You Might Be From Snellville If...

The other day Cece Landress, originally from Snellville and a South Gwinnett graduate, sent me a link to the "You know you're from Snellville if..." Facebook page. I have been on the site and have enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Old Teaching Days

Cece and I taught at Parkview for years.  The “kids” who are writing about their experiences growing up in Lilburn made me laugh.  I remember some of the escapades those varmints got into.  I had a few parent conferences on some those adventures through the years.  And, those kids are now parents who would have a stroke if they knew their children were doing the same things they did.

The Snellville account probably hits closer to home.  My husband Snell taught, coached and was a counselor at South Gwinnett High School for 34 years.  He was born in the granite house next to the Snellville Methodist Church. He attended Snellville School, also called the old Rock School House when it was the only school in Snellville, Lilburn, Possum Corners (Lake Lucerne for you newcomers), Lithonia and the Promised Land.  Snellville’s district went from DeKalb to Rockdale to Walton counties and to the city limits of Lawrenceville.  

One Street Light

Snell and Coach John Sawyer are old and close friends. There are stories I would like to share, but I know there would be terrible repercussions.  Snell, Clark Britt, Emmett Clower, WH Britt, Glyndia Bankston Norton, Barbara Hewatt Rawlins, Sonny Partee, Tommy Briscoe, Huellen Briscoe Connolly, Charles Nash and so many more grew up when Highway 124 was a dirt road.  Those were the days before there was a red light in town.  They remember when the light was installed at the intersection of 78 and 124.  You only had to say “the red light” in your directions because it was the ONLY light. 

There were no street lights so one had to walk home from school events and visiting friends in the pitch dark. Pitch dark is DARK! Snell’s cousin, Sonny (Henry) Partee beat the devil out of a street sign because he did not know who or what it was that was after him.  Snell and his cousins, Richard, Earle, and Ferle would get inside of old tires and roll down the hill between the pine trees behind what is now Hardee's.  The only plumbing at the school was the “three holers’ out back. 

Popular Digs

Snell grew up in the white house where the Heritage shopping center is now. In the summer the kids went to school barefoot and everyone wore overalls.  In the winter, the children were rotated in the classroom so each would get a chance to sit by the wood burning stove. Emmett Clower, his brothers and Clark (AKA Clarky) Britt, whose daddy was principal,  Snell, his cousins and friends all played on the school grounds, in the Oak Grove (Snellville Plaza) and at the old canning plant (Bruster’s Ice Cream).  They jumped out of second story barn lofts into piles of who knows what.  (I’ve heard, I don’t want to believe it.)

They tell stories about their first hair cuts in the general store.  You had to wait your turn while sitting on a sack of feed or a nail keg.  People bartered eggs for flour.  There were only four phones in Snellville and one party line.  You had to know your ring (two longs, one short) to know if the call was for you. And anyone could listen in on the line.

These people still laugh about being warned over and over again if Doc Williams or Tom Wages were driving through town get WAY off the road.  “Digger” Wages was one of the undertakers in the county and drove a hearse.  What ever medical emergency, life or death, Tom was called.  Either man would run over you, it didn’t matter if it was an emergency.  Both believed they owned the road and good piece of land on each side of it.

Aubrey Peters service station and the were popular places.  There were Sawyer’s and Snell’s old stores, the Masonic Lodge and a lot of freedom. 

Sense of Community

If you got in trouble at someone’s house, you got spanked and sent home where your parents spanked you again.  Trouble at school?  Your Mama knew about before you got home.  Whatever punishment you got at school was nothing to what you got at home.

These people talk about their first jobs bailing hay for Troy Thompson, principal of the old rock and W.C. Britt Elementary Schools.  They worked for E.R. Snell construction or Ford Motor Company. They learned to drive on Highway 78—without fear.  Sam Ketchum was the one and only policeman. 

They have stories about Jack Britt and the All-Star, the first and only restaurant in town.  The All-Star always got its power back on fast in an ice storm.  It was great if you lived on Wisteria or that section of 78 because you were the first to get power.  All of the road crews had to have a place to rendezvous and eat.  The All-Star opened as soon as power was restored and stayed open until the crews stopped working, some days open for days. 

South’s Coach Jack Britt could tell a thousand stories.  If you want to have a good time and hear some hair-raisin’ yarns, sit with Jack, John Sawyer, Bobby Johnson and Snell.  These were your teachers, your role models. Y’all, I have learned a lot, but if I told you all I knew, they’d have to kill me.

Snell has enjoyed looking at the “You know you're from Snellville if...” Facebook page. Some comments are from his former students and many are from has classmates. He can add to many of those stories.  Not all of the truth is told, for the betterment of mankind and the statute of limitations.

If you get a chance, also check out the “You might be from Snellville if...,” which is also on Facebook and similar to "You know you're from Snellville if..." Reminisce, laugh and be glad your teachers won’t tell on you. 

For more information and pictures on old Snellville, visit the Snellville Historical Society, located at City Hall, or send your questions to snellvillehistorical@gmail.com.