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The Family Behind the Street Sign- Neely Farm, Part Two
The Neely Farm name provides a glimpse into its rich history. It was the country retreat and dairy farm from the 1930s to the early 1970s in what was then Norcross, where Frank Neely — a Southern-raised Renaissance man, Georgia Tech graduate, mechanical engineer and Rich’s Department store executive — delved into scientific agriculture in his spare time.
Neely purchased the land in the early 1930s from different owners, piecing it together into a 410-acre tract. “We don’t know whether they sold their land in order to feed their families in the Depression, which very well could’ve been the case,” Eve Hoffman speculated.
Hoffman is a local poet and author, the daughter of Neely’s only child, the late Rachel Neely Parker. While Hoffman resides on property adjacent to the subdivision, deeded to her by her grandfather, her two brothers who also own land in the area live elsewhere.
“We know that he was extremely busy downtown. At some point, he thought about trying to find some land about 20 miles out, where he could go on the weekends. But he never did anything part way,” Hoffman said. “What my brothers and I have really come to appreciate in the last 10 years is how forward thinking he was.”
Hoffman has been learning more about her illustrious grandfather through her own research. “He was chairman of the bond commission that created the viaducts downtown. He was chairman of the commission that built the new city hall. He was Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board for the Southeast, where he instituted the notion of the kind of record keeping and statistics that has been picked up around the country. He was into computers when none of us had ever heard of them,” Hoffman said, rattling off some of her grandfather’s accomplishments.
He was talking about running nuclear power from Tech to Piedmont hospital for nuclear medicine, she noted. Georgia Tech even named their nuclear reactor after him; it was shut down in 1988.
“He wrote a book called “The Manager, a Human Engineer,” Hoffman said. “He created the phrase, ‘The customer is always right’ — and [Rich’s] instituted it. The stories are legendary. People would buy a set of dishes, have a dinner party and then bring all the dishes back. Rich’s never questioned it.”
She shared a story that during the Depression, schools in Atlanta didn’t have money to pay teachers. “They gave them scrip. Rich’s said, ‘Bring the scrip here and we’ll cash it. You don’t have to buy anything.’ The goodwill from that lasted well into the ‘50s and ‘60s.”
Neely also helped found public radio in Atlanta. He worked on the design of I-285 and was instrumental in bringing Lockheed Martin to Atlanta.
“He was extraordinary in a lot of ways,” Hoffman said. His interest in scientific farming led to the genesis of the Neely farm, which would eventually become the idyllic, suburban neighborhood we enjoy today.
Memories of grandad
“We called him Mimi,” she remembered. “He taught us our first swear word. He was a passionate GA Tech alum.”
Hoffman recalled once accompanying her grandfather on a Jeep ride to check on Mr. Duncan’s “corn crop” in the Spalding Corners area. Neely picked up some corn whiskey that day — Duncan was reputed to have the best. He would smuggle his supply on the creek that went through his property, came down through Neely Farm, onto the Chattahoochee and got off in Fulton County. The revenuers were never able to catch him.
“I have one flat whiskey bottle. It would probably kill you if you drank it now, but I will not let it go,” she chuckled.
The stuff of legends
Hoffman grew up in the circa-1850 two-story, white clapboard house on the farm that had been spared by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War. It’s the oldest home in Neely Farm. Scrawled above the door in her old bedroom is the message: “Eve slept here.”
A legend surrounds the reason this home was not burned down by Sherman’s men. “I heard it growing up from different families, so I think there’s a lot of truth to it,” Hoffman recounted. “The men had all gone off to war. Sherman’s men were camped across the river. They would come across, and this was how they fed themselves; they stole chickens and hams.”
Tired of having their food sources stolen, the women fired a buckshot at the Union soldiers. A message was sent by the commanding officer, “Stop shooting my men!” The woman who lived there at the time — her last name was Nesbit — hooked her horse and buggy up, crossed the river at Holcomb Bridge and went to see the commanding officer.
