HISTORY OF MABRY FARM
Land Lot 178 located in NE Cobb County, was purchased in 1904 for $100 by my grandfather, Virgil Mabry. By 1914, he and his brother, Harley Mabry, had acquired 180 additional acres making a 220-acre farm. Virgil sawed the timber on the 40 acres and used some of the lumber to build a farmhouse. Virgil borrowed the money and purchased Harley's interest in 1918. Virgil grew cotton, corn to feed the farm animals, and a vegetable garden to feed his family. He operated a dairy, hauling the milk 30 miles to Atlanta and sold the milk and charcoal he had burned door to door until 1925. In 1936 Virgil was severely injured in a sawmill accident; the doctor at the hospital left him in a room for three hours waiting for him to die. When he did not die, he was admitted to the hospital and his head wound was cleaned and bandaged. He was not able to work for the next 2 years but he recovered from the injury. After the accident, Virgil used all his savings making the mortgage payments. In 1942, behind on the mortgage payments, Virgil called a meeting of his five children and asked them to pay the mortgage payments. My father, J. N. Mabry, made the first payment even though he had two small children and his wife (my mother) had to wash all their clothes on a rub board. After my father used the family savings to make a mortgage payment, my mother went to Sears and Roebuck and purchased a washing machine on credit. My aunt Edna Mabry Dean made the second payment. The other children decided not to make any mortgage payments. J N and Edna paid the mortgage off during the next 2 years. After the mortgage was paid off in 1944 the farm was deeded to my father, J.N. Mabry, and his sister, Edna Mabry Dean. Virgil and Mamie Mabry retained a life estate in the farm and continued to grow corn and soybeans until 1960. In 1946 the timber was once again cut from the farm by
J N Mabry and some of it was used to build the second farmhouse. In 1961, J. N. Mabry and Edna Dean divided the 180-acre farm with each getting 90 acres. In the early 1950's, J. N. Mabry converted his half of the farm to a beef cattle operation. In the late 1970's, Jim Mabry took over the beef cattle operation and added honeybees to pollinate the farm produce. In 1986, 20 areas of the farm was sold and the proceeds divided with the children and grand children of J N and Gladys. In 1987 my mother Gladys Mabry built the third farmhouse..
In 1987 my sister Sue and her husband Ed Harris moved to the farm and started a pick your own Black Berry and Muscadine grape operation, Tomatoes, sweet corn and other farm products were grown and sold. Sue started a Horse boarding operation in 1995.
My daughter Julie Mabry Stephens built a house on the farm in 2002.
My mother Gladys Mabry died after a long and fruitful life in 2006 at the age of 90.
The 70 acre Mabry Farm was divided between Sue Mabry Harris, Betty Mabry Pettett and Jim Mabry. Sue sold her portion of the farm (26.5 acres) to Cobb County for a passive park to be named Mabry Park, and she moved to Florida.
Betty Pettett continues a horse boarding operation on her part of Mabry Farm
Jim Mabry continues producing honey, growing farm produce, figs and peaches for sale. In 2007 we started operating a pick your own berry, apple, pear and muscadine grape operation. I continued raising Black Angus cattle until a knee operation forced me to sell the cattle in 2009. We now board horses in the pastures on our part of the farm. We are boarding 12 horses
