Where’s the oldest house on Peachtree?
There are a few old residential structures left on Peachtree, says Don Rooney of the Atlanta History Center. “But the Solomon Goodwin house is the oldest.” Just north of Colonial Drive in Brookhaven, the white clapboard house sits as it has for almost 180 years, tucked back from an old wagon trail now called Peachtree Road. Goodwin ancestors have lived and died inside ever since it was built in 1831. On a recent afternoon, no one was home. Four rocking chairs nodded slightly in a breeze as a MARTA train screeched by less than a hundred yards away. This used to be a 600-acre farm. Homesteader Solomon’s great-great-great-great-granddaughters, the current owners, say that if you listen closely the place will speak to you. I heard a man yelling into his cell phone, and a few songbirds. Changes have indeed come to the oldest existing homestead in DeKalb County: The family cemetery plot, formerly in the front yard, recently was relocated to a Chamblee church. Most distressingly, 3931 Peachtree has been for sale for two years; the family no longer has the means to maintain the property. Call 770-889-8087 if you can afford to pay $2.95 million for some history.
Illustration by Edwin Fotheringham
Got an Atlanta question? E-mail Charles Bethea at askcharles@atlantamag.emmis.com