“She went in his tent and visited for a long time. She was seen occasionally visiting again. No more chickens and hams were stolen,” Hoffman said. We both erupted into laughter and chalked it up to Nesbit’s courage, charm and diplomatic abilities.
Welcome to the farm
Neely and his wife, Rae, lived downtown and spent the weekends on the farm. “He would spend a good chunk of the weekend working with the farm people,” Hoffman said. “Every weekend, he covered every inch of this property. He was very scientific about it. He knew where every tree had gone down, where every fence needed to be painted and where every bull was. He knew it all.”
Neely was interested in agriculture as a means of rebuilding the impoverished South. His award-winning farm, a mixture of cultivated fields and open pastures, was one of the last two dairy farms in metro Atlanta.
“When the power went out due to storms, Neely Farm would be the first place in the county that Georgia Power would get back online — we had a 500-gallon tank of milk! Along Frank Neely Road, those trees would go down. They would come through with chainsaws, get that road cleared and those lines back up,” Hoffman said.
Neely aimed to preserve the land and make it better. “He worked with the agriculture people at the University of Georgia who told him to terrace the hills to cut down on runoff and erosion, and to get cattle, because cattle would naturally fertilize the fields,” she explained.
“The Neelys were never hungry, even during the Depression. But my grandmother had no fancy jewelry, no sign of wealth,” she added. “The wealth really went into buying a tractor or building a silo.”
The architect for the big house (now the clubhouse) was Henry Toombs. He designed part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s extra house in New York and the Little White House in Warm Springs. “Eleanor Roosevelt came here at one point to see what Neely was doing in agriculture. I have a page of her diary about coming out here, in a photograph,” Hoffman said.
The magnificent Mrs. Neely
Hoffman remembers that her grandmother, Rae, had magnificent gardens around the big house, and saw the farm as a way for her husband Frank to catch his breath. “She was an extraordinary woman. I always thought of my grandmother as protecting my grandfather. I didn’t realize how many other things she was doing,” Hoffman admitted.
Rae reworked the statistics office for the Superintendent of the Georgia Board of Education and was Secretary of the Georgia Women’s Suffrage movement. “She was president of a gazillion different things: garden clubs, community clubs and the Council of Jewish Women,” Hoffman said.
“I found articles she wrote about Women’s Suffrage, one published in the Atlanta paper. She said that women’s suffrage wasn’t just about women having the vote, it was about improving the lives of families, children, pregnant women and addressing hunger.”
Hoffman’s mother, Rachel, went to Smith College, which was the equivalent of an Ivy League school for women. “I went to Smith; my daughter went to Smith. It started with Rae Neely who read about Smith College in the paper,” Hoffman said.
Selling the farm
“Selling the farm was hard,” she confessed. “Frank Neely was gone by the time we sold the land. My mother ran it for a while; she was a massive stroke patient for 13 years. My brothers were in other cities. We were the only ones here, my husband and I, and our kids.”
Once the decision was made to sell it, Hoffman said there were all kinds of proposals. “When you have different people, their lawyers and accountants — I can tell you my husband [Howard Hoffman] was a genius.”
She continued to live here, so she experienced firsthand the conversion of her beloved family farm from a rural to a suburban setting. “It was hard to see the place go — really hard when the bulldozers started cutting in,” she said.
In her story, “Walking with Frank,” Hoffman suggests she felt her grandfather’s presence on her property. “I do believe there’s some kind of energy out there. I was walking down that hill and he was with me. He was there,” Hoffman affirmed.
To learn more about Eve Hoffman, find her latest book, “Memory & Complicity,” at amazon.com and mercerceruniversitypress.com.
What’s in a Name?
According to Eve Hoffman, the street names proposed by the developer were multi-syllabic, North American Indian names that bore little relationship to this part of the country. Instead, she and her family suggested they choose names that were meaningful to them. That’s why I personally live on Rachel Ridge — the street named after her mother — and not on Hiawassee Drive.
