of Powers Ferry Road, the road is also five lanes with a center left-turn lane, while to the north it has a landscaped
road median typical of other county roads widened in the 1980s and 1990s. In order to squeeze through an underpass below I-75, it narrows to four lanes and has a steep dip that often flood
s during thunderstorm
s as it collects water from both the road and the highway, and the downslope to nearby Rottenwood Creek. If the Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT
project is built, this will become an exit/entrance to and from the reversible
HOT lanes. Like Northside Drive to the south, the freeway here was built with a landscaped median (where it otherwise has a low median wall
), so that it could later become ramps to access future HOV lanes. There is currently no interchange
at this point.
Delk Road (Georgia 280 west of I-75) was extended from Powers Ferry Road to Terrell Mill Road in 1986. The new intersection was later rebuilt in the 2000s. Also in the 1980s, the first Home Depot store was located at Terrell Mill Road and Cobb Parkway in Marietta Plaza (originally a Treasure Island, now a Burlington Coat Factory
), while its first headquarters
was in a nearby office park on Terrell Mill Road.
, in the city of Dunwoody
. The road bisects the land on which the mill was located, owned and operated, by the Tilly family, in the early 20th Century. The name also describes the residential district which now occupies the land.
at 4290 Railroad Ave. in Tucker, The Old Tucker Mill housed a corn mill and sawmill at the turn of the century and is considered to be one of the oldest standing structures left in Tucker.
Owners- Jeff and Lori Gold
Store # 770-864-1760
M-Sat 11am - 6pm
and Flat Shoals Road
east of Atlanta. John White is buried at a small cemetery on Candler Road just south of I-20.
The Mill additionally had a cotton gin attached as a part of the family complex, and continued in operation until the mid 1900’s. During the Civil War
the mill served to supply large size timber to the Confederacy. One of John's sons, William Coker White, who was a lieutenant
in the 42nd Georgia C.S.A. (Dekalb Rangers) along with his brother Nicolas, came home early in the war to help oversee this aspect of the operation. According to family oral tradition, the lumber was then hauled over to the Chattahoochee River by wagon (to Aderhold’s Ferry near present day Six Flags) and floated down to Columbus, Georgia
where the larger timbers were used in the construction of armored gunboat
frames. (Note that one of William’s sons (James Wesley) married one of the Aderhold girls, Alzie.) Quite naturally when Gen. William T. Sherman burned the city of Atlanta, he also found it advisable to burn much of the manufacturing infrastructure in the surrounding areas such as Dekalb County, including White's mill). After the war William Coker and his brother John Wesley rebuilt and continued to run the mill complex together. The economic circumstances after the war however, were such that all the members of the extended White families (John White had 16 children and each of these had their own households) could not rely upon the mill complex for support. Thus the family split up, with a number of White families (including William Coker White) moving as a group west of Atlanta to Haralson County, Georgia
. William is buried in Pleasant Grove Church Cemetery in Haralson County along with a number of other members of the White family. John White is buried next to his second wife Nancy Mapp Wells and beside a cenotaph
for his first wife Hetty Layfield.
as the Williams Mill Road is today's Briarcliff Road
, which used to continue southwesterly from where it crossed Ponce de Leon Avenue. A remnant of the old road name still exists that intersects North Highland Avenue just south of North Avenue
near the Carter Center
. The mill was operated by furniture maker and sawmill operator Frederick A. Williams (1817–1883), son of Ammi Williams
. It was purchased by Sam Durand before the Civil War, and military maps labeled it Durand's Mill on Williams Mill Road. It was last known as Wallace's Mill.
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
s around the metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta
The Atlanta metropolitan area or metro Atlanta, officially designated by the US Census Bureau as the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ninth-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States...
area, for which many of its current-day road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
s are still named. Most of the mills date back to the 1820s and 1830s, and were built along the area's many stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s.
