MARGARET WARNER MORLEY 

1858-1923
Educator, Biologist, Writer

The Carolina Mountains, 1913 by Amelia Watson

Margaret Morley had a special affection for western North Carolina. She came here in the early years of the twentieth-century  and recorded her brief stay in The Carolina Mountains, published in 1913.

The book, like many of her other works, is a combination of biological observation, travelogue, and reflections on life. A graduate of Hunter College in New York, Morley was dedicated to the education of the young. Her books written for children include the beautifully illustrated Song of Life (1891), Insect Folk (1903), Little Mitchell, the Story of a Mountain Squirrel (1904), and the Apple-Tree Sprite (1915). Many of her books were used in the classroom as texts. The Renewal of Life: How and When to Tell the Story to the Young (1906), is a sensitive and frank account of procreation. 

The Carolina Mountains, written while Morley was in residence in Tryon, North Carolina from 1890-1920, is one of the most loving and poetic accounts of the region by a woman. One chapter, "How Spring Comes in the Southern Mountains," describes the annual awakening

"It comes slowly, which is its unique charm. ...Here the spirit of the South prevails, and the spring gradually unfolds for three months, rising in a strong, slow tide that finally breaks over the land in a tremendous  flood of color and fragrance and song. ... Pale green creeps daintily up the ravines proclaiming the awakening of the tulip-trees. Budding hardwood trees everywhere mingle delicate shades of pink and yellow and silver-white, soft greens, and bronze-reds, with the dark green of the pines. The forest is transformed, it gives the impression of one wreathed in smiles. The tide of life is rising strongly though yet slowly ..."

Morley's gentle books, filled with images, fanciful and romantic, favor scenes from nature, the life of mountain families, typical scenic views of the western area, and rural North Carolina farm life.  The Carolina Mountains is bound in mountain homespun woven at the Biltmore Industries in Asheville. Also a photographer and and artist, Morley did not, however, paint the small watercolor seen above and used on the homespun cover of her book. The painting is by her close friend Amelia Watson, the first professional artist to live in Tryon, NC.* The two women came to Tryon together and had mutual connections through Morley's relative, the author Charles Dudley Warner.  Note the small figure carrying a bucket. The same figural study is also seen in Morley's photograph called "Going Home", seen on the index page for "Women in Western North Carolina." 

In The Carolina Mountains, her descriptions of the early settlers, of Biltmore, of early education in the mountains, Flat Rock, local speech, the Cherokee, and the Great Smoky Mountains thoughtfully capture the essence of the area as she experienced it in the early twentieth century. In her closing chapter, "The Holiday of  Dreams," she muses

"... the world is coming; the old-time mountaineer is going ...Social transitions are always trying, and perhaps peculiarly so here, where the awakening consciousness suddenly sees the glitter of the prize without understanding the law of exchange. But the people are sound. To native intelligence they add a rude but strong sense of honor and of justice which with the passing of time will undoubtedly mould them happily into the new conditions."

Morley re-engages us with nature and the people of western North Carolina, nudges us to look closely at the world around us and asks us to treat our environment with a loving spirit that will assure the next generations a bountiful mountain home inheritance.

Preston Arthur in his introductory chapter to Western North Carolina: A History, describes Morley

"Such just, truthful, generous and sympathetic words ..., especially when found eminating from a New Englander, will be highly appreciated by every resident of the Carolina mountains, as we are accustomed to little else than misrepresentations and abuse by many of the writers from Miss Morley's former home. Her descriptions of our flowers, our gems, our manners and customs, our scenery, our climate and the character of our people will win for her a warm place in the affections of all our people. "The Carolina Mountains" is by far the best book that has ever been written about our section and our people. The few lapses into which she has been betrayed by incorrect information will be gladly overlooked in view of the fact that she has been so just, so kind and so truthful in the estimate she has placed upon our virtues and our section."  (1914, P. Arthur, Western North Carolina: A History, p. 16)

The papers and photographs of Margaret Morley are held by the Stowe-Day Library collection in Hartford, CN.

*The artist Amelia Watson has been described by Michael J. McCue in his exhibition catalog, Tryon Artists: 1892-1942, [Ramsey Library Special Collections] prepared for the exhibition "Tryon Artists 1892-1942: The First Fifty Years" at The Upstairs Gallery, May 18-June 23, 2001, Tryon, NC.

HW

Morley, Margaret. The Carolina Mountains, Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1913

Mountains -- North Carolina
North Carolina -- Description and travel
North Carolina -- Social life and customs
Appalachian Region, Southern -- Social life and customs
Appalachians (People) -- North Carolina