Q: There’s a street in DeKalb County, near Stone Mountain and Lithonia, that has several spellings. Is it Deshon or DeShong or Deshong? I’ve seen it on street signs all different ways.
A: Deshon or DeShong or Deshong?
Apparently, the names of the roads that include a variation of that word depend on where you live.
The road generally is labeled Deshon in DeKalb County.
In Gwinnett, it’s Deshong or DeShong. Sometimes the “s” is capitalized. Sometimes it’s not, especially on street signs.
“When you cross into Gwinnett County, they do add a ‘g,’ ” said Lynn Santure with DeKalb County’s Geographic Information System Department. “That’s the only distinction I could see, and why it’s like that, I don’t know.”
Gwinnett County records indicate the DeShong (with a capital “S”) family goes way back in that area, Bill Baughman with the Gwinnett Historical Society said. Elizabeth DeShong Kinnett was 98 when she died in 2012.
Gwinnett County has a DeShong Park, which is on North DeShong Road (Deshong on street signs).
If you leave the park and travel south toward DeKalb County, you’ll cross over Rockbridge Road. That’s where DeShong loses the “g” and the uppercase “s” and turns into South Deshon Road.
And the case thickens if you look at Google Maps.
A shopping center called Deshon Plaza is at the corner of Rockbridge and North DeShong/South Deshon roads, but gives the address as 515 North DeShong Road.
Has your head stopped spinning?
Google Maps actually shows North DeShong Road extending into DeKalb County, which Santure said is wrong. “I submitted a change request to them.”
Other DeKalb County roads with Deshon in their names include: Deshon Ridge Road, Deshon Hills Trail, Deshon Creek Drive, Deshon Hills Lane and Deshon Circle.
But that said, there’s a Deshong Drive in DeKalb (which is off South Deshon Road, near Stone Mountain-Lithonia Road) and a DeShong Drive in Gwinnett (off Annistown Road, near DeShong Park).
“I think it’s the proper name with a ‘g,’ ” Baughman said.
Perhaps. Unless you live in DeKalb.
Q: What happened to the fire engine that used to be in the Cyclorama? I haven’t been there in 50 years, but it was there then.
—Frank Meadows, Powder Springs
A: That fire engine, which was used to battle the 1917 Atlanta fire, made the move to the Atlanta History Center years ago, where it was part of a long-running exhibit called “Metropolitan Frontiers.”
The horse-drawn engine, which has a steam-driven pump, was put in storage when the exhibit ended.
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