Atlanta’s Less Known Site

AUTHORS NOTE:  This post corrects an accidental post of misinformation in “Burning Bridges”:  https://straightfromthepen.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/burning-bridges

I apologize for the inaccuracy reported in Burning Bridges, April 2017.  Wayne T. Dowdy.  The misinformation was that, “Sherman spared the mansion because of the hospitality shown to him and his soldiers by Mr. Peters.“

Please visit the original post of this blog at https://www.quora.com/profile/Wayne-Dowdy-2?share=1

Response to Quora.com question, “What are some lesser-known sights to see when visiting Atlanta, GA?”

One lesser known historical site is the Edward C. Peters House (Peters’ Mansion), located at 179 Ponce DeLeon Avenue, Atlanta, GA.

The house takes up a whole city block, other than a small corner on Myrtle Street and Ponce DeLeon.

A false tale once told claimed General Sherman showed mercy and spared the mansion from his torch because Mr. Peters showed Sherman and his soldiers some Southern hospitality. The problem with the tale is that the house did not get built until 1883, eighteen-years after the American Civil War ended. The mansion did escape the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917. Edward C. Peters House – Wikipedia

A lesser known fact is that that house was once where staff and residents of Chrysalis lived for a brief period. Chrysalis was an adolescent drug treatment program. Between 1972–73, I lived in the Mansion as one of the first five Chrysalis residents, who moved in and helped to restore the magnificent building. That took some work!

Then Dante’ (the owner of Down the Hatch in Underground Atlanta at the time), bought the house for 1.5 million dollars, I believe, and Chrysalis had to move its location.

Before the deadline for Chrysalis residents to move, I had walked out of the six-month program, two months before completion, a behavior that lead me to have a history with the historical site that follows this photo: