Q: What is the history of Memorial Drive and the story behind its name?
-- Damon Denney, Alpharetta
A: You might think the road was named for all the businesses that have come and gone -- a memorial to the fast food industry -- but it's actually for the carving of Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis on Stone Mountain. In Atlanta, the road was once called Fair Street, but it was changed around 1925 because of all the people who took it to see the carving, which was not finished at that time. It became a vital and thriving link from downtown Atlanta, through DeKalb County to I-285 and Stone Mountain. The first suburban Rich's and the world's first Home Depot debuted on Memorial Drive in DeKalb County. The Rich's was in Belvedere Plaza, which a 1998 AJC article said "was as stylish for its time as Lenox Square." The 16-mile road takes almost a straight shot out of downtown Atlanta, going past Oakland Cemetery, where Margaret Mitchell and golf legend Bobby Jones are buried, and past the prestigious East Lake Golf Club before turning northeast and ending up at Stone Mountain and its memorial.
Q: Can you tell me the history behind the two large Civil War cemeteries in Marietta?
A: The Marietta National Cemetery, where U.S. soldiers are buried, and the Marietta Confederate Cemetery are less than a mile apart near the city's famous square. The first plan was to bury soldiers from both sides in the same cemetery, according to the city's website. Not surprising, that idea was quashed when town officials didn't want Confederate soldiers spending eternity next to their sworn enemy, so they went to a separate cemetery. After the war, dead Union soldiers were brought to the site until 1869, when the last group was buried. The National Cemetery includes the graves of more than 17,000 men from several wars, 10,172 of whom died in the Civil War. The Confederate Cemetery had a rather accidental start when 20 soldiers were buried there after they were killed in a train wreck in 1863. Marietta then quickly transformed into a hospital town as the war moved closer to Atlanta and the dead were buried there until July 2, 1864, when Sherman captured the city. It is the largest Confederate cemetery in Georgia.
What do you want to know?
If you’re new in town or just have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail Andy Johnston at q&a@ajc.com.
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