GailHullingsCobleigh
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The Hunky Man of Pea Ridge - 2010/04/14 10:59
Remember the "Hunky Man"? That's what they called him in Pea Ridge back in the 60s...
I had forgotten...I remembered him as "The Ice Cream Man"...but Ricky Miles brought up that little tidbit while we were all having lunch at Mellow Mushroom in Snellville...along with quite a few other Pea Ridge tales...
The Hunky Man was a little scrawny weathered looking guy -- sort of an elderly Marlboro Man look, as I recall. He drove a cream colored truck with "French's" on the side, and when he had a good crowd gathered, he'd stop and go around the back for the ice cream. 
We could hear him coming from the top of Springbrook (I forget what song he played), and every kid within earshot would start scrambling for change. I think you could get a popsicle for 6 cents, and a dime would get you something better -- like a Nutty Buddy. Can't say I recall how much "Hunkies" were, or where that name came from, since they were called Eskimo Pies on the wrapper. Must have been a Southern thing. 
Hunkies were the ones with the vanilla ice cream inside. Me, I always went for the fudgesicles if I was carrying enough cash. More chocolate for your money, that way. 
Remember that scramble for the cash? All you needed for a popsicle was a nickel and a penny...and surely you could "find" that in Mom's purse...or maybe one she'd put away in the closet...
Ricky told a tale on someone whose name I forget, so we're in no trouble here of blowing the whistle on a Pea Ridge delinquent...
Seems the bunch he ran around with was a little rowdy -- Clarkston boys, you know. While most of the guys were around the back, keeping the Hunky Man occupied with his occupation, one of those Pea Ridge boys jumped in the truck and drove off with it. My memory of anything I've been told in the last decade is not good, so I can't tell ya'll just who the culprit was...or how the Hunky Man got his ice cream truck back...or if there was anything left to sell by then. 
There's another story about that bunch -- how they broke into the new building when Rehoboth was enlarged, and stole food from the cafeteria...then fed all the hot dogs to the neighborhood dogs. In fact, Ricky has told me some tales I'll never repeat, at least not in here, so ya'll best just drop Ricky a line and see if he can make you laugh. He sure got me going! 
By the way, one of the most common questions I hear at these lunches is "Where IS Pea Ridge, anyway?" When asked that question Ricky immediately replied that it began at the top of the hill, at the Hello World, and Montreal Road. It ran on down US 29 until about where the entrance of Pine Glen was built. Or maybe until you got to the sawmill...? As for the name, it is a common one, but what most of ya'll don't seem to get is that it's a geographical location -- a RIDGE! 
Ridgetops are those places at the top of hills (or mountains if you're a little further north) where you can look downhill in both directions...in this case, you'd be going downhill all the way from Hello World until you reached the bottom land at Druid Hills. On the way down the ridge, or "mountain" slope, the Gulf station and the old corner stores at Frazier marked the main street of Pea Ridge. Take a right on Frazier, and it's downhill all the way to the RR crossing. Take a left on McClendon, more downhill stuff, for sure. 
Another short Pea Ridge story came from Stephen Pappas through his father. Seems that the bus station at the Hello World was the Pea Ridge stop. If you were coming from the east, you could save a quarter by getting off the bus in Tucker and finding a cheaper way to get home. After all, it was mostly downhill! 
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brain
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Re:The Hunky Man of Pea Ridge - 2010/04/14 20:13
I was looking for a picture of a cream colored ice cream truck and found this about the "Hunky Man"....
http://shortypjs.blogspot.com/2007/07/hunky-mans-here.html
I remember that cream colored ice cream truck and the old man. He would come to Montreal Woods back in the early 60's...Now THAT was REAL ice cream !! I remember he would open that back door and the frosty fog would roll out. Somehow he could reach into that dark box and grab exactly what we wanted. Nutty Buddies were the best.
Here is an interesting site about "Pea Ridge" and a survey of Rehoboth Cemetery (the old one.)
http://files.usgwarchives.org/ga/dekalb/cemeteries/rehoboth.txt
The notes say..."Many of the first settlers of Browning's District, DeKalb County,
Georgia, were laid to rest at Rehoboth Cemetery in the area once known
as Pea Ridge. The land was owned by the Johns family. As I have
researched the Payton and Talton, families, I have found many connections
with most of the original settlers: Cash, Johns, Chewning, Goza,
Knight, Wilson, etc. William Talton is first found in Tucker in
1827." (Theresa M. Hall, November 1988)
Other than the names mentioned above, I also recognize a whole bunch of the "native Pea Ridgers" family names that may or may not be related to alumni.
Allen, Buice, Bugg, Carter, Clack, Cowart, Frazier, Griggs, Nash, Rutledge, etc.
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GailHullingsCobleigh
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Re:The Hunky Man of Pea Ridge - 2010/04/15 09:39
WOW! What a great link...I couldn't have said it better myself...right down to needing to be hosed off when you were through eating.
The info further below about the Rehoboth cemetery brings to mind that thread I had a year or so back about the Wilson/Chewning descendents...and the impact one man can have on an entire community.
Great stuff! Thanks Brain!
(Hank's maternal grandparents, Charles and Jesse Brooks, are buried in that cemetery.)
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GailHullingsCobleigh
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Re:The Hunky Man of Pea Ridge - 2010/04/15 09:57
OK, ok, I forgot to make a correction.
I no sooner posted this yesterday than the phone rang, and Stephen Pappas was telling me how I got his story all wrong, and that I needed to edit it. 
I had noticed as I was logging out that we suddenly had 20 guests online...looks like a few folks dropped in and stayed for a little trip through Pea Ridge!
I told that drummer boy I don't edit. It must be from my old newspaper days -- once you run it, you can only retract and correct. I think changes are cheating, and confusing, too. (Now you see it, now you don't!?)
So here's the real story on the Pea Ridge bus stop at Hello World. Someone else is gonna have to tell you whether it was Trailways or Greyhound. Maybe Steve can get back on the site and tell ya'll about it himself, huh?
If you were coming from Atlanta, it cost 50 cents less to buy a ticket to Tucker than it did to buy a ticket to Pea Ridge. (Doesn't make any sense, does it?) So, folks would buy a ticket to Tucker, then get off the bus at the Hello World. Bus driver didn't care, and there was no walk back to Pea Ridge.
Just goes to show what a twist my mind can make out of a little info these days.
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