Clairemont vs. Clairmont
Decatur Metro | September 9, 2010 | 9:24 amLaura writes in…
I am wondering if you can solve a mystery for me and my husband.
We are recent Decatur transplants (via Midtown) and are perplexed by the disappearing/reappearing E in “Clairemont” Road. The E seems to drop out north of Scott on street signs, but both north and south of Scott there are buildings and businesses with “Clairemont” and “Clairmont” in their labels. Is there a rationale for this, or is the whole city just confused?
It IS intentional. However, though I still bare the scars of the last time I called it “Clairmont” instead of “Clairemont” (admittedly a long time ago), I can’t recall the reason that the “e” disappears.
A little help?
I always thought it was “Clairemont” with an “E” inside the city limits of Decatur, and “Clairmont” without the “E” outside the city limits.
I agree with “Soon to be..” The “e” is there only inside the city limits. I seem to recall reading that the street was orginally named for the daughter (Claire) of a prominent Decatur family. Can’t recall the last name, though.
Sorry, yes. It is an inside/outside the City of Decatur thing. I should have cleared that up in the original post.
To add to the Clairemont confusion, someone recently pulled up next to me at an intersection on Ponce at about 10 pm and asked me how to get to Clairemont, and I told him to turn around, go back into town and it’d be on the left side of Ponce in the basement of an old hotel.
that would be the clermont. the best bar in atlanta. my fiance and i frequent it.
I have no idea why the “e” dropped out north of the city, but Decatur stubbornly (and rightly, IMHO) hangs on to the original spelling. According to Caroline McKinney Clarke’s wonderful book “The Story of Decatur” (1973 – p. 244), the history is as follows: “‘Clairemont’, the home of Dr. Robert B. Ridley and the former Mrs. John F. Kiser, whom he married in 1886, was named for their eldest daughter Claire, the late Mrs. L.L. Hunnicutt. Clairemont Avenue derived its name from Dr. Ridley’s farm and when the property was sold, Clairmont Estates was laid out on a part of the acreage as was part of Scott Boulevard, Westchester School and the Westchester Subdivision. The only remaining traces of a bygone era are some of the fine old trees, a babbling creek and the family well that still stands in the back yard of the first house on Lamont Drive.”
Oooh…interesting! Is that well still there?
Great. Now Gibbets is going to dig it up and throw me in it.
If your transcription is faithful, this only muddies the waters… why was it Clairemont Avenue, but “Clairmont Estates”? I also wonder if Hotel Clermont has always been pronounced with the “long A” sound.
I did doublecheck to make sure she didn’t put an “e” in Clairmont Estates – she didn’t. And as to after the property was sold and someone was developing a subdivision – since when were developers always consistent with local tradition? 😉
I was told by a historian at the DeKalb History center that Claire Ridley was the most beautiful girl in Decatur and boys had to “climb the mountain” to date her. I wonder, are there any pictures of Claire Ridley?
I thought the lovely establishment in the bottom of the hotel on Ponce was the Clermont. I’m sure the poor Hunnicutts would roll in their grave if they thought it was in honor of their daughter.
Chiming in from up here on Clairmont Heights… and I still don’t get it.
Pretty sure the ‘E’ is only included along the wealthier parts of the street, as they are the only ones who could afford the extra $250 to buy a vowel.
Too funny, except I actually remember when many of the homes along even the “e” part of Clairemont were darn run-down. The older ones had potential and the 50’s era brick homes were downright sad looking. I barely remember visiting friends in the Great Lakes area when it was still “transitional” in areas and most of the homes were cottages, not craftsman homes.
Just wait until the Dollar General starts selling them for a buck apiece. We are going to have Easte Lake Dr., Oakeview Rd, and Seconde Avenue!
Don’t forget Thirde, Fourthe, and Fifthe Avenues– as well as Meade Roade…
Great, then all our kids at the Fifthe Avenue Fourthe/Fifthe Grade Academe will bomb the spelling portions of any standardized tests. Darn you, Dollar General!
They already do. CSD schools don’t teach phonics much. Doesn’t hurt some kids; puts other kids into total shock when they hit middle school and are expected to spell.
that was great
Rename it Dollare Generale, and maybe even the fancy folks will like it!
I feel that Mayer is one of the least noticed blues guitar players going today. He has great phrasing, there’s a great video of him and Buddy Guy jamming on youtube.
Hmmm…methinks thou hast the wronge threade, my friende…
But to tie the threads together, I wouldn’t buy a John Mayer CD if Dollar Generale sold it for 50 cents!
Ah, but what if ’twere a Johne Mayre CD?
Glenndale Ave vs. Glendale Ave. The old (and hard to read) street signs say Glenndale, the newer green ones inadvertently (I assume) drop the second n. So it’s not only vowels that are vulnerable. Pause to remember the forgotten consonants too.
Does anybody remember the hotel at the corner of Church and Ponce. It would have been where the Georgia Power building went in, across from Leon’s. I think it was called the Clairemont Hotel. In it’s last years it was more of a rooms for rent kinda place than a traditional hotel.
That was the Candler.
Thanks Scott.
Funny, I’ve lived in Decatur nearly 13 years and don’t think I ever really noticed there was more than one spelling, except the Clermont Lounge as Jeff pointed out. Guess I’m not very observant. I give my directions more by landmarks anyway.
The Candler Hotel had a veranda with rockers and also a set of small shops on the Ponce side, closest to what is now Parker’s. Used to get my hair cut in one of those shops as a kid in the ’50s and ’60s. My father at one time worked a block south on Church and said the hotel dining room made great biscuits; most mornings he’d go around to the alley behind the hotel and a cook would lean out the back door to sell him a couple for, I think, 10 cents. (He was a repairman and thus not dressed for a high-class dining room like the Candler’s!).)
For anyone wondering what the Candler Hotel looked like, Next Stop…Decatur has a couple pics.
One from 1950.
And a vintage postcard from even earlier.
Thanks Brent. When I was 14 or 15 (around 1966), I tried to get a job at the Candler, as a bellhop or waiter, but turned the opportunity down. I still remember the manager telling my friends and I, “I pay my boys $1.50 per hour but you can keep the tips (or something like that).” Since I could make $1.50 per hour hour or more cutting grass and doing yard work, I turned the manager down. I find it strange that I occasionally have dreams about what it would have been like exploring the penthouse of the Candler Hotel, which was at one time, the premier hotel of DeKalb County.
The things you regret when you grow old.
Wow, too bad that building is not still there.
In the spirit of these posts about the correct name of places, the hotel was officially the Hotel Candler, not Candler Hotel. Sounds more affluent, don’t ya think?
It’s also spelled “Claremont” at one intersection (can’t remember location now, but it is so).
I wonder if it is something as simple as the fact that DeKalb county put up the street signs outside the city limits and the “e” became a victim of DeKalb County administrative competence….
Unfortunately, that’s entirely plausible…
I know the gent who purchased all the chandeliers and sconces when they tore the hotel down. He still has a few hanging in his house in Daytona.
speaking of street signs, the brick directional sign at sams crossing, by the little gray house, was knocked off its pedastal when I drove by a couple of days ago. Guess that’s one way to get rid of them.
pedestal?
Clairemont v. Clairmont is a mystery, as is the little loop off North Decatur which is, on one end, Westminster, and on the other, Westminister. Maybe one end is closer to a church?
Thanks so much for the information everyone, I really appreciate it. I think I’ve seen the well, it’s on the property right where Lamont and Vidal split on the east side.