Spalding Drive is an approximately 12-mile east-west road connecting three suburban cities in north Atlanta: Sandy Springs

Sandy Springs, Georgia

Sandy Springs is a city in north Georgia, United States. It is a northern suburb of Atlanta. With a 2010 population of 93,853, Sandy Springs is the sixth-largest city in the state and the second-largest city in Metro Atlanta. Sandy Springs is located in north Fulton County, Georgia, just south 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...

, and Peachtree Corners

Peachtree Corners, Georgia

Peachtree Corners is a city in western Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is a northern suburb of Atlanta, located east of Dunwoody and south of Johns Creek. Out of all of Atlanta's northern suburbs, Peachtree Corners is the only one that was developed as a planned community...

. The road, which roughly parallels 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...

, is lined on both sides with affluent neighborhoods and private estates. Spalding Drive traverses a hilly topography and is subject to dangerous curves at many points.

History

Spalding Drive likely evolved from an Indian trail. The road, which traverses an area adjacent to the Chattahoochee River, was once considered a farther-out alternative to Buckhead

Buckhead (Atlanta)

Buckhead is the uptown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, comprising approximately the northern one-fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown...

's Pace's Ferry

Pace's Ferry

Through much of the 19th century, Pace's Ferry was an important ferry across the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta. Started in the early 1830s near Peachtree Creek, it was run by Hardy Pace, one of the city's founders...

 for the summer vacation homes of wealthy Atlantans, including Winship Nunnally, owner of the Nunnally Candy Company; General Lucius Clay, a World War II and Cold War general known for his involement in the Berlin air lift; Baxter Maddox, founder of the First National Bank of Atlanta (later Wachovia

Wachovia

Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...

 and now Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...

); and Frank Neely, CEO of Rich's

Rich's Department Stores

Rich's, a former family-owned business established in 1962, grew out of Jerry's Army Navy Surplus in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Rich family once operated 29 stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, which offered discounted merchandise.-History:Rich's, founded by Jerry Rich,...

 (now Macy's).

Name

The road was named after the Spalding family, who owned a large amount of land in Sandy Springs.

The original name of Spalding Drive west of Roberts Drive and east of its terminus at Roswell Road

Georgia State Route 9

State Route 9 is a north–south highway running from Atlanta to just north of Dahlonega. It overlaps U.S. 19 from along 14th Street, in northwest Atlanta, to Roswell Road at I-285, in Sandy Springs. It is also concurrent with U.S. 19 from Dahlonega to its northern terminus at US 129...

 was Old Roswell Road. This portion was located in what was then Milton County

Milton County, Georgia

Milton County was a county of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1857 to 1931. It was created on December 18, 1857 from parts of northeastern Cobb, southeastern Cherokee, and southwestern Forsyth counties. The county was named for John Milton, Secretary of State of Georgia from 1777 to 1799...

. It was renamed to Spalding Drive in 1929. The original name of Spalding Drive east of Roberts Drive and west of Winters Chapel Road was Jett Ferry Road, named after the Jett Ferry 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...

 that it provided access to. This section, which travels through what is now the Dunwoody Panhandle of Sandy Springs, was located in what was then 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...

. After Milton County merged with Fulton County in 1932, the Dunwoody Panhandle was ceded to Fulton County, and the road was renamed Spalding Drive. The original name of Spalding Drive east of Winters Chapel Road and west of its terminus at Medlock Bridge Road (it continues straight as South Old Peachtree Road,) in Gwinnett County, was Lawrenceville Road.