The African explorer Joseph Thomson lived in Gatelawbridge from the age of 10 until leaving for Edinburgh.
He attended the secondary school Morton Academy in Thornhill (now Wallace Hall), making the journey each day on his pony called Donald.
He was known to be a kind and very fair man, who refused to beat his bearers in Africa when they did wrong, preferring to dock their wages instead.
Gatelawbridge is the site of several Red Sandstone quarries opened in the 19th century that were once linked by rail to the G&SWR main line near Cample village.
The sandstone derived from a huge sand dune which extended from Gatelawbridge through Locharbriggs to Annan.