by Charly Mann

There was no greater adventure for a child in 1950s Chapel Hill than to go to ROSE'S 5 and 10 CENT STORE. It was a magical store with everything you could imagine under one roof. The floors were wood plank and it had a unique and inviting smell that combined the scent of popcorn from its large candy counter with the odor of new merchandise.

ROSE'S 5 10 and 25 STORE can be seen directly across from where these cars are parked on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill in 1958. In those days it was always easy to find a parking space downtown.

There were two front entrances to ROSE'S. I would usually go in the west entrance which led into the clothing area. There were two aisles of apparel down to the center of the store with sections for men's, women's, and children's clothing. ROSE'S had the least expensive and cheapest quality apparel in town, yet most of their clothing was more durable than 90% of what is available today, and everything was 100% cotton. Directly behind clothing was housewares where you could find a good and inexpensive collection of dinnerware and kitchen supplies.

There was no bigger sales event in Chapel Hill than the Hot Diggity Day each summer. This is the ROSE'S ad from the 1964 Hot Diggity Day.  

My main attraction to ROSE'S was browsing, and sometimes buying, items from their fabulous toy department which took up the back half of the two middle aisles in the store. I was part of the first TV generation, and toy commercials on Saturday Morning television enticed me and almost every other child in Chapel Hill to the ROSE'S toy department. It was here in the early 50s that I got Mr. Potato Head. In the late 50s almost every girl I knew bought a Hula Hoop there, and soon after that got her first Barbie Doll. In 1957 I once bought an Ant Farm at ROSE'S, but it was the bags of army soldiers, cap pistols and rifles, and marbles that brought me back almost every week. In 1960 the most popular toy at ROSE'S was the Etch-a-Sketch. The toy department also had a great selection of plastic models, along with coloring and paper doll books.

From 1955 to 1959 I loved playing cowboy with my friends in the Greenwood and Glen Lennox area of Chapel Hill. By the time I bought this set of toy guns at ROSE'S 5 and 10 CENT STORE, for $4.99, I had almost outgrown my "cowboy" phase.

In front of the toy area was the stationery, where the majority of school supplies were purchased in Chapel Hill. There were a variety of loose leaf notebooks, packages of three hole lined paper to go in the notebooks, and dividers with colored tabs. It was also in this section tha they carried lunch boxes, and I remember getting a Howdy Doody one there in 1955 and a Lone Ranger in 1957.

ROSE'S 5 and 10 CENT STORE stood next to the College Cafe which had by far the best breakfast in the world. They were also open for lunch, but never for dinner. Carrington Smith, the 40 plus year manager of the Carolina Theater, had breakfast there every day. Next door to them is the Continental Travel Agency, another long time Chapel Hill business

The most popular section of ROSE'S was the candy counter which was at the front of the store on the first aisle on the right side of the store. At the top of the counter was a Popcorn Machine where in 1957 you could buy a good sized bag of popcorn for a nickel. The candy was displayed in a large glass case that horseshoed around the candy aisle. Inside were large chocolate wedges, colorful wax sticks with a sweet liquid inside, chocolate wrapped gold coins, orange slices, licorice, root beer barrels, chocolate-covered walnuts, chocolate clusters, chocolate covered peanuts, and a large selection of warm nuts. When I was young you could buy a bag of any of these items for five cents that would ensure a tummy ache if you dared finish it in one day. Also for a five cents you could buy a pack of candy cigarettes that actually would blow sugar powdered smoke if you blew on them.

Even though ROSE'S 5 and 10 CENT STORE on Franklin Street had a popcorn machine I preferred getting my popcorn at the Carolina Theater which added real melted butter for free. The popcorn at the Varsity Theater was not freshly made.

Behind the candy counter were the sewing supplies. There were thick books back there with McCall's dress patterns, as well as wide array of fabrics, threads, and buttons.

Walking down Franklin Street in front of ROSE'S 5 10 and 25 CENT STORE  in 1948 when dogs ran free in Chapel Hill.

