Lathemtown Historic District, North and south sides of State Route 20 (Cumming Highway) between Arbor Hill Road and Della Smith Lane (north side of State Route 20) and Matt Lathem Road (south side of State Route 20), Lathemtown

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Lathemtown Historic District is located along the north and south sides of Cumming Highway/State Route 20 (SR 20) in Cherokee County, Georgia. Its bounds extend from Arbor Hill Road at the west to Della Smith Lane (north side of SR 20) and Matt Lathem Road (south side of SR 20) at the east. The rural district is located at latitude: longitude: This point was taken from the approximate center of the Lathemtown Historic District. It was obtained on September 10, using Google Earth There is no restriction on its release to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Lathemtown Historic District garners its significance as a largely intact early twentieth-century rural historic district. Its multiple commercial enterprises, residences, and church stand as representation of the agricultural community s continued growth and development during the first half of the twentieth century, which make it a unique surviving entity within the broader context of rural Cherokee County history.

1 Historian(s): Marvin Brown, M.A., Senior Architectural Historian, AECOM Sarah Potere, Architectural Historian, AECOM Report Completed October The Lathemtown Historic District (Resource was evaluated for eligibility for listing in the National Register using the National Register Criteria for Evaluation as outlined in 36 CFR Part There are no known associations with individuals whose specific contributions to history can be identified and documented with this property. No associations were indicated or suggested as a result of background research on the project area and deed research on the property, in any response to the Department's early consultation correspondence received from consulting parties, or in an interview with local residents.

Therefore, there was no basis for evaluating the property under Criterion B. Also, there are no indications that the property is likely to yield information on important research questions in history or prehistory. This property does not appear to have the potential to be the principal source of important information. Therefore, there was no basis for evaluating the property under Criterion D. The Lathemtown Historic District (Resource was evaluated under Criterion A and appears to possess a local level of significance in the areas of agriculture, religion, and commerce and community development.

The property was evaluated within the broader historical context of early century agricultural and commercial development in Cherokee County based on the construction dates and types of resources located within the district. The Lathemtown Historic District is significant in these broader contexts because the resources associated with the community clearly reflect the establishment, growth, and development of the former center- piece of Cherokee County. W.A.

Lathem s general store (spurred additional development) expresses the earliest development of the community dating back to the mule barns express the agricultural growth occurring by the the church expresses the community s desire for spiritual/religious presence, and the residences spanning from the late nineteenth to the mid-20th century express the influx of migration to the area. Therefore, because the resource possesses a majority of the character-defining features necessary to convey its significance, the Lathemtown Historic District is considered eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criterion A in the areas of agriculture, religion, and commerce and development.

The Lathemtown Historic District was also evaluated under Criterion C and appears to possess a local level of significance in the area architecture. Although some of the associated structures have been altered with modern building materials or show signs of deterioration due to neglect, the majority of the structures remain intact. In addition, because so many historic structures that date to the early-20th century development of the community are present, material alterations some have undergone does not detract from the architectural significance they possess as a group. The district contains a vast array of agricultural, commercial, residential, and religious type structures that span the time from the community s beginning to the present.

Because a 19 Edwards-Pitman, Historic Resources Survey Report, The report also includes a history, description, and photographs of the Property. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 11) majority of these resources are types of buildings considered significant in Georgia s architectural history and because together they form a cohesive unit, The Lathemtown Historic District is considered eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criterion C. Integrity: The Lathemtown Historic District (Resource has been determined to possess integrity in all seven areas including location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association.

All the resources that comprise the district are located on their original construction sites and the historic rural setting has not been compromised by any modern development. Although some of the associated resources have been altered with modern building materials, the majority of the structures remain unaltered and as such the district retains integrity of materials, and workmanship, and design. Because the resource all retains their spatial relationship with one another and because few have been lost and few modern structures added and because the area remains rural in nature, the Lathemtown Historic District (Resource retains its early century period of significance and as such retains integrity of feeling and association.

Proposed Boundary (Justification and Description): The proposed National Register boundary of the Lathemtown Historic District corresponds to an area along Highway 20 that begins at the western boarder at Arbor Hill Road and extends eastward to Della Smith Lane. The boundary includes, on the western end, the area around Orange Church Circle and on the eastern border, the area on Matt Lathem Road [and Della Smith Lane]. The historic boundary contains approximately 100 acres (see attached boundary graphic). The proposed boundary contains all National Register qualifying characteristics and features of the district and includes all the structures and natural features such as trees and other vegetation associated with the individual properties as well as with the district as a whole.

LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 12) 2. Figures Georgia GIO State Imagery September Figure 1: Lathemtown Historic District Site Map. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 13) Figure 2. Context view of Lathemtown from SR 20 looking toward Orange Church Circle. GA-2445-C and GA-2445-D in foreground. View looking southwest. (Photograph by Rob Tucher, September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 14) Figure 3. Context view of Lathemtown from SR 20 looking toward Orange Church Circle. GA-2445-C and GA-2445 in foreground. View looking southeast. (Photograph by Rob Tucher, September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 15) Figure 4. Context view of Lathemtown from SR 20 looking toward GA-2445-J. View looking northeast.

(Photograph by Rob Tucher, September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 16) Figure 5. Context view of Lathemtown from SR 20 looking toward W.A. Lathem and Sons (GA-2445-O) store. View looking east. (Photograph by Rob Tucher, September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 17) Figure 6. Context view of Lathemtown from Arbor Hill Road looking toward SR 20. GA-2445-H in foreground. View looking northeast. (Photograph by Rob Tucher, September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 18) Figure 7. Context view of Lathemtown from with GA-2445-S in foreground. View looking west. (Photograph by Rob Tucher, September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 19) Figure 8.

Bullock, Cherokee County, Georgia, (Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Digital Collection). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 20) W.A. and Zonie Lathem E. Marvin and Georgia House (demolished) B. Lathem House W.A. Lathem GA-2445-T & Sons Store GA-2445-O Bud and Zona Lathem Heard House Mule Barn GA-2445-S GA-2445-P Sam and Mae Orr Store GA-2445-R Figure 9. Lathemtown looking west along Cumming Highway, ca. Lathem Mule Barn at front right of image. (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 21) E. Marvin and Georgia W.A. and Zonie Lathem B. Lathem House House (demolished) GA-2445-T W.A.

Lathem & Sons Store GA-2445-O Sam and Mae Orr Store Bud and Zona Heard Lathem Mule GA-2445-R House GA-2445-S Barn GA-2445-P Figure 10. View of Lathemtown looking west up Cumming Highway with W.A. Lathem and Zonie Lathem House on high ground at left in distance and W.A. Lathem and Sons Store opposite, at right center. Ca. or later. (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 22) Frank and Ethel Lathem House GA-2445-M Leila Y. and Ray W. Lathem House GA-2445-N Figure 11. View looking from roof of W.A. Lathem and Sons store. Image dates between and (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 23) Leila Y. and Ray W. Lathem House GA-2445-N W.A.

Lathem & Sons Store Lathem Mule Barn GA-2445-O GA-2445-P Figure 12. View of Lathem Store, looking northeast, ca. (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 24) Figure 13. W.A. Lathem at center left and Zonie Lathem at center right surrounded by their family. (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 25) Figure 14. Lathem cotton gin, ca. (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 26) Figure 15. Joel and Bud Heard Mule Barn. Date unknown. (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). ` LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No.

GA-2445 (Page 27) Figure 16: Looking west along Cumming Highway at Lathem Mule Barn and, on the left, the W.A. Lathem and Sons Store, both of which still stand, ca. late (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women). LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 28) Figure 17. Teacher Kate Smithwick with Betty Hester, Ralph Turner, Bob West, and other Lathemtown children walking east on the Cumming Highway to Free Home School, (Image courtesy of the Orange United Methodist Women).

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is implementing plans to widen State Route 20 from two to six lanes between Scott Road (near Canton) and North Corners Parkway (near Cumming). The project corridor spans approximately miles and falls within Cherokee and Forsyth Counties. As a 1 Edwards-Pitman, Inc., Historic Resources Survey Report: GDOT Projects and Cherokee and Forsyth Counties (P.I. Nos. HP No. HP No. (Prepared for Georgia Department of Transportation, GDOT, copy on file at GDOT Office of Environmental Services, Atlanta, GA. The Determination of Eligibility (DOE) for the Lathemtown Historic District, which is contained within the aforementioned document excerpt, is included in the Supplemental Materials. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No.