Akers MillAkers MillAkers Mill Akers Mill, was a complex of at least two 19th century mills along Rottenwood Creek in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. The gristmill built into the bank overlooking the creek, with six terraces each acting as an individual floor in the mill operation... was located on Rottenwood Creek near Vinings. Located within the modern Cumberland/Galleria area, Akers Mill Road runs west from Powers Ferry Road at Interstate 285, immediately north of the Chattahoochee River Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of... , then turns south on Cumberland Boulevard, then departs west again after one "block City block A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric... ", crossing Interstate 75 Interstate 75 in Georgia In the U.S. state of Georgia, Interstate 75 runs north–south along the U.S. Route 41 corridor on the western side of the state, passing through the cities of Valdosta, Macon and Atlanta. It is also designated — but not signed — as State Route 401... and then Cobb Parkway Cobb Parkway Cobb Parkway is a major arterial road which runs northwest and southeast through Cobb County, Georgia. It concurrently carries both U.S. 41, and the much less-recognized Georgia 3... , and forming the southern boundary of the Cumberland Mall Cumberland Mall Cumberland Mall, located in the Cumberland district of Metropolitan Atlanta near the suburbs of Smyrna and Vinings, opened on August 8, 1973 and was the largest mall in Georgia, United States, when it first opened.-Early years:... property. Arnold MillArnold Mill was located in southeastern Cherokee County, GeorgiaCherokee County, Georgia As of the census of 2000, there were 141,903 people, 49,495 households, and 39,200 families residing in the county. The population density was 335 people per square mile . There were 51,937 housing units at an average density of 123 per square mile... , east of Woodstock, Georgia Woodstock, Georgia Woodstock is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 23,896 at the 2010 census.Originally a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Woodstock is now considered part of the Atlanta metropolitan area... . Arnold Mill Road runs east from Main Street Main Street Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world... (former Georgia 5) in the exact center of downtown Woodstock to meet Hickory Flat Hickory Flat, Georgia Hickory Flat is an unincorporated community in southeastern Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The center of the community is marked by a four-way stoplight at the intersection of Georgia State Highway 140 and East Cherokee Drive. Once a sparse town with more land per acre than people per... Highway (Georgia 140), which continues as Arnold Mill Road southeast through Milton Milton, Georgia Milton is a city in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. Incorporated on December 1, 2006, it was created out of the entire unincorporated northwestern part of northern Fulton County. It is a highly affluent community with an average household income within the zip code 30004 of $99,412... to Crabapple Crabapple, Georgia Centered today at the crossroads of Georgia Highways 140 and 372 , Crabapple, Georgia, is one of the oldest parts of Fulton County, Georgia. Originally part of Cherokee County, Georgia, , Crabapple was part of the land contributed in 1857 to form Milton County, Georgia... between Roswell Roswell, Georgia Roswell is a city located in northern Fulton County; it is a suburb of northern Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The 2010 Census population was 88,346. It is the eighth largest city in Georgia... and Alpharetta. West of Main Street in Woodstock, it becomes Towne Lake Parkway. |
Autrey Mill
Sometimes misspelled "Autry" (as in Gene AutryGene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
), Autrey Mill Road is near Alpharetta actually it is nearby John's Creek off Old Alabama Road about 2 miles from Medlock Bridge Road, as is the Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
Center.
Barnes Mill
Barnes Mill Road is just east-northeast of MariettaMarietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...
. Its eastern terminus is at Georgia 120 (Roswell Road) and ascends Blackjack Mountain. The road was severed by Interstate 75
Interstate 75 in Georgia
In the U.S. state of Georgia, Interstate 75 runs north–south along the U.S. Route 41 corridor on the western side of the state, passing through the cities of Valdosta, Macon and Atlanta. It is also designated — but not signed — as State Route 401...
.
Houston Mill
In 1876, the Houston Mill was built on the south fork of Peachtree CreekPeachtree Creek
Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vinings. Like other "Peachtree" names in the area, the name is most likely a corruption of "pitch tree", from the area's many pines and their sticky sap.Peachtree Creek is an...
in Decatur
Decatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
, and used to grind corn (maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
) into cornmeal
Cornmeal
Cornmeal is flour ground from dried maize or American corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to fine, medium, and coarse consistencies. In the United States, the finely ground cornmeal is also referred to as cornflour. However, the word cornflour denotes cornstarch in recipes from the...
