The Eunice Waymon Birthplace

The Waymon Garden Restoration

During Carrol Waymon's visit, several discussions centered around the garden that was located next to the house at 30 East Livingston Street. Carrol helped layout the size of the overall garden, located the site of an original peachtree, and provided a valuable list of vegetables that his father, John D. Waymon would always grow. This week the garden restoration began as the area was tilled and prepared for the cabbage, onions, and potatoes that have now been planted.

The Canady House

A red block house above the cross roads in the hollow behind the Depot in Tryon was of great interest to Carrol. He repeated several times, “That’s our house, but something is different.” He walked up the road past the front to look at it from the other side. He walked back down the road and around to an overlook above a trailer where he heard a couple dogs barking. Carrol waved as a young woman emerged from the trailer and walk down to the creek below the overlook and shouted up, “Hello.”

She said she had grown up in the house below the overlook to the right that was now surrounded by bamboo. She said she didn’t know anything about the red block house, although she said she had lived in the Hollow her entire life. She said she remembers the road above the red house was clear years ago and there were several houses farther up that aren’t there any more.

Carrol walked around to where the road curved back to the railroad tracks and headed in that direction. At the curve behind the house surrounded by the bamboo is a large two-story house set back in the trees. He climbed the stairs to see if anyone was home that could remember the red house or the Waymon family.

When Carrol got up to the porch, I heard polite introductions followed by a loud laughing, “Carrol!” Again, just as the day before, an old friend recognized Carrol from years before. It was Katherine Canady who’s late husband, Prince, was a close friend of Carrol’s older brother, John Irving. Katherine repeated several times, “I can’t believe I’m seeing Carrol Waymon again.” The two visited and Katherine showed Carrol the house and where she had been sitting in the breakfast room watching him walk up the road. “I wondered who you were down there walking up here,” she said.

The two visited and Katherine told Carrol that indeed the house he remembered was the house up on the road. “It’s been remodeled,” she explained. “After a fire burned it down, they added all the block when they rebuilt it.” Carrol was very happy to know his memory was right and to find an old friend and see her once again.

Katherine gave Carrol an old horseshoe as a souvenir that Prince had found near the house before he died. It was one of many that were hanging on the house, but it was the only one hanging on the front porch. Carrol and Katherine said goodbye and he promised to be in touch.

We walked back to the car after walking up and around the road towards the railroad tracks. The Hollow had been hit hard by the recent storm, but Katherine said how much she enjoyed the storm with the trees crashing and the wind blowing. “It frightened everyone else,” she said. “But, I love a good storm.”

Day Two of Carrol's visit begins

Carrol Waymon's second day in Tryon began with a breakfast at T.J’s Diner on Trade Street just south of town.

The breakfast was leisurely and while we were there Phoebe McCabe stopped in for a while as the repaired shop across the street was finishing up on her car. She waved as she sat down in the booth behind us.

The diner had a few other customers, but was quiet as we began to plan the day. Carrol said he wanted to take a drive to see the town as well as some of the surrounding communities he remembered from his childhood. He wanted to see the old St. Luke’s Hospital (where his brother Sammy was born), Gillette Woods, Melrose Avenue, the Train Depot, the Hollow behind the Depot, Mill Spring, Green Creek, and Little Africa. We had our day planned.

When we finished breakfast, our first stop was at the old St. Luke’s Hospital that has now been converted to a senior meeting place and is where the Polk County Department of Social Services is located. The building sits on a bluff overlooking Highway 176 as the road enters Tryon from the south. Tryon is a North Carolina/ South Carolina border town and Highway 176 is the old Asheville-Spartanburg Highway, which was the easiest way up the mountain until 1979 when I-26 from Spartanburg to Asheville was completed. US 176 is a NC Scenic Byway as it passes through Tryon, up the Valhalla Valley, and through the City of Saluda, NC. The sight of the hospital from the road below must have been impressive in the 1920’s and 30’s.

The stone and timber building has the feel of a Craftsman Castle. Above the old entrance carved in the lintel in high relief are the words, “St. Luke’s Hospital” which overlook lower Trade street south of town.

From the hospital we headed to Melrose Avenue where Carrol wanted to see the Melrose Inn where his father once worked. At the end of Melrose Avenue at Chestnut Street once stood Oak Hall Hotel, a rambling numerously roomed building that had a commanding view of Tryon and the mountains. The Hotel was torn down in the late 1970’s to make room for condominiums, which are there today. Just across Chestnut from the site of the Oak Hall Hotel is the Lanier Library where at the age of nine, Carrol said he and a friend read in the Tryon Daily Bulletin that, “children were invited.”