GA-2445 (Page 2) result of this roadway expansion, all or part of the Lathemtown Historic District will be demolished. Mitigation efforts were explored and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was developed between the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer. This Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation (historical narrative report and large format photography) was prepared in accordance with the stipulations of the MOA. Part I: Historical Information A. Physical History 1. Date of erection: The approximate construction dates of the district s many buildings range from the end of the nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century.

The following is a list of the contributing resources located within Lathemtown Historic District and their approximate construction dates/date ranges: HABS No. GA-2445-A Orange United Methodist Church HABS No. GA-2445-B Elizabeth W. and Luther J. Lathem Rental House HABS No. GA-2445-C Elizabeth W. and Luther J. Lathem House HABS No. GA-2445-D Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House HABS No. GA-2445-E Jessie D. and W. Herbert Lathem Sr. House HABS No. GA-2445-F George W. and Marie Lathem House HABS No. GA-2445-G Martha L. and John R. Holbrook House HABS No. GA-2445-H Bud and Alice Turner House (late HABS No. GA-2445-I Bud and Sam Turner Mule Barn (late HABS No. GA-2445-J Samuel G. and Alice W. Smith House HABS No. GA-2445-K Epperson Family Rental House HABS No.

GA-2445-L Epperson Family Rental House II HABS No. GA-2445-M Frank and Ethel L. Lathem House HABS No. GA-2445-N Leila Y. and Ray W. Lathem House HABS No. GA-2445-O W.A. Lathem and Sons Store HABS No. GA-2445-P Lathem Mule Barn HABS No. GA-2445-Q Quay Lathem Mule Barn HABS No. GA-2445-R Sam and Mae Orr Store HABS No. GA-2445-S Bud and Zona Heard House HABS No. GA-2445-T E. Marvin and Georgia B. Lathem House 2. Architect: Not known. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 3) 3. Original and subsequent owners, occupants, uses: See individual HABS documentation HABS No. GA-2245-A through T, listed above. 4. Builder: See individual HABS documentation. 5. Original plans and construction: See individual HABS documentation. 6.

Alterations and additions: During the last part of the twentieth-century and the first part of the twenty-first-century, the district has experienced the removal of multiple buildings including the W.A. Lathem homestead, Bud Turner and Joel Heard Mule Barn, the Jessie D. and W. Herbert Lathem Sr. House (GA-2445-E). Many buildings now stand vacant and are overgrown by heavy vegetation (such as the Bud and Zona Heard House, GA-2445-S, the Quay Lathem Mule Barn, GA-2445-P, the Samuel G. and Alice W. Smith House, GA-2445-K, and the Sam and Mae Orr Store, GA-2445-R). While buildings that retain occupants present a mixed degree of material integrity, a significant amount of original material is found throughout the district as a whole.

Commercial enterprises now occupy multiple residential buildings (such as the Elizabeth W. and Luther J. Lathem House, GA-2445-C, the Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House, GA-2445-D, and the Bud and Alice Turner House, GA-2445-H). However, despite their change of function, most of these buildings are true to their original forms and still manifest as single-family residences from their exteriors. The district has managed to avoid new construction or modern infill and retains an early/mid twentieth-century feel and appearance. See individual HABS documentation for additional information. B. Historical Context Lathemtown History The original boundaries of Cherokee County encompassed much of the northwestern corner of Georgia.

The county s name was taken from its native Cherokee inhabitants, who the state and federal governments displaced throughout the decade in favor of newly arrived white settlers. In Georgia divided the county into ten units. Lathemtown is located near the eastern end of the county that retained the name Cherokee. Among the county s early white settlers were John and Mary Lathem (who arrived in the grandparents of Lathemtown s namesake, William Asbury ( W.A. or Will ) Lathem. 2 According to a detailed, if promotionally motivated, map, Cherokee County in was fertile and productive with fields of wheat, cotton, and corn, a nascent timber-cutting industry, and active marble quarries (Figure 8).