. It was owned by Major Washington Jackson Houston, who in 1900 converted it into the first hydroelectric power plant in DeKalb County
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
, and formed the Decatur Light, Power and Water Company. Located above the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of Peavine Creek and South Fork Peachtree Creek, the dam itself still remains, and the remnants of the millrace are still visible along the creek in Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
's Hahn Woods park.
Howell's Mills
Howell's Mill was located near AtlantaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Named after Clark Howell, it was located on Peachtree Creek
Peachtree Creek
Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vinings. Like other "Peachtree" names in the area, the name is most likely a corruption of "pitch tree", from the area's many pines and their sticky sap.Peachtree Creek is an...
. Its original site was located just west of where the road bearing its name, Howell Mill Road, crosses the creek.
There were actually several Howell's Mills. In addition to the most well-known mill on Peachtree Creek, the Howell family established two other mills on Nancy Creek
Nancy Creek (Atlanta)
Nancy Creek is a stream in northern Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It begins in far northern DeKalb County, just north of Chamblee, and flows southwestward into Fulton County, through the far southeast corner of Sandy Springs, then through the Buckhead area of Atlanta. It empties into...
to the northwest. The mill located south of West Paces Ferry Road and Nancy Creek was known as 'Charley Howell's Mill', after Charles Augustus Howell, one of Clark Howell's sons. It is now the site of the Hardin Construction Company.
The Atlanta Humane Society is located on Howell Mill road, leading one former morning show on a local radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
to call it "Howl
Howl
"Howl" is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems. The poem is considered to be one of the great works of the Beat Generation, along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch...
llllll" Mill Road when doing their pet of the week segments.
Mason Mill
Mason Mill was built by Ezekiel Mason on Burnt Fork Creek in Decatur. Mason Mill Road meets Clairmont RoadClairmont Road
Clairmont Road is a thoroughfare in the state of Georgia in the United States that connects the city Decatur to the city of Chamblee in metropolitan Atlanta, in a north/south direction. In the city of Decatur, where Clairmont originates at a "T"-intersection with Ponce de Leon Avenue, it is called...
near this point. Built by slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s, the sluice
Sluice
A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...
or flume
Flume
A flume is an open artificial water channel, in the form of a gravity chute, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow. Often, the flume is an elevated box structure that follows the natural contours of the land. These have been extensively used in hydraulic...
for the mill ran back to Clairmont Lake.
Moore's Mill
Moore's Mill was established along Peachtree CreekPeachtree Creek
Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vinings. Like other "Peachtree" names in the area, the name is most likely a corruption of "pitch tree", from the area's many pines and their sticky sap.Peachtree Creek is an...
in 1828 by Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
.
http://www.wabe.org/history/millstone.html
Pace's Mill
Pace's Mill belonged to Hardy Pace, one of Atlanta's founders. Located in what is now Vinings (formerly Paces), Paces Mill Road is a small spur routeSpur route
A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important route . A bypass or beltway is never considered a true spur route as it typically reconnects with the major road...
off of the much busier Paces Ferry Road.
Paper Mill
The Marietta Paper Mill was built on the banks of Sope CreekSope Creek
Sope Creek is an stream located in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is a significant tributary of the Chattahoochee River, and under high water levels it can be used for extreme whitewater kayaking...
as part of an industrial complex, near where it ends into the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
. Its ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
are still there, protected by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area preserves a series of sites between Atlanta in the United States and Lake Sidney Lanier along the Chattahoochee River. The 48-mile stretch of the river affords public recreation opportunities and access to historic spots...
. Located in Cobb County, it is accessible via two-lane
Lane
A lane is a part of the roadway within a road marked out for use by a single line of vehicles in such a way as to control and guide drivers for the purpose of reducing traffic conflicts. Most public roads have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by Lane markings...
Paper Mill Road, which connects to nearby Johnson Ferry Road. In the west, the road briefly combines with Terrell Mill Road just before ending at Lower Roswell
Roswell, Georgia
Roswell is a city located in northern Fulton County; it is a suburb of northern Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The 2010 Census population was 88,346. It is the eighth largest city in Georgia...
