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CHAPTER 13 1835 HITEHALL STREET in Atlanta, like its opposite number, Peachtree, in the downtown section, received its name from a settlement or landmark , in existence years before Atlanta itself came into being. Whitehall , in its heyday was a tavern, stage coach stop, post office and election precinct. The chief business section of West End, at Lee and Gordon streets, is its lineal descendant. Founder of this pioneer locality and proprietor of the "White Hall Tavern" or "White Hall House," was Charner Humphries, born November 11, 1795, in Chester District, South Carolina.1 He was married to Mary Darby of the same District in 1818.2 Charner came to De Kalb County with his family in the early 1830's and settled on a tributary of South River, upon a knoll just east of the present Perkerson Road and a short distance north of where that road now enters Stewart Avenue in Land Lot 92 of the 14th District of now Fulton County.3 After farming at this location for a few years, Humphries obtained Land Lot No. 108 of the 14th District at a sheriff's sale on March 3, 1835, it having formerly been the property of Jesse Childress.4 Present boundaries of this Land Lot are: North, Greensferry Avenue, S.W.; South, Glenn and Gordon streets, S.W.; East, a southern prolongation of Stewart Avenue, and West by Ashby Street, S.W. The fact that this land lot, in 1835, was the site of an important road junction and stage coach route was not lost upon Mr. Humphries. He immediately moved up from Lot 92 and erected a tavern and small general store at the junction of the Sandtown and Newnan roads. The former is now Gordon Street; the latter Lee Street.5 The road to Decatur and Lawrenceville branched from Sandtown Road and followed the present course of Lee Street from Gordon to Park Street and thence along Peters Street, which was the original Whitehall Road.6 The tavern was of frame construction—two stories in height and covered by weatherboarding. It was whitewashed or painted white, probably the former, and is said to have been the first white house in the county—hence its name. It contained eight rooms; four downstairs and four upstairs. On each floor a generous width of hallway divided front and rear rooms from corresponding front and rear rooms, and the usual stairway and stairwell partly occupied the hall space. This made the front of the structure of greater dimensions than its depth. The front was at least sixty feet long. The roof was of the ordinary gable variety. A porch of two levels extended along the front, with columns and railings, and all front rooms—above and below—opened by doorways on the porch. At the rear of the two-story portion was a room with a shed roof, probably the dining room. Two large chimneys graced the main structure—not at the ends, but so arranged as to permit placement of fireplaces in front and rear rooms. The kitchen, as was usual, was a separate and one-story structure in the rear yard, a short distance from the dining room. A fence of horizontal plank enclosed the tavern yard. This was primarily for the purpose of keeping stray livestock on the outside. To obviate the nuisance of an unclosed entrance gate, this feature was non-existent; one Atlanta—Vol. 1-9 w 130 ATLANTA AND ITS ENVIRONS entered the yard by way of a stile, the steps crudely but effectively formed by sawed sections of large tree trunks in ascending and descending sequence of height. Several large trees stood in the yard. The well was next to and inside the front fence—the curb covered by the traditional roof. A watering trough was just outside the fence, so that water was easily transferred from the well bucket, which operated by the usual windlass . A horse rack extended along the roadside. South of the house, 150 yards or so, was the stable, adjacent to and facing the Sandtown Road. The stable yard, or horse-lot, was enclosed by a rail fence which joined the plank fence on the road frontage. It was of sufficient size to accommodate many horses. Across the road from the house was Charner's store, a nondescript shed or shack in which he kept for sale the usual and general run of merchandise, including wet goods, in demand by the people of a pioneer community. A...

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