Major James McConnell Montgomery

Major James McConnell Montgomery first came to Buckhead towards the end of the War of 1812 – really the Red Stick War – when he was charged with building boats to ship supplies down the Chattahoochee to Fort Mitchell in Columbus. A small band of soldiers under the leadership of Lieutenant George Gilmer – a future governor – stationed at Fort Peachtree protected him. He returned around 1820, and raised his family around what had the Creek village of Standing Peachtree. The United States employed him and his brother to keep white settlers from encroaching on the Cherokee Nation, which was on the other side of the river.
He also served as a road commissioner, kept the records for the Court of the Ordinary, was a commissioner for the “poor school,” a mail carrier, a census taker, a justice of the peace, a tax receiver and a tax collector. He also operated the ferry, a saw mill and a grist mill.
The first post office in the area is said to have been in his house.
He died on Oct. 6, 1842 and is buried in the Montgomery Family Cemetery, one of the most significant historic sites in Atlanta. This obelisk marks his final resting place, which is just off of Marietta Boulevard north of Bolton Road.
In 1853, the Montgomery family sold what had been Standing Peachtree to Martin DeFoor, who took over the ferry operations. Those names – Montgomery Ferry and Defoors Ferry – remain to this day, know best for the roads bearing their names.

The Temple

In honor of Yom Kippur, I thought it would be appropriate to give a brief history of that important and historic Atlanta institution The Temple. Founded as the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation in 1867, it was Atlanta’s first official Jewish institution. Its founders worshipped in a building on Garnett and Forsyth streets, a few blocks from the state capitol building. The Temple then moved into a building at Pryor and Richardson streets near the Georgia State stadium. In 1931, it moved into the Philip Trammell Shutze-designed building on Peachtree in Midtown. The floor plan is modeled on King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. Outer courts, represented by the foyer, led to inner courts, represented by the worship hall itself. All of these led to the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, represented in The Temple by the raised bimah and golden ark wherein the Torah scrolls are kept. G’mar chatima tova.

Clark Howell’s Mills by Wilbur Kurtz

More people know of Judge Clark Howell’s mill than ever “made use of its facilities,” theorized historian Franklin Garrett in “Atlanta and Environs.” Howell, a former Atlanta city councilman who became known as “Judge” for his service on the Fulton County Inferior Court, moved to the area around Peachtree Creek in 1852. He operated two mills just south of where Howell Mill Road crosses the creek today. They were in a low-lying area on the northern bank. One was a grist mill, the other a sash-sawmill. This painting of Howell’s mills is by Wilbur Kurtz, 1933. Kurtz was a notable artist and historian, but his claim to fame was ensuring the film “Gone With the Wind” reflected the Atlanta of the Civil War.