On Friday, May 10, 2024, the City of Peachtree Corners held a ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony of its new space-themed Tot Lot Playground on Town Green.
Last November, the city began constructing a new tot lot playground for children under six years old that is themed around space exploration. This new play area includes a rocket ship, a moon rover, a crashed UFO and other fun designs. It was also created to be fully accessible, ensuring all children can enjoy it.
During the ribbon-cutting, children and their guardians enjoyed fun activities, including an ice cream truck, bubble lady, balloon animals, face painting and even a visit from Buzz Lightyear.
When Peachtree Corners City Councilman Alex Wright last had a dog, he was only a kid.
Young Alex was devastated when he died and did not want to get another dog because he did not want to endure that trauma again.
As a result, his family has never had a dog, and even though the two youngest of his four children badgered him and his wife endlessly, they always said no.
Then COVID-19 hit. The Wrights’ youngest son, Michael, was committed to convincing his parents to get a dog. He even did a PowerPoint presentation (with music) explaining why he absolutely needed a dog.
“I guess it was from being cooped up during Covid that my wife suggested maybe we should give in. Next thing I know we tell the kids we are going to get a dog,” Councilman Wright wrote in an email.
So, in June 2021, they got their first dog, Murphy, an Australian Labradoodle.
“All of a sudden, we discover this whole dog subculture that we had not really paid attention to before. All the things dogs liked to do, all the stuff you could buy them, all the people we met through walking the dog,” he explained.
In February, Wright and his wife were at Avalon returning a purchase when they came upon a modest-sized dog park. Wright’s wife suggested having something like that at Town Green would be great.
Dog Park Ribbon Cutting photos by George Hunter
“Later that day, I texted the City Manager [Brian Johnson] about the idea, and he really liked it. At the time, the playground (the one that opened in August 2022) was under construction, and we were already discussing other ideas to create activation at the Town Center, so this fit right into that plan,” said Wright.
The assistant City Manager, Seth Yurman, was tasked with the nuts and bolts and worked with a contractor on location and design.
“Can’t say enough about what a great job Seth did. We have definitely had some supply chain delays, which resulted in an opening maybe 9 to 12 months later than originally hoped for, but it is finally open,” he added.
Dog Park Ribbon Cutting photos by George Hunter
A couple more things are still left to do for the project, including installing a large sail cover over the stone entrance area. Construction of the Bone Bar is also on the agenda. This small bar will serve adult and non-adult beverages and likely…you guessed it? Treats for dogs.
The new dog park is situated behind the CineBistro building near the Town Green. The Peachtree Corners Off-Leash Dog Park is approximately 9,000 square feet and is divided into sections for smaller and larger dogs, with natural and artificial turf areas.
Dog Park Ribbon Cutting photos by George Hunter
PTC Dog Park Rules
- The dog park is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- The dog park is CLOSED for maintenance every Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
- Use of the dog park is at your own risk. You are responsible for your dog and any injuries or damage caused by your dog.
- All children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
- All dogs must wear a collar with a valid license and have current vaccinations required by law.
- Please call 911 for all emergencies.
- The small dog area is for dogs 30 pounds and under. Dogs over 30 pounds must use the large dog area.
- Dogs must stay on a leash until they are in the fenced-in areas of the dog park and must be off-leash while in the dog park.
- Professional dog trainers may not use the dog park to conduct business.
- No person shall bring more than three dogs at one time.
- Please dispose of your dog’s waste in the receptacles provided. Remind others to do the same.
- Dogs must always be under the control and supervision of their handler.
- If your dog becomes aggressive, please leash the dog and exit the park immediately.
- Gates must be closed after entrance and exit.
- Dogs under six months old and female dogs in heat are not permitted.
- Food (human and dog) and glass containers are not permitted, as are smoking, vaping and drug use.
- Cats and other animals are not permitted.
- Bikes, scooters, skateboards and motorized equipment are not permitted.
- Violation of these rules may result in a ban from the dog park.