I have many great memories of lazy afternoons and Saturday mornings browsing the aisles at ROSE'S. it was a wonderful store and I wish it were still there. There are large variety stores today like Wal-Mart, but none match the charm of ROSE'S FIVE-and-TEN CENT STORE.

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Ric Carter was Chapel Hill's best counterculture photographer in the 1970s. He came to Chapel Hill from Gates County in 1967 as a 17 year old freshman, and got his first serious camera in 1969, a Yaschica Mat twin-lens reflex. As a student at UNC he learned to develop his own film, and was soon combining his love for music with his passion for photography to document the bands and concerts in the area.

The Byrds at Carmichael Auditorium, UNC Chapel Hill 1971.
Left to right: Clarence White, Roger McGuinn, Gene Parsons, and Skip Battin

Ric Carter, The Chapel Hill photographer whose images have kept our musical memories alive

Frank Zappa fronting his Petit Wazoo Band in Charlotte, November 1972

Carter was also a writer and photographer for the legendary Protean Radish, a newspaper associated with the Southern Student Organizing Committee. Ric has continued his career in photography and journalism throughout his life. He was the photography editor for the Washington Daily News where he was part of the 1990 Community Service Pulitzer Prize winning staff. He is currently the editor of The North Carolina Mason, journal of the Freemasons fraternity in North Carolina.

The J. Giles Band at UNC's Jubilee 1971. Peter Wolf vocals and Danny Klein bass.

In 1971 Duke University had Joe College weekend about the same time UNC had Jubilee. This is Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. Other performers that year were The Beach Boys, Nils Lofgrin with Grin, and The New Riders of the Purple Sage 

 
Tom Rush at UNC's 1971 Jubilee

What is special about Carter's photography is his vision. If you look at his photographs in this article and look at a more extensive collection at http://cartersxrd.net/Site/Performances/Performances.html you will see his a amazing eye for composition. He knows how to emphasize his subject and eliminate anything that is not important to the picture. There are no distractions in his pictures only an image that captures the artist in performance at that moment.

These are photos of members of South Wing performing at Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill on August 8, 1972. South Wing featured Ed Ibarguen and Scott Madry, and many consider them Chapel Hill's best band of the 1970s. South Wing may have gotten their name from the psychiatric ward at UNC Memorial Hospital where many young Chapel Hillians were involuntarily commited because of drugs, depression, and anti-social behavior.

The Blazers of Chapel Hill 1971
Left to right: Sherman Tate, Joey Earth, Ronny Taylor, and Rodney Underwood

Duane Allman shortly before he died, with the Allman Brothers at UNC's Chapel Hill Jubilee in May 1971

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by Charly Mann

Growing up in Chapel Hill and living there most of my life afforded me a wide array friends and wonderful memories. I often hear from many of my former Chapel Hill friends and several encouraged me to join Facebook so that I could be in contact with even more of my former cronies. I did reluctantly join Facebook, but have spent less than two hours using it. What most overwhelmed me about Facebook was that many people I knew had more than a thousand "Facebook friends." I have five close friends, most of whom I have known for more than 30 years, yet not one of them even has a Facebook account. So I remain a Facebook wallflower and contemplate the meaning of friendship.

From Mr. Duncan's 1965 9th Grade Class at Chapel Hill's Guy B. Phillips Junior High School
Top left: Lennie Jernigan, Fred Johnston
Bottom Left: Watts Poe, Donnie Ray

