An 1840s Georgia house with Civil War ties was moved in May. RaceTrac wants to build a controversial gas station on the site where cavalry clashed. The company says it is agreeable to doing an archaeological survey and saving artifacts it finds

Robert McAfee, the current empty lot at Bells Ferry Road (Picket photo); the house in the 1940s (Digital Library of Georgia) and a map showing troop positions in June-July 1864; note McAfee House (Library of Congress)

Opponents of a proposed 24/7 service station in a suburban Atlanta county have raised a list of concerns, from traffic congestion and storm water runoff to the possible impact of alcohol sales and gas vapors on a nearby elementary school and day care center.

But they also lament the loss of what stood for generations at the corner of Bells Ferry Road and Ernest Barrett Parkway in Cobb County, a few miles north of Marietta. The Robert and Eliza McAfee House dated to the 1840s, and their sprawling farm was a fixture in the Noonday Creek area. The property owner wants to sell the remaining two acres to RaceTrac.

The home -- which briefly served as the headquarters for a Union general and was in the middle of cavalry movements and clashes in summer 1864 – this spring was moved to adjoining Cherokee County after a long effort to save it from destruction. 

Now the Cobb County government must decide whether to allow a rezoning to make way for the RaceTrac location, which would feature a convenience store.

The planning staff has recommended approval and the matter came before the planning commission on Sept. 2. After hearing arguments for and against approval, the board tabled a vote until October in order to learn more about potential traffic and development impact on the neighborhood. If the planning commission backs the project, it will still need an OK from the county board of commissioners.

McAfee House in Ball Ground a couple months after its move (Civil War Picket photo)

The nonprofit Cobb Landmarks, the Bells Ferry Civic Association and the county’s historic preservation staff all recommend an archaeological survey of the site if the rezoning is approved. That and a report should occur before construction begins, the staff urges.

Any artifacts discovered during the survey should be donated to an appropriate museum, the preservation staff recommends.

“Prior to any development on this property, it is essential that a thorough search be conducted for Indian and Civil War artifacts, trenches, gravesites, and other items of historical significance,” the Bells Ferry Civic Association said in a letter to the planning commission.

Mandy Elliott, a Cobb County historic preservation planner, told the Picket such a recommendation is common for sites like the McAfee House.

“I’m not sure what might be found,” she said.

That’s more than a fair point. Most of Atlanta’s Civil War landscape was paved over long ago and there are only a few sites where remnants of earthworks and other battle features remain. Among them is Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, just a few miles from the neighborhood. (Picket photo of cut house section before move north)

Interestingly, the bomb squad in Cobb County is called in two to four times a year following the discovery of metal objects that look like Civil War ordnance. In some cases, the items are authentic.

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said of the McAfee site: “I'm tempted to guess at the usual archaeological suspects: brass buttons, horseshoe nails, fountain pen nibs, household trash (broken pottery, spoons), etc.”

For its part, RaceTrac has said the location is appropriate for the neighborhood and vowed to comply with any county requirements about safeguarding artifacts.

“RaceTrac is agreeable to the comments from Historical Preservation and is very willing to conduct the additional studies, documentation, etc. as recommended,” attorney Kevin Moore, who represents the company and property owner, told the Picket in an email.  

“To date, as part of due diligence, there has been preliminary study of the first 3 feet, which has not revealed anything of note. However, such study is not considered the historic type study to be conducted,” he said.

Of course, it's possible much of the property has been picked over many years ago..

Fate of the house was up in the air for years

The McAfee House had no designated historic protection because the owners did not seek it, according to Cobb County officials, and is not on the National Register of Historic Places.

Trevor Beemon, executive director of Cobb Landmarks, said the county’s park system years ago did visit the site and prepare a restoration estimate for the house, should it buy the property. “However, at the time, the costs were deemed too high. The property also would have sat for several years waiting for SPLOST funds to become available.”

Cobb Landmarks tried for several years to find someone to move the home, including when a car wash was proposed. That idea was eventually withdrawn. 

The house was empty for several years, and preservationists worried it would fall to the wrecking ball. Eventually, the owner donated the house to Cobb Landmarks so it could find someone to move it before a development could be built at the busy intersection.

Cobb Landmarks earlier this year sold the house for $1 to entrepreneurs Lee and Brittani Lusk, with the main requirement it be moved and restored. The couple moved the sturdy residence to near their home in Ball Ground, where it awaits foundation work. The Lusks are still deciding on its future use.

