Legends and Lore…What Do You Know

About the History of Gwinnett County?

George Bagwell

Gwinnett Tourism Awareness ProgramMay 10, 2012

QUESTION:

Where would Scarlett O’Hara have attended

elementary school, if she were alive

today?

HINT:

It is in Gwinnett County….NOT….in Clayton County!

ANSWER:

Anderson-Livsey Elementary School

See clipping in scrapbook

“They overlap enough to convince me that the

foundations, at least, are true. You know how quickly rumors change. Word of mouth can distort truth in a very short

space of time. But that does not change the essence of the

story.”

Four Step Test for Credibility

Who

…is the author.

What …is their authority.

Where

…is the source.

When

…did this originate.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1415

16

17

18

20

21

2223

24

25

26

27

28

Q.E.D.

19

1. Along what geographical

feature are 17 Gwinnett schools

built?

HINT: Creekland MS, Dacula ES,

Mill Creek HS, Osborne MS, Duncan Creek ES, Ft. Daniel

ES, Freeman’s Mill ES, Collins Hill HS, Peachtree

Ridge HS, Parsons ES, Hull MS, Duluth MS, Norcross HS,

Peachtree ES, Monarch School, Ivy Creek ES, Jones

MS

ANSWER: The Eastern Continental

Divide…running from Fort Daniel to

Fort Standing Pitchtree

2. What is the connection

between Shiloh HS and Gone With the

Wind?

HINT: Think of the

Promised Land

ANOTHER HINT: Think of Thomas

McQuire

See clipping in scrapbook

ANSWER: Shiloh was the first

stop for the Hebrews, in 1200

B.C., in their Promised Land.

Margaret Mitchell frequently visited the Promised Land

plantation.

3. How did Rockbridge ES earn

its name?

HINT: There is also a

Rockbridge ES in DeKalb County.

ANSWER: At the border

between Gwinnett and DeKalb, in the summertime, there once was a natural rock ford across the

Yellow River.

4. Where was Hull ELEMENTARY

located ?

HINT: Named after

Richard Hull, as in Hull Middle School.

ANSWER: Hull Elementary School

was a six room school for African-American

students located in western Gwinnett…prior to integration in 1966. It was located on the Hill in

Duluth.

5.

HINT:

ANSWER:

6.

HINT:

ANSWER:

7. How close did GCPS come to

being the home school district for

the capital of Georgia?

HINT: Railroad Survey of

1835

ANSWER: A site near the

Atlanta Athletic Club was a finalist in the Railroad Survey of 1835 to determine the terminus of the

railroad from Chattanooga.

8.

HINT: The Creek Indians

didn’t like the Cherokee Indians.

ANSWER:

9. Why was there no East Gwinnett

HS opened in 1958-59?

HINT: Dacula is in East

Gwinnett…

ANSWER: …and was

supposed to be included in the

attendance zone for Central

Gwinnett. The community took

legal action to stop this.

10. What could have Collins Hill HS

been named?

HINT: Another school now

has this name.

ANSWER: Peachtree Ridge HS would have been a

good name. Collins’ Hill is a

part of the Peachtree Ridge.

11. Prior to desegregation (in 1966), where did African-American

high school students attend

school in Gwinnett?

HINT: It is still a school

today.

ANSWER: Hooper-Renwick

School.

12. What was the first GCPS to win a

state athletic Championship?

HINT: The town took it’s

name from Decatur, and

Atlanta.

ANSWER: Dacula School won

boys basketball championships in

1930, 1945, and 1975. The Dacula girls won

a basketball championship in

1954.

See clipping in scrapbook

14. What was the major obstacle in

Duluth to the 1937 school

consolidation?

HINT: Cotton was king!

ANSWER: Duluth did not want their tax dollars used to fund education in the poorer sections of Gwinnett in those days…Snellville in

particular! (The Chairman of the Duluth Board’s name

was….)

15. Who shot the school

superintendent in the early 1900s?

HINT: Another school superintendent.

ANSWER: The Lawrenceville

School Superintendent

shot J.A. Bagwell, the Gwinnett

School Superintendent.

16. Near which school was Barbara Jane Mackle buried

alive in 1969?

HINT: She was buried

alive in a box and kept alive for

ransom.

ANSWER: Berkeley Lake ES,

in 1968.

See clipping in scrapbook

17. During one year in the 1990s, which school was located in the city with the highest

per capita income in the WORLD?

HINT: They all had lake

front homes.

ANSWER: The City of

Berkeley Lake was a retirement community.

18. What is the basic geologic structure near

Chesney ES (near Gwinnett Place

Mall)?

HINT: Could their mascot be the Sand Crabs?

ANSWER: The “valley” was a

huge sand pit.

19. Which two Bond Referendums failed? For what

reasons?

HINT: Football was not

king!

ANSWER: A referendum in the 1970s would have

purchased the land where Gwinnett Place Mall is located…for a

community stadium….and in 1990…because of…

20. Why is Buford an independent school district?

HINT: Lawrenceville City was also until the

1940s.

ANSWER: These two cities represented the

militia districts in Gwinnett…two in

one county is a no-no.

21. How were several school buildings built

between the World Wars?

HINT: FDR to the rescue…

a Democrat!

ANSWER: The Works Program

Administration (WPA) built at least Bethesda School, and Duluth School (replaced in 1970.)

22. What “unusual” event

occurred in the fall of 1953, at two

schools, at least?

ANSWER: Someone shot a

16mm color film at Duluth School (Nov. 4,

1953) and possibly Sugar Hill, Suwanee,

Grayson and/or Harmony Schools.

24. What is donkey basketball?

HINT: Not quite as good

as selling ice creams.

ANSWER: Participants played

basketball while astride, and riding,

donkeys. It was used as a fund

raiser in the 1960s.

25. How is the geology of the land around McConnell MS related to that

of the State of Maine?

HINT: Don’t take this

question for granite!

ANSWER: A geological

“thread” of granite runs along the

Appalachians to the state of Maine…Stone Mountain

included.

26. What is the “real” name for

Peachtree Elementary School?

HINT: The answer lies in Bolton, Georgia…and in Question #

1.

ANSWER: Pitchtree

Elementary School. Named after a fort that stood at the confluence of the Chattahoochee

River, and Pitchtree Creek.

27. Why are there several “mills” in

the area?

HINT: Freeman’s Mill,

east of the Alcovy; Woodard’s Mill on

Ivy Creek; the Dutch Mill in

Duluth.

ANSWER: A natural “fall” line occurs in this area…associated with the Eastern Continental

Divide…and earthquakes. Water wheels in grist mills work best near a

water fall.

28. Should Creekland MS be

grouped in the Mill Creek Cluster?

HINT: Think Native

Americans, not water.

ANSWER: A Creek Indian

village was located “dangerously”

close to the national boundary with the Cherokee

Indians.

Download this presentation at

www.georgebagwell.org/History.htm

Legends and Lore…