Captain Delavan Lively, a captain during the Civil War, gave Free Home its name. Captain Lively owned land near the first existing one room school in the area, Chestnut Log, which was located at a crossroads in the Cross Roads Militia District of Cherokee County, Georgia. Due to limited financial resources, families who farmed the land were unable to buy land or build homes; therefore, Captain Lively offered free land to anyone who wanted to build a house with the understanding that the property would revert to him if the people moved away. Thus, the name of the community became known as Free Home. It was during Captain Lively’s administration as a teacher that a new one-room school house was built. A second building was later built to meet the expanding needs of the community. A third building was erected in 1906.
Source: Free Home Elementary School