Road as Old Paper Mill Road. Paper Mill Road was carried over Sope Creek by a covered bridge
Covered bridge
A covered bridge is a bridge with enclosed sides and a roof, often accommodating only a single lane of traffic. Most covered bridges are wooden; some newer ones are concrete or metal with glass sides...
, which was burned by arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
in the late 1960s.
Sewell Mill
Sewell Mill was located on Sewell Mill CreekSewell mill creek
Sewell Mill Creek is a tributary of Sope Creek in Marietta, Georgia, United States. Via Sope Creek and the Chattahoochee River, it is part of the Apalachicola River basin, draining to the Gulf of Mexico....
, a tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of Sope Creek. Sewell Mill Road is also located entirely in Cobb County, and runs from Georgia 120 (Roswell Road) east of Marietta, northeastward to Johnson Ferry Road. Old Sewell Road also exists. The old ruins of Sewell Mill can still be seen on a property along Sewell Mill Road, just east of Murdock Road.
Terrell Mill
Terrell Mill Road runs from Cobb ParkwayCobb Parkway
Cobb Parkway is a major arterial road which runs northwest and southeast through Cobb County, Georgia. It concurrently carries both U.S. 41, and the much less-recognized Georgia 3...
, northeast under I-75, then gradually curving north to cross Powers Ferry Road and the east end of Delk Road, before ending at Lower Roswell Road. While the name ends at this point, the four-lane divided roadway (an arterial road
Arterial road
An arterial road, or arterial thoroughfare, is a high-capacity urban road. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector roads to freeways, and between urban centres at the highest level of service possible. As such, many arteries are limited-access roads, or feature...
) continues straight northeast on Lower Roswell ever since that road was "broken", forcing drivers continuing on it to make a turn to stay on the same road. Just south of there, Terrell Mill Park is located on the southwest side of the road, where it is now concurrent for a short distance with the original Paper Mill Road. The northernmost section from Old Paper Mill Road (the westernmost section of Paper Mill Road) north to Lower Roswell Road was originally a quarter-mile-long road named Terrell Mill Drive, and Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
still identifies it as such. In the late 2000s, this section was widened along its eastern side to add an extra lane, which continues up Lower Roswell Road to Old Canton Road, bypassing the traffic light
Traffic light
Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
there altogether. This section of both roads is now six lanes: three northbound, two southbound, and a center left-turn lane.
Southwest of Powers Ferry Road, the road is also five lanes with a center left-turn lane, while to the north it has a landscaped
Landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...
road median typical of other county roads widened in the 1980s and 1990s. In order to squeeze through an underpass below I-75, it narrows to four lanes and has a steep dip that often flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
s during thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
s as it collects water from both the road and the highway, and the downslope to nearby Rottenwood Creek. If the Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT
Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT
The Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT is a Georgia Department of Transportation plan to put HOV lanes and bus rapid transit along Interstate 75 and Interstate 575 in the northwestern suburbs of metro Atlanta...
project is built, this will become an exit/entrance to and from the reversible
Reversible lane
A reversible lane , called a counterflow lane or contraflow lane in transport engineering nomenclature, is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions...
HOT lanes. Like Northside Drive to the south, the freeway here was built with a landscaped median (where it otherwise has a low median wall
Jersey barrier
A Jersey barrier or Jersey wall is a modular concrete barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to both minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing crossover in the case of head-on accidents....
), so that it could later become ramps to access future HOV lanes. There is currently no interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
at this point.
Delk Road (Georgia 280 west of I-75) was extended from Powers Ferry Road to Terrell Mill Road in 1986. The new intersection was later rebuilt in the 2000s. Also in the 1980s, the first Home Depot store was located at Terrell Mill Road and Cobb Parkway in Marietta Plaza (originally a Treasure Island, now a Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...
), while its first headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
was in a nearby office park on Terrell Mill Road.
Tilly Mill
Tilly Mill Road is located in DeKalb CountyDeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
, in the city of Dunwoody
Dunwoody, Georgia
Dunwoody is a city located in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. It is a northern suburb of Atlanta. Dunwoody became incorporated as a city on December 1, 2008...
. The road bisects the land on which the mill was located, owned and operated, by the Tilly family, in the early 20th Century. The name also describes the residential district which now occupies the land.
