In the 1820’s a land grant on what is now Idlewood Road was awarded to Andrew Browning for his part in the Indian Wars. Andrew settled on the land and farmed it. Down through the years the Browning family or its descendants continued to live on the land. In 1955 my grandfather, Ernest F. Lawhon, gave Roy and me four acres on the south end of the property for a wedding present. In 1958 we built a house on the land at approximately the intersection of Brownlee Drive and Raylene Court. In 1995 we contracted to have a subdivision built and to continue to live on the land ourselves. At that time seven generations of Brownings had lived on the land.
When building plans began to formalize, we asked the developer if we could name the streets. It was my hope to maintain some of the history of the land with the names of families who had lived on it. Since a Browning was the first resident, we decided to name the subdivision as well as the main street after him. Lawhon Drive was named after my grandfather. Raylene Court and Jeannine Court were named after our two daughters. We requested that Thomas Court be the name of the other court since my grandmother’s family, the Thomas’, had lived on it for several years, but there was already a Thomas Court in DeKalb County so our request was denied. The county arbitrarily named the remaining court Lawhon Court.
We had some fun with the developer when he agreed to let us name the streets. Roy told him we wanted to name the whole circle “Fruit Loop”. The poor man nearly fainted.
We are so glad that we made the decision to build Browning Chase. I am convinced that the best people in the world live here.
-Ruth Fruit