I asked Brittani Lusk whether they found any Civil War-related artifacts on the property when they were slicing the home into six pieces for the move. “Sadly, we didn’t,” she replied.

They did find some fascinating (and more contemporary) items inside the house, including a small can for baby powder, a newspaper clipping on World War II food rations and a peso note issued by the Japanese during their World War II occupation of the Philippines (photos above and below, courtesy Brittani Lusk).

Cavalry troops roamed and clashed here

The McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard (below) and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign. After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. While there were some small towns, including Marietta and Big Shanty, most citizens lived on farms.

The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler.

Cobb County was the scene of significant combat action and troop movement as Confederates tried to stall Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in North Georgia.

The McAfee farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain. The house is said to have been used as a field hospital.

Brenda Burns, a McAfee descendant, came by the property and spoke to Lee Lusk when he and a crew were preparing to move the house to Ball Ground.

During the Civil War, she said, the family left for a few months when the Union army took over the home; they expected it to be burned to the ground.

They fled to Smithville in southern Georgia, about 10 miles from Americus. Burns, 74, said Robert's brother William operated a hotel there famous for its chicken pie.

Burn's grandmother, Imogene McAfee Buder, was the last member of the family born (1912) in the Cobb County house. She related to Burns what family lore says Robert and Eliza saw when they got back to their house.

Imogene M. Buder, who died in 1999, at the old homestead (Courtesy Brenda Burns)

“She said they were all surprised. It was barren but the house itself was in good shape. There were a few bullet holes maybe in the walls.” 

Imogene M. Buder lived her first few years at the McAfee House. "She would just remember -- she was young -- playing around the barn and playing in the yard," Burns told the Picket. "Going down to the creek and jumping out of the hay loft.”

The McAfee family moved to Atlanta around 1920 and sold the house shortly after.

Click to enlarge map showing Civil War clashes in Cobb County (ABPP)

RaceTrac says it agreed to site changes

Moore and a RaceTrac representative earlier this month met with neighbors who raised concerns about the gas station. The company said it has agreed to stipulations and its updated plans show the convenience store would be a little farther from the elementary school than first proposed. It argues the property is a proper location for a gas station.

Further, RaceTrac argues, the location would largely draw its customers from those already on the road.

Opponents say it would generate more than 5,500 in-and-out vehicle trips per day. A traffic study is being conducted.

“How will the applicant mitigate the negative environmental impact of cramming a too intense, ill-suited, polluting, 24-hour-a-day traffic mill onto what was once a historic site?” the Bells Ferry Civic Association said in its letter.

The Picket reached out to Cobb County Commissioner Erick Allen, who was at the meeting, and to the real estate agent representing the property owner where the gas station would sit. Thus far, they have not replied. (Above, the house before its move. Photo: Cobb Landmarks)

How much old stuff is left to be found?

It’s possible that this many years later no Civil War artifacts will be found during a survey. But other items would still help tell the story of old Cobb County.

“As a historic homestead site, and a Civil War site, it is very likely that variety of artifacts will be recovered,” said Beemon.

The property is just a tiny portion of the farm, which included more than a dozen enslaved persons before the Civil War.

A 1947 photograph (above) of the McAfee House was taken by Beverly M. DuBose Jr., a renowned Atlanta relic collector whose gifts to the Atlanta History Center are the backbone of its impressive wartime artifacts collection.

All that remains at the site are the foundations of the barn and house, bright yellow zoning notices and a 1954 marker erected by the state along Bells Ferry Road.

While the house has moved, the marker is staying on site, though it is unclear where it would placed after construction, should the rezoning be approved. RaceTrac said it will safeguard the sign.

The Georgia Historical Society operates the state's marker program. Elyse Butler, manager of programs and special projects, said the society is working with a couple volunteers to keep it updated on the project.

"As with any construction project, we ask to be notified if the marker is temporarily removed or relocated," Butler said.

Burns, who lives in Canton, Ga., told the Picket she is relieved her great-great-grandparents' home was saved. (At right, her great-grandparents Robert Wiley McAfee and Jessie Laura Spillman McAfee. Wiley's parents were Robert and Eliza).

“It was sad to see it being cut into pieces but at the same time (I am) grateful they were able to save it. I am a positive-thinking person. I am trying to look at the good side of it. It could have been demolished.”

READ MORE: Details of the rezoning request are here

Entrepreneurs Lee and Brittani Lusk love fixing up old properties. They're about to move a house that was in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes to Ball Ground, Ga.