As humans we are social creatures who naturally want to form friendships. When I was in the tenth grade I was assigned to read Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. In it, Aristotle discusses what he believes are the three kinds of friendships we can have. The first and most common form is utility friendship. This is a friendship that we form because it is advantageous to us at that time and place, but is in reality quite shallow and can easily be discarded as we grow, change, or relocate. As a 15 year old then, who had already had at least six best friends and several dozen good friends who were no longer part of my life, I immediately related to what Aristotle was saying. Aristotle believed that people like this we should not even call friends, but more accurately describe as acquaintances. The second kind of friendship Aristotle said is one of pleasure, and it is primarily characterized by passionate feelings between two people. Unlike the more common utility friendship that seeks a long term benefit or advantage in the relationship, this kind of friendship seeks to establish immediate pleasure between the friends. Unfortunately, a relationship based on pleasure is built mostly on passion, and that is usually fleeting. In both of the previous types of friendships we can become friends with someone very quickly, and just as quickly end it. In reality most of our friendships are one of these two kinds, and are therefore unstable and subject to abrupt termination.

Jenny McClamroch Chapel Hill High School 1967

To Aristotle the highest and rarest form of friendship is true friendship which is between people with shared values and principles, and who have selfless love for each other. In this case each friend wants what is best for the other and works to cultivate and stimulate the friend's potential.

Chapel Hill High School Sophomores: Top left: Robert Varley, Bottom left: Skip Via and Jimmy Vine

Real friendship is beautiful and is the glue that has made my life wonderful. Even though the majority of my childhood and college friendships are over, they do endure in my memory, and I am thankful for them all.

Mrs. Peiper's 1965 8th Grade Class from Chapel Hill Junior High School: Top: Susan Colewell , Anne Creech, Bottom: Mason Dorr, Dick Geary

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by Charly Mann

Chapel Hill has changed a lot in the last 100 years. Since starting Chapel Hill Memories a year ago I have been fortunate to talk to two centenarians from Chapel Hill which has inspired me to write about what the town was like in 1910.

The population of Chapel Hill in 1910 was 1,449. The total value of all the real estate and personal property in town was less than a million dollars. The combined value of all the buildings, houses, and property in Chapel Hill that year was $410,562. All the personal property in town had a value of $585,750.

UNC students gather in front of their social club in downtown Chapel Hill with their servant in 1910

The mayor of Chapel Hill was Algernon S. Barbee, who graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1860 and served as Lieutenant Commander for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The chief of police was D.S. Long.

1910 Chapel Hill mayor Algernon Barbee

Chapel Hill had four churches in 1910. Reverend Starr was the minister at Chapel of the Cross, the Episcopal church. R.L. Smith was the minister of the Baptist congregation. W.S. Patton was the pastor for the Methodists, and Mr. Moss was reverend at the Presbyterian church.

Advertisement for the University of North Carolina in 1910. In those days there were no SATs or college entrance exams. Most students who went to UNC came from wealthy and upper middle class families.

More than half of the population of Chapel Hill were farmers, and their primary cash crop was cotton. A lucrative business in town in those days was owning a cotton gin, and there were six of these in Chapel Hill in 1910. These machines quickly separated commercial cotton from its seeds. Fred Sparrow, I.S. Riggsbee, and G.W. Purefoy had the three most popular cotton gins in town.

During the early twentieth century many wealthy Cubans sent their sons to UNC, and there was even a Cuban club on campus. This is Francisco Fuentes from the UNC class of 1910.

Chapel Hill had two hotels in 1910, the University Inn and Pickard's Hotel, both were rather rustic and primitive. If you could afford it, better lodging could be found at numerous boarding houses in town, which were actually local houses that had extra rooms for rent. The best was the home of Mrs. A.A. Kluttz. The other houses in town that rented rooms were run by Mrs. W.L. Thankersley, Mrs. Gattis, Mrs. J.C. Cole, Mrs. Josephine Archer, Mrs. E.W. Nevill, Mrs. Mary Burch, Mrs. J.E. Merritt, Mrs. W.J. A. Cheek, and Mrs. R.S. McRea. Most of these women's husbands were merchants in town or professors at the University. Two men, W.B. Thompson and T.B. Farrar also rented rooms in their houses. Swain Hall, besides being the student dining hall, was then the most inexpensive place to rent a room. There was no running water nor indoor plumbing in any of these hotels or boarding houses in 1910.

