Tour of the Historic Warsaw School
Led by Mark Burkhalter

Tuesday, December 4th
1:30pm
Warsaw School Building in Johns Creek
Meet on the west side of the building at the main entrance.

There will be no meeting in December. Instead, we will take a daytime tour of one of Johns Creek's historic structures. This is a wonderful chance to learn about the building and hear memories of attending the school when this area was still rural.

The school is located near the corner of State Bridge Road and Medlock Bridge Road, next to Pikes Nursery. Park in the school parking lot or along Old Medlock Bridge Road (the road that runs between the school and Pikes Nursery).

Thanks to all who attended the Veterans Day
Program in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day

The program on November 11th was the first event by the N. Fulton Historical Alliance. The Alpharetta, Roswell, and Johns Creek Historical Societies organized the event to commemorate Veteran's Day with an observance of the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice of World War I.

The Alpharetta History Room was open before and after the program and there was an exhibit of WWI artifacts and photos of WWI service members related to local residents.

The program included comments by Veteran Roger Wise, Presentation of the Colors by the Johns Creek Veterans Association Color Guard, and a history narrative by Martine Broadwell. The featured speaker, Michael Hitt, related two fascinating stories of WWI with a local focus.

Our thanks to the City of Alpharetta for the use of their City Hall for the event.

Story of WWI Heroes Finally Awarded the Medal of Honor

For the 100th Anniversary of the end of WWI, here is a story of two veterans of World War I posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Their heroism had been ignored for almost 100 years due to their race and religion. See the YouTube video of this story told on the CBS Evening News in 2015.

We had a busy two days meeting and talking history with visitors at the Johns Creek Arts Festival October 20th and 21st!

We hope all enjoyed learning a bit about the Johns Creek area in the 1800s, playing with toys from the past, and making pinwheels.

Jan Bell Webster and Charlie Boyd

A great turnout of more than 60 attended our October 3rd program. We hope all who attended enjoyed the evening!

This program featured Jan Bell Webster and Charlie Boyd in conversation about the history of the McGinnis Ferry Road and Shakerag area. Both descendants of the area's early settlers, Jan and Charlie talked about local history and related fun stories of growing up country kids when roads were still dirt and gravel (including McGinnis Ferry Road).

Audience members were asked to add to the conversation with questions and comments. Thanks to Beverly Thompson and Jean Miller, who grew up on the Taylor farm, and Richard McMahan, owner of an historic Rogers house, for adding to the program with their knowledge of Shakerag history.

Just a few topics covered - stories of the river out and extent of flooding, dusty roads, verandas, going without shoes starting May 1, pumping gas, chickens dead and plumb dead, Moma Grace, Polly Taylor's green thumb, Findley cows crossing 141, loss of the Strickland house, near loss of the Cynthia Rogers Lowe house, and much more!

Special thanks to Reverend Dr. Kwan-Hae Chi for graciously allowing use of his church as a meeting location. Now the House of Self Discovery (HSD Mustard Seed Church), the building is known in the community as the historic Mt. Zion Church.

Thanks Shady Grove Church and Linda Swafford for organizing this event!

On Saturday, August 25th, six members of the Johns Creek Historical Society met with Shady Grove Church members and other long-time residents of Shakerag to hear old memories of life in the community and scan photos and documents they brought to share.

The scanned items will be stored in our digital archives as part of the record of Shakerag history. Scanned photos include:

• a photo of Warsaw Academy students and teachers in the early 1900s,
• a photo of Albert Matthew Bell (he was the boy who witnessed the 1864 Civil War skirmish along Bell Road),

Read more and view some photos of the event

Please contact us at info@johnscreek history.org if you have memories, photos, documents, or objects from the Johns Creek area's past or if you would like to help us research and capture local history.

Johns Creek Historical Society begins capturing oral histories with help from the City of Johns Creek

As part of its mission to preserve and promote local history, the Johns Creek Historical Society has started a project to collect recorded memories and family stories of this area's past.

We've made a test run of the process by interviewing Judy Webb, a long-time resident with deep family roots in the area, who is known for her community activism and knowledge of local history.

We're compiling a list for the next set of interviews. Let us know if you are a descendant of the early farm families of this area or are a long-time resident with memories of the area when it was still a rural farming community.
Please contact us.

The oral histories collected will be retained in the Johns Creek Historical Society's archives for research, education, and promotion of local history.

Our thanks to the City of Johns Creek Communications Department for videotaping and editing the oral history interviews.