Shermantown

At the foot of Stone Mountain lies a community whose story is an important part of the history of the Village.

Shermantown emerged in the years following the Civil War, when formerly enslaved African Americans and their descendants established a community of their own near Stone Mountain. In an era when segregation and discrimination restricted where Black families could live, work, worship, and gather, residents created a neighborhood rooted in family, faith, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance.

Generations of families built their lives here. Small wooden homes stood close together along neighborhood streets, while locally owned businesses served the community. Residents established restaurants, candy stores, barber shops, beauty salons, civic organizations, and gathering places. Churches became centers of both spiritual and community life, including Bethesda Baptist Church and Saint Paul A.M.E. Church, whose histories stretch back more than a century.

Recreation also brought neighbors together. Local baseball became a source of fellowship and pride, with generations gathering on neighborhood fields to play, watch, and cheer.

But Shermantown's greatest legacy has always been its people.

Families lived within walking distance of parents, grandparents, cousins, and lifelong friends. Front porches, churches, businesses, ball fields, and neighborhood streets became places where stories were shared and traditions passed from one generation to the next.

That tradition of remembrance continues today.

Since the 1990s, Stone Mountain Day has brought current and former residents, descendants, friends, and neighbors together to celebrate Shermantown's heritage. Through music, worship, storytelling, food, fellowship, awards, and family memories, the community honors those who came before while ensuring their stories are carried forward.

For generations, millions of visitors have traveled to Stone Mountain to see the enormous granite landmark towering above the landscape. Yet just beyond the mountain is another history worth discovering.

Shermantown reminds us that the story of Stone Mountain is not written only in granite. It is also written in the lives of the people who built communities beneath it, raised families here, created opportunities for one another, and made this place home.

The mountain may dominate the landscape, but the people give this community its story.