An old man in 1910 standing by a rock wall along Franklin Street next to where Graham Memorial is today. In the background is the Pickard Hotel. 

In 1910 there was only a rudimentry water service in Chapel Hill and there was no indoor plumbing nor hot water. People did not bathe on a regular basis, but in 1910 a business in town offered hot baths. 

There were three drug stores in Chapel Hill in 1910; Eubanks, Patterson Brothers, and Norwood Drug Company, as well as four town doctors, Lewis Webb, E.A. Abernathy, C.S. Mangum, and Brack Lloyd. If you wanted meat there were two butcher shops where chicken and cows were regularly slaughtered in the back. They were owned by William Creel and R.M. Leigh.

Homes and buildings in 1910 were heated in Chapel Hill by either by coal or wood, and two merchants in town, G.C. Pickard and T.E. Best, provided these essentials. There was electricity in Chapel Hill then but it was primarily used for lighting, and the electric company was owned and operated by the University. There were also two hardware stores in town; one owned by S.L. Herndon and the other by H.C. Willis.

1910 UNC baseball team. Until the early 1960's college baseball was almost as popular as football in North Carolina. (Basketball did not attract a large following until about 1960.) From 1935 to 1986 North Carolina was the only state that had Easter Monday as a state holiday because it was the day of the NC State - Wake Forest baseball game 

Chapel Hill had only two small restaurants in 1910, one in the house of J.E. Gouch (later changed to Gooch), and the Royal Cafe.

This is a 1910 parody ad for Gooch's Cafe, then one of only two restaurants in Chapel Hill

Shoes were often custom made in those days, and Chapel Hill had two shoe makers, George Trice and Brooks Brewer. The primary means of transportation in town was by horse, and Chapel Hill had two thriving livery stables, one owned by G.C. Pickard and the other by L.J. Hargrave. One was located behind where the Carolina Coffee Shop is today, and the other where the sundial now stands in front of the Morehead Planetarium.

A black carriage driver with "yessuh boss" attached to photo in Chapel Hill from 1910. Fifty years later there were two taxi services in Chapel Hill. One was white owned and operated called Tarheel Cab, and the other was black called Carolina Cab. Carolina Cab operated more than 16 blue and white Checker cabs and was the dominant cab company for both black and white passengers by 1965.

Mr. Pickard was a successful businessman who was also a grocer and owned a hotel. This ad is from 1910. Later they would offer a shuttle service by automobile to Durham.

In 1910 Chapel Hill had a weekly newspaper called The Weekly News that was operated by W.B. Thompson. The Tar Heel in those days was published twice a month. Few people in town could afford a camera, but Robert Foister and W.B. Sorrell had photography shops downtown where you could get a portrait made.

This is a black UNC servant carrying student laundry in front of Foister's Camera store on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill in 1910.

The average lifespan for a Chapel Hill resident in 1910 was 47. E.A. Brown and A.J. Hargrave were the town's two undertakers and embalmers.

In 1910 UNC's debate team won contests against Tulane and the University of Pennsylvania, both of which received more press coverage than any sporting event.

UNC Class of 1910 senior Levy Ames Brown. Note he graduated at the age of 18. In those days every student knew everyone else enrolled in their class.

As a young boy in the 1950s I spent a lot of time in the woods around Chapel Hill and often found abandoned saw mills (There was even one in the woods behind Glenwood School). I have discovered that in 1910 there were seven saw mills in operation in what are now Chapel Hill's city limits.

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 by Charly Mann

To many of us the Vietnam War is a grim memory of a United States military failure and wasted lives. During the time the war was fought it sharply divided the country. To those of military age the draft meant you might actually have to go fight and die for your country in a war you did not support. In 1968, I was an eighteen year old freshman at the University of North Carolina, and was one of the leaders of an anti-war group on campus called the UAWMF (United Anti-War Mobilization Front). Before Vietnam turned into a major war in 1967, 89% of Americans said they trusted the federal government to do what was right. By the end the war in 1973 only 19% of Americans felt this way according to a Gallup poll. I was outraged that we were fighting to support a South Vietnamese government that was highly corrupt against an almost equally deplorable totalitarian North Vietnam. I felt the Vietnam War was a civil war that needed to be decided by its own people.

