Louise Howe Bailey

Louise Howe Bailey

Much of what I’ve reported about the history of Flat Rock and Henderson County in the last few years is either directly attributable or a derivative of the research and writing of Louise Howe Bailey. Certainly one of Henderson County’s most prolific historians, Louise wrote 10 books about our community and her experiences here. To this day, her legacy continues to leave an indelible imprint of all that is known and written about Flat Rock’s long and storied history.

This article is a compilation of several articles and observations written about Louise both before and after her death in 2009. The words of the authors quoted here make it obvious that Louise was a larger-than-life figure that left a lasting and very positive impression on the people that knew her.

And, although I never met her personally, I am deeply indebted to Louise Howe Bailey for providing fascinating source material for all of us that continue to write about Flat Rock to this day. -BH
————-

Early Life

Louise King Howe was born July 6, 1915, the great-great-granddaughter of Judge Mitchell King. King built the Argyle Estate and was one of the first Lowcountry elites to build a “cottage” and spend the cooler mountain summer months in Flat Rock. (1)

Bailey was the daughter of Dr. William Bell Howe, a well-known Henderson County physician. The family lived alongside the Greenville Highway at the site of the former Food Lion grocery store (now a Dollar Tree Store). “The house stood on a knoll,” Bailey explained, “but they leveled it to put in the shopping center.” She would quip that she was born “at the Food Lion, in the general proximity of the onion bin.” (2)

The Howe family later moved to her Laurelhurst home in Flat Rock when she was 12 years old.

An item in a November 1915 issue of the French Broad Hustler announced the winners of the “Baby Show” hosted by the Kentucky Home hotel. In the category of “under one-year-old,” judges selected Louise Howe as the prettiest baby in Hendersonville.

Self-professed tomboys, Louise and her sister, Jennie, attended the Fassifern School for Girls, Hendersonville's acclaimed preparatory school. While others their ages graced cotillions and teas, the Howe sisters preferred the company of snakes and gators in the Okefenokee Swamp. Their father, “Old Doc” Howe, also treated his girls to camping excursions on Whiteside Mountain and in the wilds of Nantahala National Forest.

The sisters were thrilled, too, in “camping” with their nanny Mary Stepp's family on a slope of the Pinnacle in the Crab Creek sector. With no plumbing or electricity, the Stepps' home proffered rusticity the Howe sisters found beguiling — and comfortable. (2)

Louise attended the Fassifern from third grade through high school and then entered Winthrop College in Rock Hill, S.C., where she earned a degree in biology. She later graduated from Columbia University in New York with a degree in library science. “My fellow students wondered why a Southern bumpkin would be in their midst,” she'd later joke. (2)

As the daughter of a country doctor, Bailey spent much of her childhood accompanying her father on rounds to patients of meager means who lived in cabins with no electricity or plumbing. Dr. Howe would often trade his services for goods when they couldn’t pay. One such woman was Mary Stepp. (1)

From Stepp, Bailey learned mountain lore, the names of native plants, and stories that had been handed down since the pioneer days. At the same time, she was surrounded by the history and society of old Charleston. “I think she recognized that she had some unique experiences in her life,” recalled her son, Joe Bailey. Capturing and recording for posterity the wide range of people, experiences, and places in Henderson County became Bailey’s life work. (1)

After graduate school, Louise returned to South Carolina as a library science training school supervisor at Winthrop College. She also taught high-school English in Edgefield, S.C. Eventually, she married Dr. Joseph Peden Bailey —who also became well-known around Henderson County — and gave up her career to be a full-time wife and mother. (2) From 1947 until his death in 1986, Dr. Joseph Bailey cared for the local residents when they became sick or needed a doctor. “He delivered about 3,000 babies,” Louise said. (3)

With time, Louise Bailey was a doctor's wife, a mother of three sons, and grandmother of two granddaughters. Louise also had her share of heartache in her years, outliving much of her family, including one of her sons. “You just have to keep going,” she said when asked how to cope with life’s inevitabilities. (4)

Writing Career

After raising her family, Bailey started her career as a columnist for the Hendersonville Times-News, writing “Along the Ridges” for 42 years. During that time, she also found time to author ten books. Henderson County and its mountain people were Bailey’s favorite subjects. Her books included “Remembering Henderson County,” “Draw Up A Chair,” “Go Home Wi’ Me”, and others. (3)

Bailey penned her “Along the Ridges” columns on legal pads and transcribed them on a typewriter — later on a “computah” (as she pronounced it). For those 42 years, she hand-delivered her column (in later years, on a floppy disc) each Monday to the Times-News.

