Dolphins' Bradley Chubb, Browns' Nick Chubb carry on legacy of Georgia's historic Chubbtown
MIAMI GARDENS — Not much to see here. Dolphins edge rusher Bradley Chubb admits that’s the first impression one town in Georgia leaves on those who happen upon it. There’s a simple church where services are held two Sundays a month. A creek with fresh water running. A cemetery. And enough tall oaks to offer respite from the sun, perhaps coaxing the fortunate few to stick around awhile.
“There’s so much history here,” Chubb says.
Welcome to Chubbtown.
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Sixty-five miles northwest of Atlanta sits a legacy to Chubb’s family dating to the 1860s when eight Chubb brothers packed up in North Carolina and planted stakes on this rural plot. Free, they were. Bold, too, choosing the Deep South to found a self-sufficient Black town with its own sawmill, firehouse, blacksmith shop, post office, general store and even a casket factory.
Picking a name for the settlement was the easy part.
“It’s pretty dope, just knowing that people way before you with the same last name were able to do things that were unheard of, unthinkable back then,” says Bradley, who has visited Chubbtown twice. “And it just makes you wear your name with pride. It makes you go out there and whenever you’re feeling down, whenever you have a bad day, you’ve just got to keep pushing because of those people that pushed for you, to put you in this position.”
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Bradley Chubb won’t be the only player at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday carrying both the gratitude and the responsibility that comes with CHUBB on the back of his jersey. The Cleveland Browns will be the visitors, featuring running back Nick Chubb, Bradley’s cousin. The two Chubbs grew up about an hour apart in Georgia, didn’t meet until they were in high school but keep in touch from time to time.
Both are among the NFL’s best at their positions. They’ve already met twice as pros, swapping jerseys after their initial clash. And, yes, Bradley has had to tackle his cousin.
Both men also carry a reverence toward the town bearing their name.
“When you’re on that sacred ground, you can feel the presence, feel the spirit,” Nick told ESPN for a feature on Chubbtown.
Bradley felt it during the funeral of a grandfather to whom he’d been close. Today, his grandfather rests near all eight of the founding Chubb brothers. The only other remaining hint of what once was is the Chubb Methodist Episcopal Church, which in 1990 joined the National Registry of Historic Places. Built in 1870, it welcomes a few dozen members for prayer every other Sunday.
Time and a 1916 flood are said to have wiped away the rest of Chubbtown. In 2020, author Clemmie B. Whatley sought to restore what nature had claimed, publishing the book “The Chubbs: A Free Black Family’s Journey from the Antebellum Era to the Mid-1900s.” It was inspired when Nick’s father, Henry — a cousin of Whatley’s — asked her to assist ESPN with a story on Nick, then at the University of Georgia.
It wasn’t until Bradley and his siblings approached adulthood that they began to appreciate Chubbtown. What kid would believe a parent’s tale about a town named after them?
“It’s one of those things that my dad used to first tell us when we used to say he was playing — like, ‘Yeah, you’re lying. Whatever,’ ” Bradley says. “But then when we actually got a chance to see it and go on the ground, just to feel the history there, I mean, it’s an eye-opening experience for sure.”
Bradley has resisted any temptation to bring home a souvenir from Chubbtown. It seems some (football fans?) have left with the sign bearing the name of the town.
“I want to, but I’ll get one made if I want,” Bradley says.
One historical account traces the family roots to Nicholas Chubb, “a free colored male,” according to the 1820 Census, who was born by 1775. As one could imagine, some details of the family history are sketchy, not only due to time but also the family’s tradition of reusing first names (hence, the Browns’ Nick Chubb).
It was around 1864 that the eight Chubb brothers moved from North Carolina to 2,600 rural acres in Georgia. It’s unclear why the family didn’t move to a free state in the North. What is clear is the Chubbs were a family of many skills. Census records list them as blacksmiths, wagon makers, carpenters, sawmill operators and, of course, farmers. If anything broke down, you looked up a Chubb to fix it. The brothers had created a town with Black businesses so successful they counted whites from the surrounding areas among their clientele.
One story handed down from generations is that as Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops marched through Georgia, they confiscated livestock and burned property of those hostile to them, but in Chubbtown, Sherman was met by free Black families who owned all that he saw.
“He said, ‘Leave them be,’ ” Nick told ESPN.
Nick credited their determination with inspiring him to rehabilitate from a gruesome knee injury suffered in 2015 while at Georgia. Today, Nick has 841 rushing yards, second in the NFL only to Tennessee’s Derrick Henry.
Bradley, too, has a Pro Bowl on his resume, and last week, the Dolphins thought enough of him to send a package including a first-round pick to Denver to acquire his rights. Right away, they handed him a $110 million extension through the 2027 season.
It’s seemingly inevitable Bradley and Nick will meet with a thud at some point Sunday afternoon.
“We played together before,” Bradley says. “It’s going to be a cool experience, though, just playing against a family member. And you know, he’s trying to win, I’m trying to win. So it’s going to be a good matchup there. And I’m excited about it.”
That makes two.
“He has always made great plays,” Nick says of Bradley. “Nothing new with that. I am sure he will be ready to go.”
He is, after all, a Chubb.
Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Georgia's historic Chubbtown named for Bradley and Nick Chubb's ancestors