The map locates three different individuals with the surname Lathem northwest of the site of Lathemtown, along the path of the Cumming Highway and current Hightower Road, in the communities of Orange and Macedonia. A fourth W.A. Lathem is placed on the future site of Lathemtown. The map fails to depict, however, a road 2 Rebecca Johnston, Cherokee County Georgia, A History (Canton, GA: Cherokee County Historical Society, and Mary Helen Cissell, Living, Laughing, Loving in Old Lathemtown, (Orange, GA: Orange United Methodist Church, 35. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 4) curving southeast from Orange along the current route of the Cumming Highway through Lathemtown. 3 The land that W.A.

and Arizona ( Zonie or Zona ) Davis Lathem were farming within the Cross Roads district at the time of the census may have been the same as that identified on the map. By though, they and their growing family were living in the Mullins district, just west of Cross Roads, likely within the Orange community. By this date, W.A. had shifted his vocation from farming to sales. 4 By he had returned to Cross Roads and opened W.A. Lathem & Sons General Merchandise Store with sons Luther Jackson ( Jack or Luther ), Charles Wesley ( Charlie ), and Elijah Marvin ( E.M. or Marvin ) Lathem (Figure Their houses still stand in a line on the south side of Cumming Highway across from the store (Figure 9 and Figure Their parents house, which stood between them, is gone.

5 A piece in the May 31, Cherokee Advance captured the store, and by extension the community, at its beginnings. The author recounted a two-day trip from Canton to Orange in Cherokee County, on to Ducktown in Forsyth County, and back again: Returning home we stopped a short while at the store of W.A. Lathem & Son [sic] near Orange, who appear to be having a fine trade and doing much towards improving and building up all that section. During the past few months this firm has sold worth of furniture, which indicates that the young people are marrying and going to housekeeping and that the old homes are being provided with more comfortable and up-to-date furniture, etc., showing that the people are prosperous, happy and hopeful. 6 Based upon their business and handsome houses, W.A.

Lathem and his sons numbered among those prosperous Cherokee residents. 7 3 Bullock Cherokee County, Georgia, Map, Cherokee County Map Company, Library of Congress, accessed November 4 U.S. Census Bureau, and Federal Censuses. 5 Mary Helen Cissell, Living, Laughing and Loving in Old Lathemtown (Orange, GA: Orange United Methodist Women, (includes historic photographs of the store). For additional accounts of the store and associated buildings, see Cissell at pg. 10 (includes historic photograph), (includes historic photograph), (includes historic photograph), (includes historic photographs), and (includes historic photograph). According to aerial photographs, W.A.

and Zonie s house was demolished prior to 6 Quoted in John Carver, Cherokee County, Georgia: In Days Gone By (Jesper, GA: Wheeler Printing Company, 40. 7 Fred Martin recalled growing up in Cherokee County in the about five or six miles west of Lathemtown: During my slice of life we thought the main road eastward from Canton [Cumming Highway] was pretty well settled, even though there were long stretches that a person could holler at the top of their voice and still not be heard. All of the cleared and reasonably level lands were under cultivation by large and small farm families.

Much of the lands was in pasture to support our animals, cattle and hogs .[East beyond Canton and the Buffington/Macedonia community] the countryside was generally less occupied except for a few settlements centered around stores and animal trading barns and sawmills and cotton gins, like Lathemtown and Hickory Flat and other places of that nature. Excerpted from Martin s unpublished autobiography, The Slice of Life That Was, in Bell and Marcus L. Beavers, LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No.

GA-2445 (Page 5) The fact that one could make the approximately 40-mile-long roundtrip journey between Canton and Cumming, with at least one leg passing through Lathemtown, indicates that much of the current Cumming Highway was in place by It further indicates that a fairly decent road by the standards of the day flanked by the homes and businesses of the Lathems and others passed through the community. The store s healthy dollar-amount of sales supports this conclusion. 8 The first identified map that appears to depict the road dates from It is first definitively shown in place, carrying State Route Number 20, on the February monthly update of Georgia s highway system map, which classified it as unimproved, but maintained.

9 A map depicts the section of the road through the town as still unpaved. It was finally paved through Lathemtown in 10 The Lathem store and the ubiquity of the family were the genesis of Lathemtown. For its size and success, W.A. Lathem and Sons was a fixture in eastern Cherokee County for more than 50 years. Further, the number of individuals in the small community carrying Lathem as a surname or maiden name was quite large. 11 When Lathemtown acquired its name is not known. The records of the community s most prominent, and historically only, quasi-public building the Orange United Methodist Church state that it moved in from Orange to Lathems.