“We arrived and were turned away. It wasn’t the black children who were invited only the white children,” Carrol told the story as we made the turn from Chestnut onto Melrose. I asked him if he wanted to stop and go inside, and he said, “No.”

Next to the Lanier Library stands the Tryon Fine Arts Center built the late 1960’s. Across the street from Art Center is the Melrose Inn where John Waymon worked. We turned in and drove down behind the building to see the back side. Carrol had few memories of the building, but remembered his father talking about it. Beyond the Inn and down Melrose Avenue a ways is the Holy Cross Episcopal Church followed by the Congregational Church. Carrol was seeing Melrose Avenue with the eyes of a child, but with the full experienced of his eighty years. “These are rich churches,” he said. And I said, “Yes."

Melrose Avenue is the route Eunice walked while taking piano lessons from Muriel Mazzanovich who lived on Glengarnock Road in Gillette Woods. Glengarnock is a steep road that winds up to a ridge with direct view of the mountains. We followed the road and stopped in front of the old Mazzanovich place that has now been entirely remodeled without much of the original structure remaining. Across the street and up a ways is where Mrs. Miller lived and where Carrol’s mother, Kate Waymon worked during the years Eunice was taking piano lessons with “Miss Mazzy.”

We turned around in the Miller house driveway and drove back down Glengarnock and around to Melrose. “I was never at the Mazzy’s, but remember them talking about it.” Carrol said on the way. We turned in at Melrose Circle and around so Carrol could see some of the other houses. We drove down Hidden Lane and I pointed out where the first Mrs. Frank Lloyd Wright lived. We then returned to Chestnut Street and turned towards town.

As we got to the end of Chestnut at Pacolet Street and across from the Tryon Train Depot we noticed the MUSEUM OPEN sign on the Polk County Historical Association located in the Depot. We parked and got out. Next to the depot is a small garden park maintained by the Tryon Garden Club. Carrol commented on how simple it seemed to create and maintain a garden. “It just takes doing it,” he said. We talked for a moment about the Birthplace and a garden there, and it occurred to me, it just takes doing it.

Inside the Depot, the Historical Association Museum is a collection of bits and pieces of Polk County History. It’s a small room with a lot of material – tools, pictures, text, a printing press, and a wood stove to name a few. “Ours was like this, but without this,” Carrol said gestured towards the stove and describing the stove in the Birthplace in 1933. “We’ll have to find one for the house -- and one of these,” he said pointing towards a flour bin in the museum’s recreated early Polk County kitchen.

Disappointedly, the display of photos of famous Polk County people was absent of any mention of Nina Simone. Carrol didn’t say anything, but it was obvious as we left the museum that he had noticed and we talked about it later the next day. In the museum however, one bright moment came when we found an old Tryon business poster from the 1920’s that mentioned, the Tryon Pressing Club and Carrol wondered if that was his father’s ad.

After the Historical Association we drove down to the Hollow behind Pacolet Street where the Waymon’s lived just before moving to East Livingston Street sometime in 1931. The Hollow was overgrown and haunting. We stopped near a crossroads and Carrol got out.

Carrol Arrives!

Eunice Waymon’s older brother Carrol arrived shortly after midnight on Monday January 16 to a town quietly concluding the MLK celebrations held that Sunday. It had been an hour and half drive from Charlotte and as we entered Tryon proper early that Monday morning, threads began to connect and small bits and pieces of memory began falling into place. Carrol absorbed the lights of the midnight town with comments about Owen’s Pharmacy, the Train Depot, and “Daddy’s Shop” near where the Town’s new clock tower now stands.

The darkness of Highway 176 was in sharp contrast to Trade Street and as we passed the turn off to Tryon County Club, Carrol commented on how far out of town he remembered thinking the Country Club was while he was growing up.

This visit to Tryon was decidedly low-key with only a few close friends knowing he was coming.

The morning of the first day started after a Carolina Breakfast of eggs, ham, toast and a call to an old friend. We drove to the Birthplace via the “back-way,” up to Grady, to Markham, past the Hannon’s home place and the Tryon Cemetery. Carrol’s memory of the neighborhood began to fall into place as we passed Garrison Chapel and came up on where the Lyle’s House once stood.

“This was the center of our world!” he exclaimed in a deep rolling “r” voice that only a Waymon can achieve. He described Fred Lyles as so much more than a neighbor. “He was a great man who did great things,” Carrol whispered as we finished the turn off Markham onto East Livingston Street and parked. “This is it,” Carrol said raising his hand and pointing towards the house before getting out. “This is OUR house.”