Lee Lusk (top left), steel supports underneath, interior (Courtesy the Lusks) and Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard

One property at a time, go-getters Lee and Brittani Lusk are championing historic preservation and entrepreneurship in Ball Ground, a growing city of about 2,400 perched in the foothills of North Georgia.

Among other properties, the couple own the 1906 Wheeler House, a popular wedding venue; The Elm, business suites situated in an old elementary school (great pun); and an historic home they lease out for Lora Mae’s restaurant.

Now they are working on a project ambitious by even their standards: the move of a house that was caught in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes and briefly served as headquarters for a Union general during the Atlanta Campaign.

The Lusks, who have performed dozens of restorations in the region, bought the Robert and Eliza McAfee house for $1 from the nonprofit Cobb Landmarks. The 1840s dwelling must be moved by mid-May to make way for commercial development.

The house -- built as solid as a rock-- will have to be broken into six or eight pieces for the move from Cobb County to Ball Ground, a Cherokee County town about 25 miles to the north.

“I think, in the beginning, they thought it could be done in two to four” pieces, Brittani Lusk recently told the Picket.

The Lusks (left) are not deterred by the considerable expense and effort, though Brittani joked she and Lee have had a couple “What were we thinking?” moments.

The couple tends to think big in ideas and implementation.

They dismantled a chapel where Lee was “saved and baptized” and plan to rebuild it as a wedding venue at the Wheeler House. In 2023, they purchased a railroad depot in Old Fort, Tenn. They hope to reassemble it as a restaurant in downtown Ball Ground, which used to be known as a railroad town. (Ball Ground, incidentally, was named for stick ball games Cherokee tribes used to play in the area. It also got some headlines in 2015 when Tom Cruise came to shoot a movie.)

The Lusks are moving the McAfee House to a corner lot near their 1895 residence. It will take up to a year to renovate the house, which has modern features added over the years. They are not sure how it will be used – a rental residence, museum or something else. The sumptuous Ball Ground Botanical Garden across the street from the Lusks could tie into the house. The parcel the McAfee House will sit on is at Old Canton and Byrd Hill roads.

“(We want it to be) the most original it can be. I would love to leave the wood walls and the original siding, to make it appear to be a Civil War Home,” said Brittani, who manages the staff of the Wheeler House.

Cobb Landmarks maintains the farm was reportedly used as a field hospital following a skirmish near McAfee’s Crossroads on June 11, 1864. Bloodstains are said to be visible on the floorboards in an upstairs bedroom, although carpet conceals the spot today. 

That’s according to legend.

“We are going to know in three to five months,” Lee Lusk said in March.

Cavalry skirmishes, bloodletting in Cobb County

While Cobb Landmarks had hoped the McAfee House would stay in Cobb County, the proposal put forward by the Lusks was a clear choice for a committee looking at nearly 40 proposals to relocate the empty dwelling.

“There were a couple (proposals) from Cobb (but) they were not fleshed-out applications,” Cobb Landmarks executive director Trevor Beemon told the Picket in February. “We needed to get to someone who already knows what they are doing.” 

The McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign

The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. .

Cobb County was the scene of significant combat action and troop movement as Confederates tried to stall Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in North Georgia.

After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. While there were some small towns, including Marietta and Big Shanty, most citizens lived on farms.

Click to enlarge map showing several Civil War clashes in Cobb County (ABPP)

The McAfee farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain.

The house has been empty for several years, and preservationists worried it would fall to the wrecking ball. Eventually, the owner donated the house to Cobb Landmarks so it could find someone to move it before a new development is built.

Beemon predicted it could cost up to $150,000 to prep and move the dwelling up Highway 5 and another $200,000-$250,000 for renovations.

The benefits, risks of being your own boss

Wheeler House wedding venue (Picket photo) and The Elm (Courtesy the Lusks

Lee Lusk, 40, a native of Canton in Cherokee County, purchased and renovated his first home at age 18. He was asked in a 2018 interview how he came to be an entrepreneur.

“I can’t take direction. I have to do things myself. I have several family members who own their own business and I always knew that I would rather lose trying to make it on my own rather than win working under someone else,” he said.

“I’m also more of an idea guy, I can start projects but lose focus when it gets closer to the end, but because I am my own boss and working on my own projects I am able to do something new every day.”