Bailey’s columns in the Times-News brought to life a proud mountain people with a distinct culture. The names and dates did not matter. It was the way of life, the personality, and the traits of the people that she so beautifully described in her writings. Her memories of the people and the land spanned more than 90 years, from the 1920s into the 21st century. Her columns preserved the memories of the people and the natural beauty that surrounded them. (3)

From childhood, on her father's advice, “I began to look for traits that made an individual stand out — good, bad, amusing, obnoxious — whatever made the person a little bit different from everyone else.” (2)

“I like to bring to life the everyday people who furnish our food and cut the timber for our homes,” she said. Bailey described the native mountain people as “real people” who are independent and have dignity and pride. “For common sense, you can’t beat the people in these mountains,” she said. “They’ve survived just with their own initiative. They treated illnesses with home remedies and would go to the doctor as a last resort.” (3)

Louise also chronicled the seasons and gave voice to the surprisingly wide spectrum of topics. She expressed her love for the natural world and the beauty of the region while teaching readers about local flora and fauna. She shared and recorded stories that would otherwise have been forgotten, but add greatly to the historical record. (1)

After getting to know Carl Sandburg, Bailey worked as an assistant for the author, and even typed the manuscript for “Remembrance Rock.” Bailey later explained this job as “sorting through a flurry of his scribbled notes, then organizing and transcribing the material.” The two scribes struck up a friendship. (2)

Bailey enjoyed retelling the anecdote of Sandburg and the pot liquor. “Having come from the North, he'd never tasted green beans simmered with fatback — the way they're supposed to be cooked. When he laid eyes on the ones I'd prepared, he described them as ‘pale.'”

Nevertheless, Sandburg savored the beans — so much so, he helped himself to seconds and thirds. “Then, asking us to never tell anyone about what we were about to witness,” Bailey said, “he picked up the tureen and drank the pot liquor from it!”

Recounting the story frequently, she'd add, each time with a chuckle, “And I've been tellin' everyone ever since.” (2)

Honors and Awards

Louise's many awards included the North Carolina Society of Historians Religious Book Award in 1995 for her book on St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church, and the Western North Carolina Historian of the Year in 1997.

She was a former board member and trustee of the Henderson County Public Library, the BRCC Education Foundation and Historic Flat Rock. She also served on the Board of Visitors at the Kanuga Conference Center. Bailey was a member of the National League of American Penwomen and an honorary member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. She was a member of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church.

During a ceremony before the premiere of a biographical play — “Reflections: From the Mirror of Her Mind” — written by local playwright Tom Orr in Bailey’s honor, N.C. Rep. Carolyn Justus presented her with The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the governor of North Carolina.

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners declared “Louise Howe Bailey Day” in her honor. The town of Saluda and all of Henderson County’s local municipalities including Flat Rock, Fletcher, Mills River and Laurel Park followed suit and also proclaimed the special day in her honor. (3)

When Louise Bailey died (peacefully, and just as sharp as ever) at 94 just two days after Christmas in 2009, she left behind unpublished work on her computer, which her son Joe Bailey and friend and fellow historian Terry Ruscin compiled into a final book entitled “Historic Henderson County: Tales From “Along the Ridges.” Featuring a foreword by author Robert Morgan, the book included some of Bailey’s previously published columns, along with a wealth of previously unpublished material about Henderson County’s rich natural heritage and colorful characters. (1)

Remembrances

Missy Schenck, President of Historic Flat Rock, Inc. remembers Louise coming to Camp Tonawanda in the early 1980s for staff training so they would know the history and folklore of the area. “It was such a hit we did it every year,” recalls Missy. “She had such a talent for writing but she also had a wonderful stage presence and had total command of her audience when speaking. She never looked at a note. She would just start telling stories and they would just pour out of her.”

David Dethero, Village Council Member, remembers feeling like a student sitting at a teacher’s knee whenever he had the opportunity to talk to Louise. “Every time I talked with Louise I learned something. I loved to sit and listen to her talk about the old days.”

Louise with Terry Ruscin

Those who knew her said that although she certainly had the bona fides to be a member of high society, Bailey had no interest in that sort of social distinction. “She was no social butterfly and she put on no pretense,” remembered Joe Bailey. “She accepted people for who they were.” That genuineness was part of what made her a great writer and what made the breadth and scope of her stories so wide and varied. (1)

Audiences delighted in Bailey's graciousness, in the melody of her voice and chuckle. Her resonance — richly alto — flowed exquisitely, songlike. Once described as “honey melting over the edge of a cathead biscuit,” the beloved storyteller's timbre sported a hint of Charlestonian brogue laced with the occasional mountain colloquialism. (2)

Best-selling author/biographer, North Carolina poet laureate and Henderson County native Robert Morgan wrote of Louise, “No one has taught us more about our heritage than Louise Bailey. She has served as our essential guide to the past, reminding us of our achievements with humor and respect. She has reminded us of who we are, and what she has told us is what we will pass on to our children and future generations.” (2)

The inimitable Louise Bailey lives on vividly through her columns and books. She documented the lives of so many in the course of her own long life. And the memory of her endures in the hearts of all who loved and admired the lady who was born in the onion bin. (2)

---

Sources:

(1)Bold Life
Nov 29, 2010
Living History
https://www.boldlife.com/living-history/

(2) Celebrating the legacy of Louise Howe Bailey, 1915-2009
Henderson County's beloved storyteller born 100 years ago this week
TERRY RUSCIN Beyond the Banks
https://www.blueridgenow.com/story/news/2015/07/05/celebrating-the-legacy-of-louise-howe-bailey-1915-2009/28330642007/

(3)Henderson heritage.com
Jennie Jones Giles
https://hendersonheritage.com/louise-howe-bailey/
Louise Howe Bailey

(4)Bold Life
Queen of Flat Rock
7.1.2008
Sherry Austin
https://www.boldlife.com/queen-of-flat-rock/