
The most recent Hammond’s Fishing Center was built in 2010.
Hammond’s has been serving Forsyth County, Cumming, and North Georgia since 1898.
Candy Hammond remembers when Hammond’s Crossing was a 4-way stop at the intersection of Ga. 306 and Ga. 369/Browns Bridge Road. At the time, the Hammond family owned much of the land around the intersection. After transferring from Fort Lauderdale, where she worked as a respiratory therapist, Candy met Thomas Hammond in Gainesville. They married in June 1979. She recalls the early days. “Back then, Thomas and I lived in a single-wide trailer where the Race Trac gas station is today,” she said. “In those days, there were only about 30,000 people living in Forsyth County.”
Portions of that very same land have remained in the family, long before Will Hammond built his general store and trading post in 1898 to serve farmers in the area. Many of them paid for their purchases with cotton, corn and even chickens.
From that time 127 years ago, the name Hammond’s in Forsyth County has been linked to the word “store.” Although the actual locations of subsequent Hammond’s moved a bit, they always occupied one of the corners of Hammond’s Crossing.
Will Hammond’s original store operated until 1958 when it was torn down to make way for the next generation of Hammond’s stores.
In 1960, Artie and Tom Hammond built a new general store, selling groceries, gas, sewing supplies and live bait. “Unfortunately, a fire in 1968 took the store to the ground, and for a time – nearly 20 years – the land stood vacant,” said Candy Hammond, whose late husband Thomas was Artie and Tom’s son. At some point the family sold or leased some of its land, but they always held on to much of it.
By 1986, Thomas and Candy decided to build the next Hammond’s Crossing, a grocery/convenience store that served Cumming and Forsyth County and was an Amoco gas station. They sold fishing gear and bait out of a 10-by-10 room in the store. “It was our plan to become self-employed entrepreneurs. Fishing started to become more popular, then the larger chain groceries moved in,” Hammond said. “It was time to shift our business to focus on fishing tackle and live bait.”

Tim Hawkins displays one of the hundreds of shad from a bait tank at Hammond’s.
Their decision was right on target. By 1992, they had expanded their tackle offerings and Hammond’s became known as the place for avid anglers. They built a store dedicated just to all things fishing.
In 1999, they sold the original 1986 store as a convenience store; it’s still a convenience store today.
Candy and Thomas built the current store, a big red barn that’s hard to miss. Since 2010 it’s been known as Hammond’s Fishing Center. The 7,000-square-foot building is fully decked out with walls of fishing gear and tackle. Their range of bait – from herring, trout and minnows to crickets and worms – was among the best in North Georgia. They finished the upper level as a hair salon for their daughter Kelli.
“This was Thomas’ dream to have a bait and tackle store, and he enjoyed the business so much,” she said. Thomas Hammond passed away on August 26, 2013, following a short battle with cancer. The family requested that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Thomas Hammond High School Fishing Fund, which supports high school fishing.
Since the early 1900s people had been calling the intersection where the store was located “Hammond’s Crossing,” but it wasn’t officially recognized by the Georgia Department of Transportation until 2016.
The intersection was formally named “Hammond’s Crossing,” complete with a ceremony and new road signs. “We really appreciate Sen. Steve Gooch and Commissioner Cindy Mills for their work on seeing this through.”
Today, Hammond’s Fishing Center has become a destination business with the latest in tackle, boating supplies, live bait and fishing and outdoor equipment.
“These days, we carry a $1.5 million inventory, and every employee is extremely knowledgeable and obsessed with fishing,” she said proudly. “But our store is about more than inventory; it’s the knowledge that our employees have and the longevity and reputation of Hammond’s.

Candy Hammond is flanked by son Jason and son-in-law Tim Hawkins
These days, Candy, her son Jason and Candy’s son-in-law Tim Hawkins run the business.
“Granddaughter Madison (Hawkins) has taken to fishing,” she said. “Her dad Tim is the captain for Madison’s and her high school fishing partner Hayden’s team, and she’s really loving to fish. Her grandfather would be so proud of her.”
Candy Hammond could retire anytime she wants, particularly with the next generation stepping in to continue the Hammond tradition. But she won’t hear of it.
“Other than on Thanksgiving and Christmas, the store hasn’t been closed since we opened it in 1986, except in mid-January of this year when a bridge was so frozen that no one was going anywhere.”
But the next day the store was open. “That’s just what we do. We are truly blessed. But, you know, when I look back, I was the happiest when Thomas and I lived in that little single-wide trailer.”
Hammond’s Fishing Center is located at 4235 Browns Bridge Road, Cumming. The phone is 770 888-6898; the website is hammondsfishing.com.
Photos: by Vicki and Alan Hope