"A treasure trove of memories of crossing that bridge over the muddy Oconee, on the back of my daddy's pickup." That's what Michael Thurmond remembers growing up in the Athens-area decades ago...of a 200-foot, one lane covered bridge that linked downtown Athens to a part of Clarke County.

“My daddy was a vegetable route salesman in Athens and that was one of our many routes. The old boards would creak and moan under the weight of his pickup truck. It was always a scary trip across the Oconee," Thurmond, DeKalb County's CEO, tells WSB Radio.

The bridge, built in 1893, eventually exhausted its useful life and was marked for abandonment. But it was saved by its relocation to Stone Mountain Park in 1965. It sits at the end of a road down from the park's grist mill. Until now, it has not been widely known who built the structure. But that could soon change.

The park's governing board on Tuesday will consider a proposal to name the covered bridge for its builder. "Although I was very familiar with the bridge, I had no idea that it had been constructed by an African-American builder - W.W. King," says Thurmond. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports of the 14 covered bridges in Georgia still standing, four of them were constructed by King.

A history buff, Thurmond joined the Stone Mountain Park board in 2017 as its only African-American member. He says it was during an historical seminar on important structures built by African-Americans, that learning of Washington W. King's name tied to this bridge "that I realized that this was a great opportunity to expand the narrative, to make it more inclusive, and to update and fill-in an important gap in the history of Georgia, as well as Stone Mountain."

The state-owned park's complicated history as a memorial to the Confederacy has been challenged in recent years. There have been efforts to remove the massive carving of Confederate leaders on the mountain. There's also been the suggestion to put a bell on the top of the mountain, in recognition to a line in Martin Luther King, Jr's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Thurmond says Civil War history should be studied, memorialized, and sometimes celebrated, for how the conflict led to the abolition of slavery. He says putting Washington King's name on the covered bridge would recognize history "beyond the narrow Lost Cause narrative that has dominated the historical landscape at the park."

Thurmond no longer serves on Stone Mountain Park's board, having left in December (now serving an appointment to another board). But he says he left it with a different impression of board members than when he joined. And he's convinced they want what's best for the park and Georgia - to evolve the park.

"I believe there is a commitment to increasing and expanding the narrative to ensure that it includes more of the citizens that actually own the Park," says Thurmond. The resolution for the bridge would be "definitely a very positive beginning in helping to expand and broaden and create a more inclusive narrative for Stone Mountain."

The resolution in front of the park's board on Tuesday would also recommend the bridge for a designation on the National Register of Historic Places.