Perkerson Park
Perkerson Park is a 50-acre (200,000 m2) park in the Capitol View/Sylvan Hills neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia with everything from a splash pad to an elaborate playground to recreational fields, all under the shady canopy of huge oak trees. Park is open 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily.
Thomas Jefferson Perkerson (1804 –1878), son of Dempsey Perkerson (1778-1875), was from South Carolina and settled in DeKalb County (now Fulton County). Thomas Jefferson Perkerson married Isabella Ferguson and settled on two Land Lots, numbers 103 and 104. The Perkerson family owned 405 acres of land that was mostly used as a family farm. These Land Lots were bounded by Lakewood Avenue on the south, Stewart Avenue (now Metropolitan Parkway) on the east, Sylvan Road on the west, and Deckner Avenue on the north. In the late 1830s, the Perkerson Family built their home on this land, which land is now in the Sylvan Hills section (outside of the Capitol View Historic District). The family home formerly stood at 552 Perkerson Road, which was continuously occupied by the family until 1934.
Thomas Jefferson Perkerson became the first sheriff of Fulton County, upon its creation in 1853 from DeKalb County. His son, Angus M. Perkerson (1843-1895), served in the Confederate Army and then also later served as the sheriff of Fulton County from 1873 to 1883. His son, also named Angus M. Perkerson, became the editor of the Atlanta Journal Magazine.
Thomas Jefferson and Isabella Perkerson had seven children. One of their daughters, Matilda "Till," married Jeremiah Silas Gilbert (1839-1932), a son of the first practicing physician ever to live in what is now Fulton County, and lived in the Gilbert House which is now a City of Atlanta Landmark Site, at 2238 Perkerson Road. Another daughter, Elizabeth "Lizzie," married Sumner E. Butler from New York and returned to live in the Perkerson home in her later years. It has been noted that at the time of the Civil War, the Perkersons owned 405 acres, had 3 dogs, 4 children ages 6 to 18, and owned 8 slaves valued at $16,000, and household and kitchen items valued at $500.
On December 2, 1864 Elizabeth (Lizzie) wrote a letter to her brother Angus while he was in the Confederate Army, at that time located in Virginia. The letter relates how the Perkerson family stayed in their house during the war and interacted with both Union and Confederate soldiers in order to save their family and home. The letter tells of the sentiments of the family towards the soldiers, helping the wounded in the area, and the scene in Atlanta after Sherman’s troops passed: “Atlanta is a perfect mass of ruins. I haven’t been there as yet, but from what they tell me it is awful. All the public buildings are gone except the City Hall. Whitehall Street swept completely.”
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