Daily Tar Heel article from November 13th, 1968 about U.S. soldier coming to UNC to talk to students at Y-Court about his opposition to the war in Vietnam 

In the Fall of 1968 only a handful of UNC students were actively involved in the anti-Vietnam War Movement. I joined a small group called the UAWMF headed by a brilliant and affable senior from New Orleans named Adolph Reed. Our focus that semester was supporting American soldiers who believed the war was wrong. Even though soldiers were supposed to have the same right to freedom of speech as other Americans, the United States military was severely punishing soldiers who spoke out against the war. The largest military base in the United States, Fort Bragg, was less than a two hour drive from Chapel Hill, and my organization worked directly with several soldiers there who opposed the war.

Article from the Saturday November 16, 1968 Duke Chronicle about trip to Fort Bragg that day organized by the UAWMF to hand out leaflets

I was the information director for the UAWMF, which meant I contacted the press about any events that our group sponsored. On November 8th, 1968 we brought three Fort Bragg soldiers to UNC to speak to the crowds on their way to that day's homecoming football game. One of these soldiers PFC. Walter Kos was court-martialed for his activities there. Another, PVT. Joseph Miles, was restricted to base and reduced in rank for speaking out against the war to UNC students. The other soldier, PFC. Keith Jones, returned to Chapel Hill the following Tuesday, and I sat with him for several hours at a table at Y-Court as he talked to a large crowd of students about why he thought our involvement in Vietnam was wrong. Jones was not in military uniform, nor did he demonstrate against the war, both of which are prohibited to active duty military personnel. After this event I took Jones to Chapel Hill High School, Duke University, and North Carolina Central to speak informally to students. That evening Jones stayed at my home and told me in greater detail why he opposed the war, as well as about the abuse and intimidation soldiers received who wanted to express their views against fighting in Vietnam. He told me that at least 1,000 GIs at Fort Bragg felt the same way he did, but remained silent out of fear. The next day when Jones returned to Fort Bragg he was restricted to base, and later transferred to a more remote military post.

Before we left for Fort Bragg I had everyone going sign their names in my notebook. From top to Bottom are John Steiger (junior), Scott Bradley (senior), Bob Lock (senior), Sam Austell (junior), Don Storey (sophomore), Alan R. Cole (freshman from N.C. State), Hugh McConnell (graduate student), Mike Cozza (senior), Charles Mann (freshman), Lloyd Clayton (sophomore), Adolph Reed (senior), George A. Rose (freshman)

With the military muzzling the voices of the soldiers our group supported we decided to organize a group of students to go down to Fort Bragg on Saturday November 16th to hand out leaflets about freedom of speech for soldiers, which also included information about why some soldiers were speaking out against the war.  I had flyers printed about the event which were posted at schools and universities throughout the Triangle area, and also got the Daily Tar Heel and Duke Chronicle to write small articles about our plans. On Saturday those wanting to go to Fort Bragg met at the Morehead Planetarium parking lot. There were 11 students including myself, and a reporter from the Daily Tar Heel who wanted to go along to report about our activities. As we turned out of the parking lot in our two car caravan we soon realized there were two other cars following us. They continued to tail behind us for the rest of the day.

Adolph Reed (center), the head of the UAWMF, meeting with students in the Morehead Planetarium parking lot on November 16th, 1968 before leaving for Fort Bragg

Our plan was never to break any laws or engage in any act of civil disobedience at Fort Bragg. It was only to find a large open place where soldiers congregated when off duty to offer them our leaflets. Fort Bragg was then (and I think still is) a large open military reservation without fences or sentries which anyone could drive through. The first thing we did upon arriving at Fort Bragg was to go to the Operations and Provost office on the base to seek permission to hand out our leaflets at an approved location. 

