Linda and David Chesnut, along with their daughter Caroline, lived at Donaldson-Bannister Farm from 1975 until 2006. They were the last family to live there, and many people still recall the horses and donkeys the family kept in the fields at the corner of Chamblee Dunwoody Road and Vermack Road.
David Chesnut’s family has a long history in DeKalb County.
“Our family-owned land on both sides of Chamblee Tucker Road all the way from about 300 yards west of I-85 to over where Embry Hills is located,” according to Chesnut. “I used to ride mules and plow corn and sweet potatoes on my granddaddy’s farm right in the middle of what is now I-85.”
The Chesnut farmhouse was demolished and replaced with a Denny’s Restaurant after the construction of the interstate.
A road named for the family and farm remains in the area, but with the incorrect spelling of Chestnut. Chestnut Drive extends from Buford Highway to just west of I-85. (Atlanta Constitution, Feb. 15, 1987, “From slow to rapid transit, MARTA Chairman David Chesnut maintains his family’s pioneer spirit”)
Chesnut Elementary School in Dunwoody is named for members of the family. David Chesnut’s grandfather was on the DeKalb County School Board, and another family member, James Chesnut, also served on the School Board. David Chesnut’s mother, Mary Smith Chesnut, formed the DeKalb PTA Council after she began teaching home economics at Chamblee High School. She helped get the school lunch program started. School lunch programs became crucial during the Great Depression.
Many in the community wanted to name the school after teacher M.E. Smith of Chamblee High School, but David Chesnut recalls that schools were never named for a living person at the time.
David was born in Chamblee in 1938 to Mary Smith and John Harvey Chesnut. The family lived at the corner of…
Read the full article here