To honor and remember Debbie Mason, the first and only first lady of Peachtree Corners, who passed away after a long battle with cancer, a memorial park is being built.
A Peachtree Corners Arts Council subcommittee was formed to plan, develop and execute the park. Debbie Mason Memorial Park committee members include Lynette Howard, Robyn Unger, Bob Ballagh, Dave Huffman, Gay Shook, Sarah Roberts and Pat Bruschini.
“Lynette Howard led us in some brainstorming and creative sessions about what the garden should look like,” said Bruschini. “We had pictures of her backyard. Some of us had been to her backyard. It took a couple of months until we got a handle and feel for what we wanted the garden to be and what we thought [Mason] would want.”
One unique feature will be a Yorkie statue, Mason’s favorite dog, perched on top of a coffee table-like boulder encircled by granite benches. The brochure for the fundraising campaign will feature a photo of Mason and her beloved pet.
After looking at a few possible locations, a tract of land near the city’s botanical garden was chosen.
“The area where the park is going had been semi-developed,” said Buschini. “If you’re standing on the sidewalk with your back to the new dog park or your back to Cinebistro, you’ll see a granite semi-circle wall and steps that come down from Peachtree Corners Circle. We are enhancing that area.”
Everyone involved wanted the park to be near Town Center and accessible to everyone. So, an offshoot of the botanical garden, a property owned by the Downtown Development Authority, made the most sense, Bruschini added.
The park will be connected to Town Center with one entrance off Peachtree Corners Circle across from Davini Court.
“We have a complete plot plan designed by a landscape architect from Pike Nursery. Jennifer Freeman, a Duluth mosaic artist, created a mosaic design of the city logo,” said Bruschini.
The Debbie Mason Memorial Garden will be the city’s first park. Although there are other parks within city limits, this is the only one that will be owned and maintained by the city.
To improve its access, the city is working with the Solis Apartment Complex being built nearby.
The plan is to have an extensive sidewalk connecting to the park. Construction of the park is underway and plant material will go in this fall. There will be a ribbon cutting and dedication shortly after that.
But for now, the committee wants everyone to know that it’s coming and contributions are welcome. Find the wish list for the Debbie Mason Memorial Garden at the end of this article.
The memorial is fitting because Mason really was Peachtree Corners, said Bruschini.
“She was a volunteer extraordinaire,” she said. I met her on the board of the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association, and she headed up the Peachtree Parkway Improvement Project for six years. That’s where she would contact all the businesses along 141 and ask them to make a contribution so that the median strip could be maintained.”
Mason also co-founded the beloved Peachtree Corners Festival alongside Dave Huffman.
In 2008, there was a tour of homes in Peachtree Corners, and the funds raised went to solar lights to light up the sign going into Peachtree Corners. Mason was front and center with that. But she always had time for family, Bruschini said.
“Her son Nick was in drama at Norcross High School, and she was very involved in that. And she worked with the taste of Norcross High School going back, I’ll say, 20 years maybe,” she said.
“She and Mike started the Fox Hill Homeowners Association and she worked with the Peachtree Corners Yes campaign and served on the board of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful as well as the City Arts Council and also the first City Green committee. This is fitting because she always wanted to make memories in Peachtree Corners,” she explained.
Garden Sponsorship Items
- Mosaic Logo – $10,000
- Mosaic River – (3) $5,000 each
- Bronze Plaque – $3,000
- Arbor – (3) $1,000 each
- Japanese Maple – $800
- Flowerpots full of color – (3) $500 each
- Dogwoods (3) $500 each
- Tea Olives – (6) $400 each
- Yorkie Dog Statue – $300
- Azalea/Hydrangeas (40) – $60 each
Garden Sponsorship Levels
- $1000: Platinum
- $500: Gold
- $250: Silver
- $100: Bronze
- $50: Friends of the Garden
Ways to Donate
Checks are preferred and are payable to:
Peachtree Corners Arts, Inc. Attn: DMMC
PO Box 922469
Peachtree Corners, GA 30092
PTCArts.org/donate
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