Small depot in Old Fort, Tenn., before it was moved to Georgia (Courtesy the Lusks)

Lee and Brittani, 33 -- who have three small children – call themselves business people with a specialty.

“Not many people know how to do it," Lee told the Picket of restoration work. “Not many are very good at it.”

The McAfee House attracted them with its heart pine, flooring, wood beams and timbers. A plus was no obvious apparent water or termite damage. Lee likes to keep original materials whenever feasible.

The developer has a discerning eye for properties. “The setting attracts me the most. The house second,” said Lee, who has an affinity for standout trees.

The church chapel story is particularly close to his heart.

A crew dismantles the old Macedonia Baptist chapel near Canton (Courtesy the Lusks)

About five years ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation widened Georgia 20, east of Canton. Macedonia Baptist Church’s chapel needed to be moved and the Lusks performed the work. (They want to rebuild it for their Ball Ground wedding venue).

Lee’s late father Joel helped build the new sanctuary for Macedonia, which sits off East Cherokee Drive a few miles south of Ball Ground.

“He loved the people of Macedonia Church and devoted much of his life to selflessly serving others,” his 2021 obituary reads. “His work there has left a beautiful and lasting legacy.”

Brittani Lusk grew up in Cobb County and her mother attended an elementary school across from the McAfee House.

'They are not afraid to tackle large projects'

A 2023 comprehensive plan for Ball Ground says the community is seeing continuous growth and change.

“Today, the City is becoming a destination in its own right, and not simply a bedroom community between Canton and Jasper.” (Left, the botanical garden, Picket photo)

While promoting sustainable growth, the city says it is important to preserve and enhance a sense of place and historic character. The Picket reached out to city officials for comment on the Lusks’ contributions but has not yet heard back.

Stefanie Joyner, executive director of History Cherokee and the Cherokee County Historical Society, said of the couple:

“They have saved numerous historic buildings and helped preserve the historic character of Cherokee County. They are not afraid to tackle large projects and by utilizing the historic preservation tax credits, the Lusks have been able to leverage their passion into successful businesses. "We look forward to working with them in the future and are excited to add the McAfee House to Ball Ground.”

Shooting for an 1840s feel in 21st century

In late April, the Lusks were still prepping the McAfee House for the move and their crews have been on site. They are hiring a company that specializes in such ambitious moves.

The house is on large iron beams and three trailers are in place to carry the pieces along the route, which had not been finalized when I last was in touch.

Some really old walls at the McAfee House and something a bit more contemporary (Courtesy the Lusks)

The two-story home is much bigger than it appears from the front on Bells Ferry Road at Ernest Barrett Parkway. (The residence had no designated historic protection because the owner did not seek it, according to Cobb officials, and is not on the National Register of Historic Places.)

The move will be right down to the mid-May deadline. And the logistics for that will be significant. Cobb County law enforcement will escort the entourage to Cherokee County, where deputies will finalize the drive to Ball Ground.

Lee Lusk said asbestos testing is necessary. Fireplace bricks (right, photo courtesy the Lusks) have been removed and will be used again. The couple has taken care of permitting for the Ball Ground property, which is near a stream.

There’s a state marker outside the McAfee House -- which is northwest of Atlanta -- but it will remain after the house moves. The Lusks would like to make a duplicate of some kind for Ball Ground.

Brittani says they have encountered some writing on the walls of the house, perhaps written by an Emma Good or Hood. They have a box of artifacts -- including medicine bottles and plans for the land surrounding the residence -- they found while on site in Cobb County.

The house is built of pine timbers joined with wooden pegs. It has original heart pine floors (currently under carpet) and plank walls and ceilings beneath modern additions. The residence features a central hallway.

“When you walk through it, the floorboards don’t creak,” Beemon, with Cobb Landmarks, told me earlier this year. “The timbers are two feet thick under this thing. It is sitting on stone piers. It is really a solid structure.”

Brittani said she plans to get rid of the “ugly” exterior awning and metal siding. The dwelling will likely need a new front door.

The idea is for a visitor to feel like they are in the 1840s when they step inside.

“We want it be in the most original state with historical integrity,” said Brittani.

The McAfee House will be placed in the lot to the right of a stream barrier (Picket photo)

McAfee House outside Atlanta is sold for $1 to couple who own a wedding venue. They will move Civil War site to Cherokee County and make it a private residence

The McAfee house was built around 1840, when Cobb County was mostly farms (Cobb Landmarks)

An Atlanta-area home that was caught in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes and briefly served as headquarters for a Union general has been sold for $1 and stipulations to a couple who will relocate the residence to a neighboring county.

