Flat Rock, Georgia
In 1865, after the end of the Civil War, the era of reconstruction provided opportunity for former enslaved people to stay in the area to build schools, churches, and civic organizations and create the tight knit African American Flat Rock Community.
The area currently houses the Flat Rock Archives, which specialize in preserving African American rural history in Georgia.
[3] It is also noted that before the 1821 Creek cession that resulted in Henry and then DeKalb County, trails crisscrossed the area between the South and Chattahoochee Rivers.
Some of these families include the paternal ancestors of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind, who moved into the Flat Rock area in the 1830s.
During this time, country farms peppered the landscape and Ira O. McDaniel lived near many of his sisters, brothers, and parents at the center of the Flat Rock area from 1842 to 1848.
Mitchell and Daniel William Herring built houses in the early Atlanta area of Whitehall and Hunter Streets.
During the Civil War, General George Steone Jr, sent Kenner Garrid's Division to the Flat Rock area in order to protect the Union rear during the Atlanta Campaign.
So many freed peoples overwhelmed the soldiers as they recalled seeing every type of person imaginable from old to young, mulatto to black, males and females.
The newly freed slaves, which seemed like thousands to the Union soldiers, ran after the troops to join the Army of the Lord to freedom.
In an interview for NPR, Henry Louis Gates stated that "[Bryant] was trying to give them a stake in the South, a reason to stay, 'cause they were not going to own property in Pittsburgh, Detroit or Cincinnati, in Philadelphia or New York.
The luxury items that came out of his store included cold drinks, ice, snuff tobacco, cigarettes and cigars, sardines and crackers, potted meat, moon pies, and lots of candy.
[9] Baseball had a huge presence within the community, with stories stemming from the days of the Early Flat Rock Church trustees like Spenser Bryant who lived during the late 19th century until the 1940s.
The Flat Rock Archive, located in Stonecrest, Georgia, is currently working to preserve the African American story in this area.
The Flat Rock Archive strives to preserve African American rural history in Georgia and is located in the home built by T.A.
The Flat Rock Archives consists of a variety of historic sites, most of which are connected by the paved, multi-use Arabia Mountain PATH trail.
After Bryant, Sr. bought the land subsequently sold or leased small parcels off to other members of the Flat Rock community.
In 2008, Dr. Jeffrey Glover of Georgia State University organized a cemetery mapping project with his Fall Archaeological Methods course students.
[20] Glover's class worked with the local Flat Rock community and the Greater Atlanta Historical Society (GAAS) to clear the overgrowth from the cemetery.
While it is no longer standing, a new church has been built on the site and archaeologists and historians with the Flat Rock Archives are working to preserve its role in the community.
Seated: Will Tanner, Tom Christian, Spencer Bryant-Chairman, Jerry Sypho, Rance Baily. Standing: James Wise, Hill Lyons, Rev. Jim Davis-Pastor, Henry Shumake, and Andrew Waits.
