Mabry Farm offers glimpse of the way things used to be
By Robin Rayne
MDJ Contributor
When Virgil Mabry bought
40 tree-covered acres of
northeast Cobb County land
for $100 in 1904, Ford Model
A cars were just emerging
from a new Detroit, Michigan,
assembly line.
Mabry and other settlers to
the area relied on kerosene
lamps for evening light since
electrical service was decades
away.
Today, as heavy traffic
rushes past large subdivisions
along Sandy Plains Road,
drivers might easily miss a
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modest sign for “Blackberries
and Apples” next to an otherwise
unmarked drive. That
narrow lane leads to serene
orchards and pastures that
still bear the Mabry name,
and takes visitors back to a
simpler time.
“We’re the oldest continuously
Cobb County, maybe all of
Georgia, but there’s a lot of
area residents who still don’t
know we’re here,” said Julie
Stephens, Virgil Mabry’s
great-granddaughter. She and
her husband, Robby, live in a
two story-home overlooking
the sprawling farm and pastures.
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She manages the farm’s
stables and equestrian center
for her aunt, Betty Pettett,
who also lives on the land.
Jim Mabry, Stephens’ father,
was born and raised on the
farm. He continues to work
the farm but turned over the
“pick-your-own” orchard to
Stephens and her brother,
Chris Mabry, two years ago
when he turned 80, she said.
“Daddy and his sister,
Betty, still own the farm
Grandfather Virgil started,”
Stephens said. “After Virgil
married Mamie Morgan in
1906, he and his brother,
Harley, formed a partnership
and purchased additional
farmland while raising their
families. By 1914, they had
acquired 180 additional
acres, making a 220-acre
farm. They sawed the timber
and used some to build each
family their own farmhouse,”
she said. “Cotton was grown
as the cash crop, and he also
maintained a vegetable garden
to feed his family.”
They raised chickens
for eggs and had a Sunday
dinner of fried chicken on
special occasions, she said.
“Honeybees were kept to
provide honey to eat with
biscuits at breakfast and to
use as a sweetener, and Daddy
still keeps bees and sells honey,”
she said.
Virgil and Mamie Mabry’s
century-old house with its
original tin roof stood on
Wesley Chapel Road until
2018, when it was razed
to make room for a new
subdivision. “One of the
saddest days of my life was
watching all the huge oak
trees and homestead be
bulldozed. I still remember
the outhouse they had
when I was a little girl,”
she said.
Much of the family’s land
was sold to developers over
the decades, Stephens said.
26.5 acres was purchased
by Cobb County in 2006
and eventually became
county-owned Mabry Park.
It officially opened in May
and remains surrounded by
family-owned pasture.
The new park has several
longtime farm customers
puzzled, Stephens said.
“People are sometimes
confused now about where
to find us because of the new
park, but we’re still here. I’ve
had others tell me they had
no idea this hidden gem was
just around the corner,”
she said.
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