The Elusive and Historic Area of Mechanicsville

There are four distinct areas that feed into Norcross. Three of these areas may ring a bell: Pinckneyville, Beaver Ruin and Flint Hill. But the fourth, Mechanicsville, is an enigma to most citizens. 

In fact, the only way you might know about it is from a marker on Buford Hwy, a typical green sign marking the boundaries of Mechanicsville and listing it as “unincorporated.” But the area boasts a historic school house and a interesting backstory. 

James Pugsley, Senior Planner for Gwinnett County, calls Mechanicsville’s boundaries “ill defined” but places them roughly between Buford Hwy., Florida Ave., 5th St. and Mechanicsville Rd. At the time of the inception of Mechanicsville the boundaries where even less defined, according to author and historian Sally Toole. Toole says that the original boundaries of the area might have been far enough afield to include Chamblee, Dunwoody and, perhaps, Lilburn.

Driving into Mechanicsville today its a crush of body shops, shopping plazas and traffic. It is difficult to imagine the small farming community all of this came from. Mechanicsville in its original form was home to farmers with names such as Stringer, Meriweather and Nuckolls.

Bija Nuckolls, Mechanicsville farmer and butcher in Norcross, was involved in the notorious Norcross Christmas Day shootout with Doc Lively in 1915. Mostly though the area was known for its one-room, white clapboard schoolhouse that functioned between 1911 and 1923, at the corner of Florida Ave and 3rd St., and its much older primitive church. The Mechanicsville church has been lost to time but Toole believes that it may have been located in the Brookhaven area on Dresden Road.

Long-time resident Denise Gilleland, who has lived in Mechanicsville all her 46 years, remembers when Mechanicsville still had that country charm. “It has changed a lot. Mechanicsville was a sweet little community. Jones Mill Road cut the neighborhood in half, but we still have the old school house and other old places there.”

Modern Mechanicsville is a far cry from the rolling hills and wide-open spaces Gilleland may remember but, seeing the modest, well-maintained homes of the citizens coupled with the care and interest those citizen take in preserving their history, it is safe to say that Mechanicsville’s feet are planted deeply in the past but their eyes are looking toward the future.