Once on foot, Carrol examined the west side of the house and turned towards the back. “This is where Daddy’s Barber Shop was,” he said as he gestured towards the ground and studied the trees towards where the Lyles’ house stood. Two large oak trees seemed to anchor Carrol’s memory. “That’s where we played tennis,” he pointed towards the top of the knoll behind the oaks. “This was our playground.”

He turned back towards where the house once stood, “They tore it down, eh? They tore Fred Lyles’ house down -- what were they thinking?” He looked down and with his foot brushed the surface of the ground with his shoe disturbing only a fine layer of sandy clay. He paused a moment before turning back towards the Birthplace.

He began to turn his attention to the front of the house and to the opposite side. “This was our garden,” he said pointing to the grassy area below the house. “’Mum’ had her flowers here and we had an old peach tree right around here.” He gestured towards the ground and I marked it with a small rock.

“THIS is our house,” he said again, as he climbed the steps and stood on the front porch. He motioned with his hands where the swing once hung in front of the porch window.

Walking inside, Carrol immediately turned to the left behind the door and said, “We had a phone here, with a crank, on the wall -- with a shelf. I just remembered that.” He gestured as if he was ringing the operator and then began examining the wall finding the holes that once mounted the box.

In his parent’s bedroom he examined the still extent light fixture. “When we first moved in, we didn’t have electricity, but it was added.”

Carrol described the bedroom where he remembered laying on a long bed under the window and two other beds. He described how the room became a guest room when visiting “elders” would stay. He said, "This was the room where Nina was born."

That first day he examined the condition of the walls and the floors in the bedroom and the kitchen. He described where the beds were and the type of heating and cooking stoves that were in the house in 1933. He remembered the door from the living room to the back porch more than the door from the kitchen to the back porch. He described where the pump organ was in the living room and that they all referred to the spot the “music corner.’

He asked to see under the house. “I would engineer an entire world out of clay. Trains and mountains and play for hours,” he said smiling and gesturing with closed hands – his thumbs tucked under his forefingers. With flashlight in hand, Carrol climbed under the house and carefully examined the ground. “This was my spot – here, where I would spend hours – to a child, this was an entire world.” He pointed with the flashlight and began examining the small bits of wood and metal that he was catching with the light.

He examined the underside of the floor and announced, “Look here!” as he found the nearly one hundred year old telephone wires beneath the front wall. “I can see a junction box of some sort. Do you see it?” he asked as he pointed with the light to an old porcelain and wood fixture secured up under a floor joist.

Carrol stayed under the house while I returned to the van for two screwdrivers to retrieve the fixture and climbing back under I found Carrol with a sizable pile of material he had collected in the few moments I was gone. Like an archeologist examining relics, Carrol combed through the fine dust and uncovered old cards, bits of tools, pieces of glass and metal. All the material he was touching under the house that first day held deep significance to him – it didn’t seem to matter whether it was deposited 70 years ago or just recently. The material represented something deep to him. It was material that had somehow, one way or another, found it’s way to the spot which was very special to his childhood – to beneath the house where he once played -- an old croquet mallet, three wooden croquet balls, a plastic Halloween pumpkin, a metal spoon, a yellow glass marble, a twisted piece of wire, a “diamond,” and several beads. He handled it all delicately and carefully.

The porcelain telephone fixture dislodged with the removal of one screw. On the verso were molded letters reading, “Patented Dec 11 1906 Feb 12 1907 July 16 1907 Aug 25 1908 other patents pending.” The fixture was collected and added to the collection as we heard Winfred Suber arrive at the house on his scooter. After hearing us shout up to him through the floor, he joined us under the house and helped gather the material which now included an original cedar log floor support that was set aside when it was replaced with concrete block support sometime in the 1970’s.

Out from under the house, Carrol and Winfred moved the material in piles before Winfred had to leave. Carrol decided to visit his childhood friend, Ruth (King) Porter who still lived across the street from the Birthplace. Carrol could see her walking up her driveway beside her house.

Carrol visited while I organized the material from under the house and removing the now obsolete power box now since our friends at Duke Power had hooked up the power to the temporary pole earlier the week before. A short time later, James Payne drove by and I recognized his station and waved for him to pull up. As he pulled close and rolled down his window I said, “Come take a look. Carrol Waymon’s here. He’s down with Ruth, now.” James immediately parked and got out and walked down. I could see Carrol standing on the porch with Ruth and could hear James saying, “Do you know who I am?” as he laughed and stepped closer. I could see Ruth laughing too and asking James, “Can I give him a clue?” Carrol played along looking at James closely and saying, “Don’t tell me.” He took James by both shoulders and turned him around as if to find better light for a better view, but there was still silence. I saw Ruth lean into Carrol and give him a hint which was followed by Carrol exclaiming, “JAMES PAYNE!”

