- Settlement
- Early
- incorporated 1839; renamed 1847
- DeKalb County
- Location approximate
New Gibraltar / Stone Mountain village (1839)
The village at the mountain's foot was incorporated as New Gibraltar in 1839 and renamed Stone Mountain in 1847. The Georgia Railroad reached it in 1845.
The record
The Stone Mountain Historical Society says residents moved the town to the east side of the newly laid tracks, in Land Lot 89 of DeKalb's 18th District, and that by 1849 it had four hotels and eight stores serving about 300 people. The society also counts about 290 enslaved African Americans in the antebellum village, working fields, quarries, the railroad and homes. Wikipedia, citing David Freeman's Carved in Stone, calls Andrew Johnson the founder and first mayor and says he built a hotel on the road in 1836. By 1850 the mountain was drawing sightseers (NGE). The historic district was listed on the National Register in 2000.
Today: Downtown Stone Mountain along Main St.