Find Your Old Neighborhood
And tell your children about it!
The old home was built in 1905. It was the product of the Victorian Era and the oldest neighborhood in Atlanta. The link below provides a partial view of the neighborhood. My father paid $ 2,000 for this house, which appears to be on the market for $1,550,300.
Life in this home in the 1940s included five bedrooms, one bath, a full-size basement with finished rooms, and a cellar where coal was delivered. The amenities that we take for granted today did not exist. We slept under heavy quilts and dressed in front of a coal furnace. Each room had a fireplace and one electric light in the ceiling. During the 1970s, your enthusiasts' families took on the project of renovating the neighborhood and created an annual Inman Park Festival, which showcased the results. 951 was made into a Breakfast Inn.
As time passes, my thoughts drift back to the old neighborhood. Yes, it was full of wonders! That is because childhood can be a very imaginative and entertaining fountainhead of the future. Do you have the nerve to use some of those wild dreams in the present? For most of us, becoming an adult is the kibosh of wonderland.
The Wonders of Childhood!
Growing up during the 1940s in Inman Park, Atlanta, Georgia…rumble.com
Looking back at some of the photos of that earlier time, it triggered the brainstorms and pipedreams.
Trolley Cars 1940s in Atlanta
The trolley barn was one door from our house on Edgewood Avenue in Inman Park, Atlanta, Georgia. Find your ancestors on…rumble.com
The trolley cars were attached to an overhead electrical line. How often I watched as the lines fell, and the driver alit to restore the power! The trolley barn is pictured here. It was two doors from my home. At about six o’clock every evening, the last trolley of the day passed my house and entered the barn. (Today, the barn is an antique shop!)
The trolley was the beginning of group transportation in Atlanta. The steps were high up for my childish feet to climb, but climb I did! It was an exciting adventure as the trolley rumbled over the cobblestone streets because it was the means for my sisters and me to discover parks and playgrounds. One day, we found the old site in Atlanta where Buffalo Bill performed his Wild West Show. (PS-It was at the end of a railroad track in Piedmont Park). Buffalo Bill, born in 1846, was a buffalo hunter and was a remnant of the days of hunting buffalo. He was also a US Army Scout, Pony Express Rider, Indian fighter, and impresario who dramatized the olden days.
The new trolley cars were one step up from the horse; that is to say, one generation back in time. Little did I realize that I was an observer of the moving past. Buffalo Bill died in 1917, one year before World War I.
Yet, my real excitement was ahead of me. Imagine learning that my second-great-grandfather owned the first house in Atlanta! And that I found a photo of it in an old Atlanta Constitution newspaper dated in the 1880s. It was declared the oldest house in Atlanta, and although the writer did not know whose house it was, he wrote that the Clerk of the Court once occupied it.
Downtown Atlanta 202 1/2 Acres Won in the Land Lottery by Archibald Holland in 1821
My research found the real story. The house was located on the corner of Trinity and Georgia Avenue. According to a son of Archibald, his account in the Memoirs of Georgia provided the location of the house of his birth as the above site. The most exciting part of the story is that Archibald drew the land in the Georgia Land Lottery! A plat showing 202 1/2 acres is filed in Henry County. (including the Atlanta region). Archibald built the old house where his children were born in about 1821. The site includes Terminal Station, Underground Atlanta, North to Northside Drive, and South to Fulton Street. Archibald’s cows got bogged down in the mud. A letter discovered in the Holland families revealed Archibald’s search for improved farmland. (which he found in Paulding County). After the family, the Atlanta location, a relative (probably a half-brother) from Abbeville, South Carolina (Moses Holland) occupied the home. However, in 1850, Moses went to Carroll County, where gold had been discovered!
Archibald Holland House - Oldest House in Atlanta
Drew 202 1/2 acres in downtown Atlanta (from the lottery) and built a home at the intersection of Trinity Avenue and…rumble.com
Everyone has a story to tell. And there is always someone who wants to hear it!
Where to Find your Georgia Family History and Genealogy Records Website
Pioneer Families LLC d/b/a Georgia Pioneers Phyllis Pallister commented: "I love this story, even if it's not about one…georgiapioneers.com
I grew up in a house that was built by my three greats grandfather. It was not until I left home that I realised that other people moved house! I wish that people would tell the story of their time in their house, and leave it for the next inhabitants. It would be so interesting to find and add to the tale. Have you read HOME: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House by Julie Myerson? She found out the stories of everyone who lived in her house.