It became an old home day as a short time later Carrol caught a glimpse of Fred Counts who stopped his car in the middle of the road, got out and gave Carrol a huge hug. “So many years,” Carrol said. “So many years.”

A short time later the Tryon treasures from under the house were loaded in the van and we headed to Columbus to pick up dinner. On the way we realized we forgot to stop and get several bags of quilting material that we saw were being cleaned out of a house below the Birthplace on the backside of East Livingston Street. After getting dinner we headed back and loaded up the material. The cloth sack bags were extremely old, filled with fabric, and were stacked like trash beside the road.

Day one of Carrol’s visit ended with a chicken dinner with sides of mash potatoes, Cole slaw, biscuits and gravy -- with a diet Pepsi with no ice.

A New Year

January 3 06 --A new year arrives and work on the house continues albeit slow. Today, Musselwhite Electrical installed a temporary electrical pole in front of the house and an inspection has been scheduled before Duke Power will be called to disconnect from the house and attach temporary service to the pole. The house is showing tremendous character with the windows, doors, and other later elements removed.

Our goal for the next couple weeks is to prepare for the arrival of EW's older brother CW who is scheduled to be in Tryon before the end of this month. We're excited to have a family member walk us through the property and describe "what and where" as we begin to plan for an anniversary celebration on or around February 21.

Ice comes and ice goes

After six and half days without power due to a recent ice storm, life returns to normal in Tryon. Last weekend the final push to remove all the gypsum board in the living room, all the particleboard in the bedroom and kitchen, the false ceilings, and the entire bathroom -- finally paid off. Nearly 95% down to the bare bones and the house is really beginning to show off its true character and original lines.

Classifying the Birthplace has become somewhat of a mental exercise as we're comparing what we’ve found with other documented structures in North and South Carolina (particularly, Mecklenburg County, NC and Spartanburg County, SC). The house is undeniably front-gabled with an inset porch, but the jury is still out on whether it represents late National, Folk Victorian, or a Southern Vernacular style.

The Birthplace Emerges

Little by little the original structure is making its way through the clutter.

The weather is cooperating and this Saturday and Sunday were both beautiful – sunny with temperatures in the 40’s.

The building permit was issued this week and our good friends at Duke Power are scheduled to disconnect and reattach temporary service to a new pole in and around December 16 after the temporary pole is inspected.

Enough work has gone on at the house that we now have a clear picture of what stays and what goes. With this benchmark behind us, we’ve ordered a construction dumpster to be delivered Tuesday so that we can pick up the pace get the clutter removed over the holidays and before the first of the year.

J.O finished the measured drawings on Friday with very few anomalies.

The house overall is 22' x 26'. The bedroom where Eunice was born is 12’6” x 12'. The living room is 12' x 17'6". The front porch is 8 x 12.6 feet and the kitchen is 12’ 4” x 12’. The back porch measures 4' 11" deep and appears to have run the entire width of the house. There are 520 square feet of total heated space in the house

The most surprising development today was the discovery of an original exterior door frame from the living room to the back porch. We had assumed the smaller bathroom door was cut in when the bathroom was added, or was perhaps even a window that was expanded. Instead, we found an original doorframe clearly visible when the jam was removed.

Once the gypsum board in the bathroom was removed, we confirmed there was no window that had been covered when the bathroom addition was completed. It appears there was never a window on the south end of the living room, but instead a door leading to the back porch. We are working to confirm this with first hand accounts and perhaps once more gypsum board is removed in the living room we will be able to see the layout more clearly.

The newly discovered door jam and other images from this weekend have been added to the photo album.

December 4, 2005

Cold weather came in on Saturday, broke to mild on Sunday morning, and back to cold Sunday evening.

The house is showing signs of activity as the siding is being removed. We discovered the entire west side of the house was replaced at one time with newer / broader clapboard. Judging by the nails and lumber this probably happened in the late 1940's or early 50's. Another house not far from the EW Birthplace that we know was built in the 1940's has the same newer clapboard. The damage however on this exterior wall is major. It is in the same location as the damage on the inside in the bedroom and was expected. The entire area will require removal and rebuilding.

The masonite siding on the front porch has now been removed, as has the siding on the front of the house up to the 12-foot mark.

We measured the rooms and J.O is making drawings.

We have more details on the property especially the garden. John D. Waymon grew sweet potatoes (always), cabbage, white potatoes, green beans, okra, and onions. Just out the front door of the house and down the steps towards the road, Kate Waymon had what was called "the flower pit" for over wintering her plants. The hole was about three feet from the path and about three feet from the road on the right hand side facing the road. A flower pit is a hole that is dug deep where wooden shelves are put down in it and plants are placed. Then the hole is covered for the winter. In the spring the hole is dug up again and the plants are pulled out and planted.

Also, in front of the garden below the house was an old peach tree that fruited every other year. Beyond that on the lower side of the garden was a fence.

We have two details about the stoves in the house. In the living room there was a "round belly stove" that was loaded from a door on the front or from a door on the top. It burned coal and in the kitchen the stove burned wood.

John D. would from time to time take the children up the railroad tracks towards Saluda, NC where they would pick up small bits of coal in buckets and bring it home. The wood would come from nearby in Lynn, NC where John D. would take the children in his old car to where he knew all the best places.

These accounts come from first hand stories collected this weekend.

Day One - Preservation Begins

It has been a long two years and so many of you have asked, "How can I help," that in November of 2007 we decided to set up a PayPal link for online tips and contributions through the Lucky Star Cooperative in Tryon, North Carolina. Just click on the "U Can Help" box on the left side of the Eunice Waymon Birthplace weblog's main page. Please know that your tip is not tax-deductible, but will be used exclusively to help offset the costs of the Birthplace Restoration. Each contribution receives a personal reply and if you include your address, a small token of our gratitude from the Lucky Star Cooperative, Tryon, North Carolina, USA. Come see us!

Now, back to the beginning -- this is how is all began in 2005...

November 25, 2005.

Today was the first day in the Eunice Waymon Birthplace. J.O and I stopped by the hardware store on the way to East Livingston Street and bought tools, a metal pail, and a broom. When we arrived at the house we discovered the kitchen window facing the back porch had been broken out. The plastic covering the window on the inside was ripped, but the window remained locked. The doorknob on the back door was loose and we discovered the jam was splintered from being hit from the outside.

The house was musty and moist smelling on the inside.

In the bathroom (on the same end of the house as the kitchen) we found the window there broken out also. Julie started cleaning the glass in the kitchen window and I worked in the bedroom testing the ceiling tiles and pulling a few down. We discover the original bead-board ceiling was above a false ceiling with a 14-inch airspace. We already knew there was bead-board on the walls because in a small closet we could see original wall.

Above the false ceiling was the original light fixture still intact. The fixture has a small porcelain element and two long cloth covered wires suspending the bulb socket at mid height in the room. The socket has a pull chain.

Above the false ceiling the bead-board in the far corner of the bedroom towards the kitchen is in very bad shape with much dry rot and insect damage. In the kitchen there is a false ceiling too and above it the bead-board ceiling is not much better. The cause of all the damage is the flashing and tin roof around the chimney and where a recent patch has been added. The whole house on the outside has been clad with a fiber type siding which covers the original clapboard. On the outside of the house near where the ceiling is damaged on the inside, the siding is buckled indicating more than likely there is damage underneath.

Back on the inside, the ceiling in the bedroom took three hours to take down. Winfred Suber stopped by and visited for about fifteen minutes and viewed the bedroom. Winfred’s great, great grandmother is listed on Eunice Waymon’s birth certificate, as Kate Waymon’s mid-wife. The birth certificate indicates Eunice was born at home. We were standing in the room were Eunice Waymon was born.

Robin and Garland Rice stopped by to see the house and walked through. Garland offered a number of suggestions on the foundation and back porch situation. After everyone left we continued taking down the ceiling tiles and supports in the bedroom.

On the front porch we removed a panel that covered an access hole that has been cut in the ceiling of the porch. With a flashlight the inside of the tin roof could be seen. From the inside the tin is pressed, but from the outside it is simply utility tin. Just like the clapboard being covered with siding, the bead-board ceiling being covered with a false ceiling, and the bead-board walls being covered with particleboard, the pressed tin is covered with utility tin.

On the front porch to the right of the front door, I removed several sections of siding and exposed the clapboard underneath which is painted white. At the edge of the door jam the bead board on the inside can be seen although on the inside the walls of the room have been covered with sheet rock.

This was the end of day one at the Eunice Waymon Birthplace.