Tucker Mill
The Old Tucker Mill is a pre-civil war era structure located in the heart of historic downtown Tucker Ga. Currently operating as an antique storeat 4290 Railroad Ave. in Tucker, The Old Tucker Mill housed a corn mill and sawmill at the turn of the century and is considered to be one of the oldest standing structures left in Tucker.
Owners- Jeff and Lori Gold
Store # 770-864-1760
M-Sat 11am - 6pm
White's Mill
In Atlanta. The mill was founded by John White in Dekalb county, and subsequently run by his sons. The facilities included a lumber mill as well as a grist mill located on what is now known as White's Mill Road, between Interstate 20Interstate 20 in Georgia
In Georgia, Interstate 20 runs from the Alabama border to the Savannah River, which the Georgia-South Carolina border straddles. It passes through the heavily congested Atlanta metropolitan area and exits the state at Augusta...
and Flat Shoals Road
Flat Shoals Road
-Major Interchanges:...
east of Atlanta. John White is buried at a small cemetery on Candler Road just south of I-20.
The Mill additionally had a cotton gin attached as a part of the family complex, and continued in operation until the mid 1900’s. During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
the mill served to supply large size timber to the Confederacy. One of John's sons, William Coker White, who was a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the 42nd Georgia C.S.A. (Dekalb Rangers) along with his brother Nicolas, came home early in the war to help oversee this aspect of the operation. According to family oral tradition, the lumber was then hauled over to the Chattahoochee River by wagon (to Aderhold’s Ferry near present day Six Flags) and floated down to Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
where the larger timbers were used in the construction of armored gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
frames. (Note that one of William’s sons (James Wesley) married one of the Aderhold girls, Alzie.) Quite naturally when Gen. William T. Sherman burned the city of Atlanta, he also found it advisable to burn much of the manufacturing infrastructure in the surrounding areas such as Dekalb County, including White's mill). After the war William Coker and his brother John Wesley rebuilt and continued to run the mill complex together. The economic circumstances after the war however, were such that all the members of the extended White families (John White had 16 children and each of these had their own households) could not rely upon the mill complex for support. Thus the family split up, with a number of White families (including William Coker White) moving as a group west of Atlanta to Haralson County, Georgia
Haralson County, Georgia
Haralson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on January 26, 1856 and was named for Hugh A. Haralson. As of 2000, the population was 25,690. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 28,718...
. William is buried in Pleasant Grove Church Cemetery in Haralson County along with a number of other members of the White family. John White is buried next to his second wife Nancy Mapp Wells and beside a cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
for his first wife Hetty Layfield.
Williams Mill
This mill was on the south fork of Peachtree CreekPeachtree Creek
Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vinings. Like other "Peachtree" names in the area, the name is most likely a corruption of "pitch tree", from the area's many pines and their sticky sap.Peachtree Creek is an...
as the Williams Mill Road is today's Briarcliff Road
Briarcliff Road
Moreland Avenue is a major city street that runs from southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and then along its eastern border. Upon crossing Ponce de Leon Avenue, it becomes Briarcliff Road, which is also an arterial road and runs past the Atkins Park and Virginia Highland neighborhoods of Atlanta,...
, which used to continue southwesterly from where it crossed Ponce de Leon Avenue. A remnant of the old road name still exists that intersects North Highland Avenue just south of North Avenue
North Avenue (Atlanta)
North Avenue in Atlanta is a major avenue in Atlanta that divides Downtown Atlanta from Midtown Atlanta. North Avenue stretches continuously in Atlanta from Candler Park in the east, across Interstate 75 & Interstate 85, along the southern boundary of the Georgia Institute of Technology, to Joseph E...
near the Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
. The mill was operated by furniture maker and sawmill operator Frederick A. Williams (1817–1883), son of Ammi Williams
Ammi Williams
Ammi Williams was an early settler and prominent businessman of DeKalb County, Georgia. Williams married Laura Loomis in 1810. The couple had two daughters, Laura , wife of Lemuel Grant, and Martha Buckingham...
. It was purchased by Sam Durand before the Civil War, and military maps labeled it Durand's Mill on Williams Mill Road. It was last known as Wallace's Mill.