Susan Kessler Barnard

Buckhead Susan Kessler Barnard

Buckhead, a community four miles from downtown Atlanta, began approximately 6,000 years ago when the Paleo-Indians lived along the Chattahoochee River. By the mid-1700s, the Muscogee (Creek) Indians lived there in the village of Standing Peach Tree. They ceded a major portion of their land to Georgia in 1821, and from that cession came Atlanta and Buckhead. Settlers arrived and operated river ferries, mills, and farms. When Henry Irby opened a tavern in 1838 and hung a buck's head--either over the door or on a yard post--the area became known as Buck's Head. After the Civil War, black neighborhoods, schools, and potteries were established. Around the turn of the century, some Atlanta residents bought land in Buckhead, built cottages, and operated small farms. The streetcar was extended to Buckhead in 1907, and friends followed friends to the community. Images of America: Buckhead is an album of this once quiet rural community before it was annexed to the City of Atlanta in 1952.