Lee and Brittani Lusk, who operate The Wheeler House wedding and events venue, purchased the 1840s Robert McAfee House -- situated in a congested corridor -- for $1 from Cobb Landmarks

The nonprofit group had long worked with the owner of the historic house and developers to save it from the wrecking ball, but things did not work out until now.

While Cobb Landmarks had hoped the McAfee House would stay in Cobb County, the proposal put forward by the Lusks -- who live in Ball Ground in Cherokee County -- was a clear choice for a committee looking at nearly 40 proposals to relocate the empty dwelling.

“There were a couple (proposals) from Cobb (but) they were not fleshed-out applications,” Cobb Landmarks executive director Trevor Beemon told the Picket. “We needed to get to someone who already knows what they are doing.” The house must be removed by May 15 to Ball Ground, about 25 miles to the north.

Click to enlarge map of several Civil War clashes in Cobb County (ABPP)

The Robert and Eliza McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign. The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The house is said also to have been used as a field hospital.

Cobb County was the scene of significant combat action and troop movement as the Confederates tried to stall Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in North Georgia.

After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. While there were some small towns, including Marietta and Big Shanty, most citizens lived on farms. The farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain.

Buyers reportedly renovated many historic structures

The Wheeler House website says CEO and owner Lee Lusk, a native of Canton in Cherokee County, purchased and renovated his first home at age 18. “Since, he has remodeled multiple historic homes in the North GA. He has also bought, sold and developed land in Cobb and Cherokee counties.”

His wife Brittani Lusk serves as operations and marketing director at The Wheeler House, which was built in 1906 by a local lumber businessman.

The Lusks told the Picket they will move the McAfee House to a lot near their home in Ball Ground. They had not decided whether it will be used as a house or museum for the community.

No one has lived in the home for more than a decade (Photos, Cobb Landmarks)

Lee Lusk said they expect to have the house out by the end of April.

“They are anxious to get in there," Beemon said. “They are excited about it.”

The couple have moved a couple properties in the past and have the knowledge and wherewithal to make the deal happen, Beemon said. It could cost up to $150,000 to move the dwelling up Highway 5 and another $200,000-$250,000 for renovations.

Lee Lusk said in a 2021 interview he was 25 when he bought The Wheeler House. The couple built a barn for events a couple years later, in 2012. He recalls finding two old photos in a hidden compartment in the house.

This old house was well-built but needed protection

A deal to turn the McAfee House property at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway into a car wash (even if the house stayed) fell apart in 2023. Preservationists used the time to come up with something else with the property owner, who decided to donate the home to Cobb Landmarks so it could be moved and make way for a commercial venture.

The developer purchasing the land lived in the home as a child and is expected to build a multi-tenant development, Beemon said.

The home and outbuildings were vulnerable to development because the property owner did not seek historic protection from Cobb County. Beemon said the Lusks will be required to obtain a preservation easement and adhere to Department of the Interior standards for the home exterior while they may renovate the interior as they please.

This state marker did not provide protection (Photo by Michael Cruce / HMdb.org)

The house is built of pine timbers joined with wooden pegs. It has original heart pine floors (currently under carpet) and plank walls and ceilings beneath modern additions. The residence features a central hallway. It has not been occupied for many years, said Beemon.

“When you walk through it the floorboards don’t creak. The timbers are two feet thick under this thing. It is sitting on stone piers. It is really a solid structure.”

The couple may have to separate the structure into two or three pieces for the move.

“As serial restorers, they are putting a lot of passion into these things,” said Beemon.

The home is the last remaining pre-Civil War structure in the busy Town Center corridor of the county. Cobb Landmarks has worked for about five years to save it. Previous plans and deals fell through, Beemon told the Picket.

“I won’t believe it until it is up on a trailer. It has been such a roller coaster over the years," he said.

Carol Brown, co-founder of Canton Road Neighbors, a nonprofit that keeps a close eye on zoning issues in the area, told the Picket she had hoped the house would have remained in Cobb County. “But I am glad the house will be preserved.”

“I wish that Cobb County could have recognized the value to the community by acquiring the two-acre historic property and restoring the house onsite," Brown said Thursday. “It presented a unique opportunity, now lost in an area that becomes more impervious, less livable and less pedestrian friendly every year.”

Beemon said the cost for the three acres in a highly desirable area was likely too expensive for the county.