Henderson’s Mill Site “Preserved” but not dedicated

November 25, 2003
(Originally published in Community Review Newspaper, Decatur)


By Tom Doolittle

This is Installment 3 of the The Parks of Northlake, a continuing series.  This installment explores a popular historic icon that has not attracted formal preservation support. Such examples added to existing parks and school properties, make up a growing “system” of recreational property envisioned by various advocates in the 25 square miles around Northlake Mall.

Last year, travelers along Northlake’s Henderson Mill Road were confronted by a hand-made sign across from the St. Bede’s Episcopal Church lower parking lot and the well-known civil war marker there. It presumptuously read, “Want a Park?” and pointed to the former location of Greenville Henderson’s (grist) Mill. The mill was the historic epicenter of Henderson’s vast domain, ultimately lending its name to a significant Northlake arterial road, a public school and countless other privately owned enterprises. The name “Henderson’s Mill” was always iconic, as it may have had an earlier owner and changed hands several times before it burned down in 1911.

The mill stood where 9.1 acres is still owned by descendants of Robert E. Bolton, until recently by Bolton’s daughter, Lucille (married name Chamblee). The 1915 county map (DeKalb History Center) shows R.E. Bolton owning over 70 acres around the mill—what are now St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, the Full Gospel Atlanta Church, the Henderson Creek and Glenrose subdivisions. Lucille B. Chamblee passed away last year at age 95 according to her daughter, a local resident inheriting the property with her brother.

Efforts to engage Mrs. Chamblee in community discussions about Henderson’s Mill had been unsuccessful in recent years. “She had been approached by hundreds of developers and just got to the point where she wouldn’t talk to any visitors,” her daughter says. Born 1938, the younger Chamblee says she never thought about the mill, but remembers playing under a bridge where Old Henderson Mill Road (now the Chamblee property entrance) crossed the creek. “We called the road the Old Mill Cut.” Walter Henderson (one of Greenville’s great-great grandsons), taught Chamblee’s daughter at Tucker’s first public school. Henderson, who has lived his entire 82 years on Chamblee-Tucker Road, most vividly remembers a big millstone lying on the Chamblee’s property and the dam for the mill pond, where a concrete structure remains today.


Local Lore Helps Moderns Reach for a Past
Much of what local residents understand about the mill and other Henderson landmarks comes from documents at Henderson Mill Dental Care, located across from Henderson Middle School. The dentist’s entrance foyer has several mill pictures and a picture album is the centerpiece of the lobby. A faux mill serves as the entrance monument of the Henderson Mill Condominiums near Chamblee-Tucker Road and the Embry-North Hills Business Association web site has adopted a mill logo (www.embrynorthhills.com ). Quinn’s Mill Restaurant on Northlake Parkway (closed around 1985) had claimed that its water wheel was Henderson’s.

Paul Graham is a historian who can be reached via the DeKalb History Center to discuss his research on early local landowners and their legacies. His “Browning District” project has implications for popular stories, in essence separating myth from fact. Graham presented new information about the extent of Greenville Henderson’s land holdings at an Embry-North Hills Business Association meeting earlier this year, saying “virtually all of Greenville Henderson’s land was west of what is now I-285”. Also, he says that the mill may never have had a water wheel—records from the 1870’s refer to steam power.

Rosemary Allen has operates the Ruth M. Allen Arts Center at 2638 Henderson Mill Road, in a house that was built by one of Robert Bolton’s sons, abutting the former mill location. Allen is a well-known activist in the Chamblee-Tucker/Embry Hills area and considers the Henderson legacy the key to the area’s identity. Allen has inquired with the National Historic Registry in Savannah about a formally dedicating Henderson’s Mill for historical significance. The arts center’s cultural program is listed on the Northlake Community Alliance web site.

District 54 State Representative Sally Harrell lives within a stone’s throw of the mill location. Harrell says, “You feel like you’re a part of history (living across from Greenville Henderson’s resting place).” Harrell also says she loves looking at the civil war marker near St. Bede’s, but says it won’t be fully appreciated until we have a reason to get out of our cars.


Public, Private or Public/Private Preservation
DeKalb’s History Center has a section dedicated to informing the public about the economic significance of county’s milling past, the 19th century equivalent to current day power centers. The Center publishes a map of 28 former mill locations, some now well known place names, like Flakes Mill and Browns Mill. Mason Mill is a large county park. Sue Ellen Owens, the Center’s Executive Director, spoke about DeKalb’s mills to a group convened at St. Bede’s Church in 2001. The meeting was also attended by county Greenspace program officials. Park and preservation ideas fell flat because the property was not for sale, and still isn’t. But must a property be purchased to dedicate a historic landmark?

The county’s greenspace funding limitations may moot the question within another year. The chief of the county’s Greenspace office, Tina Arbes, estimates that there may be 300 or more properties that the county government would preserve, if the funds existed. “We have purchased 66 individual properties which make up 25 projects and expect to purchase 75 more properties (which include those which county commissioners have requested action),”says Arbes. There are only $18.6 million remaining from bond funds for “new” properties. The county has also successfully negotiated property donations valued at $3.8 million and the county also assembles funds from the Blank Foundation and the Georgia Greenspace Fund.

Neighbor Scott Grosse lives within a few hundred yards of the mill location on Henderson Mill creek. He says, “I’ve always liked the idea that people could have a park within a ten minute walk of their homes.” Although the land is not for sale, Grosse suggests that limited public access to the mill location might be possible, even if homes are developed in the future. “Some kind of public/private arrangement might work if county funds aren’t available—the whole property may not need to be preserved.”


Getting Involved With Greenspace
Honey Vandercreek is Commissioner Elaine Boyer’s appointee to the Citizens Advisory Commission for the Parks Bond Fund. She says she got involved to ensure that taxpayer funds were well managed—and says that they are, under quite hectic circumstances. She wanted everyone to know that the Advisory Commission’s meetings are open to the public. They are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month in the Maloof Center on Commerce Drive in Decatur.

Next meeting: January 13, 5:30 PM