Brookwood Road Photo Gallery

1980 - This was my family's house on Brookwood Road. When we lived here, 1958-1973, the carport was not enclosed, and the extension to the right of the house (when facing it) was not there. The section including the two-panel screen door was an open carport.

1980 - This is Brookwood Road, looking north. Our house (1958-1973) was on the right beyond the mailboxes. When we lived there, the chain link fence was not there. The white house on the far left was my Uncle Coy's house.

1980 - Between our house and my grandparents' house was this pasture. I was standing in the corner of our yard, looking at my grandparents' house, when I took this photograph.

1980 - If you were standing in my grandparents' front yard, looking south, you could have seen our house. It's not easily visible here because of the big oak tree. We lived there from 1958 to 1973.

1980 - After we moved from Brookwood Road in 1973, the new owners of our house took down the pasture fence and put up a chain-link fence around the backyard. Still, you can see the pump house here. When the pump stopped pumping water, my daddy used his three small sons to help him "pull the pump" from the ground so he could repair it. It was hell.

1980 - This is the lake that my grandfather built before I was born. It could be accessed from his property and from ours. A dirt road ran beside our house down to the lake. My grandfather worked with conversationists to build this lake, stocking it with fish, and then opening a bait stand and pier. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution featued a story on the lake in a Sunday issue.

I'm guessing this was a family photograph from around 1965-1966. Front row - that's me on the left, my brother Tim in the middle, and my brother Russ on the right. To my knowledge, this is the only professional family photo we had while living on Brookwood Road. My sister, Leigh Ann, was born in 1974 after we moved to Hickory Trail in Cumming, GA.

This is a photograph of my Granny, Kathryn McFarland Vaughan, my dad's mom. She and my grandfather, R.C. Vaughan, lived beside us - through the pasture - on Brookwood Road. This is a photograph of her working in the hatchery building on the farm. She was the farm's business manager and a great one.

My Granny, Kathryn McFarland Vaughan. She died in 1971, at 51 years old, from cancer. Her death truly reshuffled the deck of our lives on Brookwood Road. I was 12 when she died.

My Papa R.C. - Royalton C. (R.C.) Vaughan. My dad's father. He was one of the first to be called an Agri-businessman - as comfortable in a suit as he was in khakis on the farm. He and my grandmother were self-made and very successful in the farming business. He always wore an Open Road Stetson, and I have one just like this. This sow house, on the farm, was where he told me The Knowledge.

The Vaughan Brothers, from left, Russ, Tim, and me. In my book, Brookwood Road, the adventures of Wayne, Jack, and Frank Wilcox are based on our lives.

1988/1989 - My cousin, twice removed, Arlene Vaughan Harrison, is holding my firstborn son, Andrew. Sitting beside Arlene is her sister Elnora Vaughan. Arlene was married to farmer Herschel Harrison. Hershel and the sisters ran Hershel's store at the corner of Brookwood Road and Georgia Highway 141. I bought everything from naills to chocolate ice cream in this store.

1980 - The Feed Mill. This building was one of many on my grandparents' farm and a stone's throw from their back porch. My grandfather's "hands" ran the mill, which produced corn feed for the 600 or so hogs on the farm.

1980 - We called this old road 'The Lake Road.' Today, it is called Raskarity. It ran alongside our yard down to the lake. The woods on the right were Stozier's Woods. (The man's name was actually Strozier. He lived in Atlanta but had this farm next to ours.)

This is my brother Russ at 7-8 years old. He is standing in our driveway, facing the house. Across the road is a house my grandfather built for use by a family working on the farm. In my book, Brookwood Road, this house and family are reference in the chapter, The Neighbors. Also, our mailbox on the left of the driveway rests in a section of old sewer pipe.

My brothers Russ (in back) and Tim (driving) on the Honda 50. My dad surprised us with it during a summer vacation, and the Honda 50 changed how we got around the farm. Under the carport is a charcoal grill. My daddy loved to grill out on Saturday nights in the spring and summer.

1980 - My grandfather had lots of buildings on the farm. This old tractor shed was next to the Feed Mill. It was used for storage when we were boys, and we loved playing upstairs.

1980 - One of my favorite photographs, especially now that everything is gone. This is the Lake Road, looking toward Brookwood Road. The big oak tree alongside the road was my Writing Tree, where I wrote a lot of short stories. Stozier's Woods is on the left.

1980 - This is an old sow house. It was no longer in use when I took this photograph. There were several of these on the farm, mostly down below where my grandparents lived.

1980 - This was the crossroads mentioned in one chapter of Brookwood Road. It was just below our house, and my daddy always threatened to spank us if we rode bikes or walked down here. It was out of sight of the farm. This is where Brookwood Road ended, crossed McGinnis Ferry Road, and gave way to Jones Bridge Road in Fulton County (Atlanta), GA. The white sign is a Fulton County sign.

1980 - Hershel's store. When I took this photograph, the store was very much in operation. It was at the corner of Brookwood Road and Georgia Highway 141.

1980 - This is where my Granny and Papa RC are buried, on Brookwood Road, across from Brookwood Baptist Church. There are three generations of Vaughans buried in this cemetery. R.C. Vaughan; his dad, Claude A. Vaughan; and his dad, William M. Vaughan.

This is Brookwood Baptist Church. The church building and the cemetery across the road are the only things left of the Brookwood Road of my childhood. The church building was located between our house and Hershel's store. This is a more modern-day photograph. My daddy gave his life to Jesus here, and the church baptized him.

1980 - If you read Brookwood Road, this is the spot at my grandfather's lake where Tim and I went fishing one boring summer afternoon around 1970. That fishing trip launched a new interest in fishing at the old lake.

1980 - When my grandparents moved to Brookwood Road and built the farm, this was their first house. It was a stone's throw behind the brick house that I remember. When this house was vacant, my brothers and I played in it.

1980 - This was my grandparents' house on Brookroad Road. We lived on Brookwood Road from 1958 to 1973. After my grandmother died in 1971, my grandfather continued living in this house for few years until finally selling the farm and moving to Atlanta.

Me, right, and Tim learning to ride bikes. I was about 5-6. The old truck is a Vaughan Sausage Company delivery truck that my daddy drove, delivering sausage products to country stores and supermarkets within a 20-mile radius. Across the road is one of my grandfather's chicken houses.

We had to be careful what we wished for. My grandfather bought us catcher's equipment when we started playing baseball. We used it a lot in the backyard, but I'm not sure we ever used it in a real game. Tim pitched, and I played first. Tim is modeling the gear.

In the book Brookwood Road, some stories include my Papa Paul, who is pictured on the left. He was my mom's dad. He and Mema lived in town but often came to see us on Brookwood Road. The typewriter is one he won in a sales contest. I used it up until Vicki and I married in 1986. We bought our first computer shortly thereafter. Papa Paul died in 1967.