This is the original trace of the Pace's Ferry Road which ran from Decatur, via Buckhead, to Pace's Ferry on the Chattahoochee River, about 50 feet upstream from the present bridge. While the date of its establishment is unknown, on May 5, 1834, several years before the founding of Atlanta, the DeKalb County Inferior Court ordered a bridge builtacross Nancy's Creek "On the Road to Pace's Ferry." Obviously, the ferry had been established some years earlier and this road was in constant use.
Hardy Pace, the owner and later postmaster at Pace's Ferry Post Office, moved to this area during the 1820's. He built his home on (West) Pace's Ferry Road between the present Northside Drive and Randall Mill Road. In 1839 he moved to Vinings.
Early July 17, 1864, a division of the Union 4th Corps was sent here from Powers Ferry to drive the Confederate pickets from the hills between this line and the river and protect the laying of two pontoon bridges at Pace's Ferry. After spirited skirmishing, the outnumbered Confederates withdrew. About noon, the bridges were ready and the Union 14th and 20th Corps crossed and moved by this point toward Peachtree Creek, the 14th Corps via Howell Mill (old Atlanta-Pace's Ferry) Road, the 20th Corps via Mt. Paran Road and a military road which is now Northside Drive.
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