The first identified mention of the name eds., Buffington and Macedonia In Days Gone By, Cherokee County, Georgia (Cherokee, GA: Cherokee County Historical Society, 8 ( Bob ) Lathem, Sr. one of W.A. and Zonie s youngest children, recalled that in his youth the trip between Lathemtown and Canton was a four-hour ride over muddy roads in a horse-drawn wagon. See Jeff Fouts, Lathemtown/ Muletown Is No Longer a Four-Hours Ride Away, Cherokee Tribune, June 12, 9 Clason Map Company, Best Roads in Georgia, in Clason s Touring Atlas, University of Alabama Map Library, accessed November State Highway Department of Georgia, System of State Roads, Archive Maps, Georgia Department of Transportation, accessed September at http://www.dot.ga.gov/ Ruth G.

Smith remembered the state of the road in the Buffington community west of Lathemtown in the We lived...on Orange Road, now called Highway 20 or Cumming Highway, which was a dirt road with ruts so deep cars would drag in the mud in winter. Once or twice a year a county-owned scrape would come along to smooth out the ruts. Convicts in striped suits and leg chains would go behind and rake it down. A guard with a shotgun watched them. Excerpted from Smith s untitled autobiography in Bell and Beavers, Buffington and Macedonia In Days Gone By, 10 Federal Works Agency, Public Roads Administration, Georgia Transportation Map, University of Alabama Map Library, accessed September America% Cissell, Living, Laughing, Loving in Old Lathemtown, 11 The census page on which W.A.

(identified as a retail merchant) and Zonie are listed includes six households headed by Lathems. In addition to the couple are sons Jack, Marvin, and Robert, who worked as salesman at the store, and Charlie, who ran the cotton gin there. A fifth son, Arthur, still at home, also worked as a salesman in the family business. The census pages to either side list additional Lathems. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 6) Lathemtown in an Atlanta newspaper only comes at the close of 12 However, it was already a notable community by then. Marlin s county history stated that of the present unincorporated communities in Cherokee County, Lathemtown is probably the largest and continued: This is a rather thickly-settled community in the midst of a splendid farming region.

A mercantile business started here about twenty-five years ago by William A. Lathem now does a larger country trade than any other store in the eastern part of the county. 13 Nonetheless, the community s name was not identified on any maps predating 14 Along with the Lathem Store and the Methodist Church, the most salient feature of Lathemtown was its four mule-and horse-trading barns, all erected in the or Three still stand: the Lathem Mule Barn on Cumming Highway, just east of the store; the Quay Lathem Mule Barn to the southeast on the opposite side of the road; and the Bud and Sam Turner Mule Barn, also across the street, at Arbor Hill Road. The barn of Bud Turner and Joel Heard (Figure immediately across from the Lathem Mule Barn, has been demolished.

15 Local resident Jack White recalled the Lathemtown community of the and into the (Figure 11) in detail late in his life: [Lathemtown] was a village of about 20 houses with an additional 20 to 30 located within a one mile radius. Two general merchandise stores, one rolling store, four horse and mule trading barns, a planing mill, a cotton gin, a grist mill, a blacksmith shop, a syrup mill, a photographer, a baseball team, The Lathemtown Mules, and Orange Methodist Church provided many of the supplies, services, recreation, and spiritual needs of the surrounding area. Free Home Junior High School about one mile east on Highway 20 provided the educational needs. One 12 Cherokee County Heritage Book Committee, The Heritage of Cherokee County, Georgia, 16.

Lathemtown is named in Warner West s obituary in the Atlanta Constitution, December 28, The Atlanta newspapers frequently included obituaries of Cherokee County residents. See Warner D. West, Obituary, Atlanta Constitution, December 28, accessed September newspapers.com/image/ match=1. 13 Lloyd G. Marlin, The History of Cherokee County (Atlanta: Walter W. Brown Pub. Co.), 14 State Highway Department of Georgia, Cherokee County Map, Archives Maps, Georgia Department of Transportation, accessed September at 15 Cherokee County Heritage Book Committee, The Heritage of Cherokee County, 16. Smith White (born remembered the mule trade: There were 4 mule barns in the area along Hwy 20. People would come from all over to buy mules. They d come and look them over just about like you d buy a car.

A good mule might have cost between $35 and That would have been about a month s wages back then. In Cissell, Living, Laughing, Loving in Old Lathemtown, Charles White (born recalled: On Saturday afternoons, that s when people would gather at their favorite mule barn. They would talk and compare crops and look at the mules. Lathemtown would have hundreds of mules; it was known for them. In Cissell, Living, Laughing, Loving in Old Lathemtown, LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 7) telephone in the W.A. Lathems and Sons [sic] General Merchandise Store connected Lathemtown with the outside world. 16 He identified the owners and operators of the various enterprises, many of which were located within or near the Lathem Store.

He also noted changes that were altering the community s nature even during this period. The Georgia Power Company ran an electric power line to Lathemtown in (Previously only the store, the Lathems homes across from it, and the church had power, supplied by a Delco electric plant at the store.) Southern Bell began to provide telephone service to the community at large around The state paved Cumming Highway in By the and beyond, White concluded: Lathemtown was changing: tractors were replacing mules, chickens, dairy herds, and beef cattle were replacing cotton and corn, pavement was covering rough muddy roads, shopping centers and chain stores were replacing general merchandise stores.

As these changes occurred the supplies, services and recreation available at Lathemtown were not needed or were easier to obtain elsewhere. Lathemtown is now [in a part of a large community. 17 Growth has continued apace in Cherokee County. In the early twentieth-century it was added to the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, officially including it within Atlanta s orbit. Between and the county s population increased almost 90 percent to just under In Lathemtown is part of a community even larger than the one envisioned by Jack White two decades ago. 18 Part II. Architectural Information Architectural information about the individual buildings can be found in the respective HABS documentation for each individual building: HABS Nos.

GA-2445-A through GA-2445-T. A. General Site Description Lathemtown Historic District is situated along the SR 20 corridor between Canton and Cumming, Georgia. Its western bound is Arbor Hill Road and its eastern bound is Della Smith Lane. Located within its limits are twenty early and mid twentieth-century historic resources which include single-family residences, two stores, three mule barns, and a church. The district is rural in nature and many of its resources boast historic agricultural associations. Its numerous buildings are largely oriented toward SR 20 and feature generous front yards and modest 16 Cherokee County Heritage Book Committee, The Heritage of Cherokee County, Georgia, 16. 17 Cherokee County Heritage Book Committee, The Heritage of Cherokee County, Georgia, 17.

18 United States Office of Management and Budget, Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, OBM Bulletin No. (February 28, accessed October /default/files United States Bureau of the Census, Federal Censuses and LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 8) setbacks. Mature trees and well-developed landscape populate the individual resources lots. Many buildings have been vacated in recent years and overgrown with vegetation. Part III. Sources of Information A. Selected Sources Atlanta Constitution. Warner D. West. Obituary. December 28, Accessed September Bell, and Marcus L. Beavers, eds. Buffington and Macedonia In Days Gone By, Cherokee County, Georgia. Cherokee, GA: Cherokee County Historical Society, Bullock, Cherokee County, Georgia.

Athens, GA: Cherokee County Map Company, Library of Congress, Accessed November Carver, John. Cherokee County, Georgia: In Days Gone By. Jesper, GA: Wheeler Printing Company, Cherokee County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Cherokee County, Georgia Cumming: Walsworth Publishing Company, Cissell, Mary Helen. Living Laughing and Loving in Old Lathemtown. Orange, GA: Orange United Methodist Church, Clason Map Company. Cherokee County, Georgia. In Clason s Touring Atlas, University of Alabama Map Library. Accessed November lizardtech/ Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc., Historic Resources Survey Report: GDOT Projects and Cherokee and Forsyth Counties (P.I. Nos. HP No.

Prepared for Georgia Department of Transportation, copy on file at GDOT Office of Environmental Services, Atlanta, Federal Works Agency, Public Roads Administration. Georgia Transportation Map. University of Alabama Map Library, Accessed September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 9) Fouts, Jeff. Lathemtown/ Muletown Is No Longer a Four-Hours Ride Away. Cherokee Tribune, June 12, Marlin, Lloyd G. The History of Cherokee County. Atlanta: Walter W. Brown Pub. Co, State Highway Department of Georgia. System of State Roads. Archive Maps, Georgia Department of Transportation, Accessed September http://www.dot.ga.gov State Highway Department of Georgia. Cherokee County Map.

Archive Maps, Georgia Department of Transportation, Accessed September http://www.dot.ga.gov/ United States Office of Management and Budget. Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas. OBM Bulletin No. (February 28, Accessed October United States Bureau of the Census. United States Federal Census. Accessed June- August, at https://www.ancestry.com/. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT HABS No. GA-2445 (Page 10) Part IV. Supplemental Material 1. Recommendation and Assessment of Eligibility 19 " National Register Recommendation: The property is considered Eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register Criteria and Level of