Allatoona Lake

Many of you may know this. Allatoona Lake was created to stop flooding, not as a reservoir for Atlanta. In fact, the water and electricity generated by the dam are for the Acworth-Cartersville area. The dam is actually in Cartersville city limits.

The lake gets it's name from the town Altoona (spelling changed) that was destroyed by damming the Etowah River. The Etowah flows into the Coosa River (North Flowing) which runs through Rome. Years of major flooding in the early 1900's caused the Army Corps of Engineers to get involved. The dam was their solution.

Altoona and Altoona Station were battle locales during Sherman's march on Atlanta. Altoona Station was located between Big Shanty Station (Kennesaw) and Kingston (West of Cartersville). Altoona was not a large town, but the area was home to many small farmers. Instead of coming up with another solution, the Army chose to drown these lands in a meandering, river-like lake.

Allatoona Lake is the watershed for 1,100 square miles of Georgia. That is a lot of rain run-off. Seems it would have been easier to relocate Cartersville, something the City of New Orleans should have been considering for 300 years now.

Roswell Junction, Georgia

Charles Dunwoody, builder of the Roswell Railroad, built the tracks south for good reason: to link up with the Georgia Railroad, a track between Atlanta and Augusta. As stated in my "Charles Dunwoody" post, it was a vital line in bringing raw materials to Roswell's Mills and returning manufactured goods to market. Several enterprising men built dairy farms at the intersection of the lines, a not uncommon practice for getting milk to market quickly. As the population grew, a petition for a post offfice was submitted for the new town of Roswell Junction. The Postal Service felt that confusion would ensue due to two towns having similar names in such a small area. The service randomly selected one of the petioneer's names for the Post Office: Chamblee. Mr. Chamblee was a black railroad worker and nothing else is really known about him.

Chamblee's gently rolling hills were perfectly suited to dairy farming. Of course the area was more of a pature than a town. In 1917, Camp Gordon was located in Chamblee as a training center for U.S. Soldiers because of the open land, proximity to Atlanta, and railroad lines. Many restaurants, stores, theatres, hotels, and a bowling alley were built for the troops. After the war, the camp shut down and Chamblee returned to it's dual role as dairyland and railroad junction now with an actual commercial town.

In 1941, Camp Gordon re-opened as a Naval Flight Training Center which it was for the duration of World War II, now known as Peachtree-Dekalb Airport. A veterans hospital was also opened during the war. During the war, a road was built for transportation of troops. Renamed Peachtree-Industrial after the war, the town welcomed industries such as GM, Frito-Lay, Kodak, and GE

Bull Sluice Lake, Sandy Springs

Ever heard of Bull Sluice Lake? It's one of Sandy Springs hidden treasures. Loaded with wildlife, Blue Herons, Hawks, Deer, and full of Bass and Trout, it is a natural paradise. Or is it?

Bull Sluice Lake is named after 35' high Bull Sluice Waterfall. The waterfall was destroyed by Georgia Power in 1904, to create a hydroelectric plant to power the streetcars of Atlanta. If you ask any Atlantan where this lake is, they'll look at you with a blank expression. If you ask where Morgan Falls are, then you'll get the nod.

Yes, Morgan Falls creates Bull Sluice Lake. However, have you ever seen it? I've been there at least 20 times and never bothered to look upstream. The name change to Morgan Falls was a tribute, or vanity, of Ga. Power President Morgan Smith, who changed the name for his mother's maiden name 'Morgan'. When the lake is at full capacity, it is able to accommodate power boats. So, there must be another road to the area, in order that the boats can be launched above the dam.

The old waterfall must have been something to see. The river is fairly wide at this point. This could have been the most powerful falls in the whole state. Oh well, I guess streetcars need power to operate. Now, the electricity generated by the dam is said to power 4500 homes. That's about enough to take care of the townhouses on Morgan Falls Rd. Maybe.

Maj. Charles Dunwoody

Charles was born in 1828 in Liberty County, Georgia (south of Savannah), as the 6th and last child of James Bulloch Dunwoody, a Physician. The family was aquainted with Roswell King, and kin to James Bulloch. When Roswell King moved inland to what is now Roswell, he parceled the Dunwoody's a plot of land to the North of town. James Dunwoody opened a tannery that Charles worked. This evolved into a shoe manufacturing mill in Roswell owned by Charles. At the beginning of the war, Charles formed the Roswell Guard and led it as a Major. He was at first Mannassas where he was severly wounded. He returned home, and ran the home guard. If you read my previous post, you know what happened to Roswell. After Sherman left, Charles worked as a private in the cavalry in Georgia. Upon returning home to the ruins, he moved south to the approximate location of the Spalding-Roberts intersection and began farming. He requested a post office and the town of Dunwoody was born. In his later life, he built a railroad from Chamblee, thru Dunwoody, to Roswell where raw materials were sent and manufactured into goods. The name of the only Engineer of this line was "Roberts", hence the road. Dunwoody also re-built a bridge near the present day Roswell Rd. bridge across the Chattahoochie.

Dunwoody once encompassed the area along Spalding to the river, what is now Sandy Springs (sic). Dekalb County ceded the land to help form a new county, Milton, which was for all practical purposes what we call North Fulton. It was disolved into Fulton County later. Too bad, I'm sure the majority of North Fulton residents would be happy to be out of the Atlanta/Fulton County district.

DeKalb County & Atlanta

Did you know that DeKalb County was created by land ceded from Henry County after the Indians were relocated to Northwest Georgia. The original boundaries were from Stone Mtn. in the East, to the Chattahoochie in the West, and North from Henry Co. all the way to a bend in the "Hooch" that led into Gwinett. Yes, that's right, Atlanta and all of Fulton County was originally Henry and then DeKalb County.

Originally, Atlanta was named "Standing Peachtree" by the Native Indians. When the land was sold, a man named Thrasher named it after himself. When settlers arrived, they changed it to Terminus because of the new railroad construction going on. That was a bad name and subsequently they changed it to Marthasville, named after Thrasher's wife. A few years later, John Thomson, the railroad chief suggested the name Atlantica Pacifica and the town shortened it to Atlanta.

When Thrasher was founded, DeKalb County ceded the land to be a new county, Fulton, and a line was drawn halfway from Decatur to Thrasher running due North and South.