There we met with Major Vernon Keller who was the Operations and Provost Marshall of the base. When we made our request to him he read us a short document entitled Title 18 U.S. Code Section 1382, which said picketing, demonstrations, sit-ins, political speeches, protest marches, and "similar activities" were not permitted at Fort Bragg. He said this prohibited us from handing out our leaflets anywhere on the base. I said to Major Keller that I did not think handing out leaflets was a similar activity to picketing, sit-ins, and political speeches. Nevertheless our group agreed we should consider Major Keller's directive carefully, and we left Fort Bragg and drove to nearby Fayetteville to discuss what to do next.

This is me, Charly Mann, second from the right in white pants explaining to Fayetteville police Sgt. C.B. Morrison that our group had no plans to break the law during our visit to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. To my right is Daily Tar Heel reporter Mike Cozza. On my left is Adolph Reed and next to him is Andy Rose.

Of the eleven UNC students on the trip only myself and Andy Rose were freshmen. Most of the rest were seniors or graduate students. Andy and I had both worked with several of the soldiers that had been court-martialed or reduced in rank for trying to exercise their freedom of speech, and argued that handing out leaflets was not a "similar activity" as those described in Section 1382. None of the other students agreed with us, but said they would sit in the cars if the two of us wanted to hand out leaflets. At 6:30 PM we drove back onto the base and found a movie theater. We parked the two cars and Andy and I got out and handed out leaflets. Mike Cozza the reporter of the Daily Tar Heel also got out of the car with a writing pad to cover our activities. Less than thirty minutes later the place was swarming with military policeman and other plain clothes officers who took all twelve us to a prison on the base. During the more than seven hours we were there each of us were subjected to intimidating and harassing interviews in which we were accused of being communist agents, and told that we would each likely be spending at least six months in prison. We were also told that because our crime was so severe we would likely not be able to find meaningful employment after college. Not surprisingly several of the students were in tears after going through their interrogations. Finally at 2 AM we were expelled from the base and told we had all been arrested for breaking a federal law.

The news about our arrests for handing out leaflets at Fort Bragg made headlines across the state and nation on the following Sunday (November 17th, 1968) and Monday. 

The week after my arrest I was singled out for more harassment from the military's intelligence division (the CTD). That Tuesday two agents visited me at my home. First they wanted me to admit that I or other members of my group were communists. Then they informed me that all U.S. soldiers had the same rights to freedom of speech as civilians, but when I said that two of the soldiers I had worked with had recently been court-martialed for speaking out against the war they said they were unaware of this. Towards the end of our hour long conversation they were able to shock me with the information that I had been under filmed surveillance for several weeks. They said that they had proof of me committing another federal crime by wearing a Navy jacket on November 11th. I told them that jacket was bought at the local PTA Thrift Shop, but they demanded I turn the jacket over to them now or face even more serious charges. After taking my jacket they let me know that they thought the editorial views of the Daily Tar Heel were communistic.

This photograph is from the day of the trial of The Fort Bragg 12 on November 25th, 1968. We are standing outside the courtroom in Fayetteville. Andy Rose is on the far right, Adolph Reed in the center, and Scott Bradley on his left. 

Unlike today, the law moved very quickly in 1968 and our trial was set for less than two weeks later on November 25th. I, along with the ten other students who were arrested, was represented by four attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union headed by Charles F. Lanbeth and assisted by Dale Whitman, a UNC professor of law. Mike Cozza, the DTH reporter, did not have representation, because he was sure, as was almost everyone else, that charges would be dropped against him since he was not even part of our group and only reporting on the event. Our legal team not only proved the Fort Bragg regulation was too vague to prohibit handing out leaflets, but preventing us from handing out leaflets was also unconstitutional. This is because giving out leaflets is a passive act, and since newspapers were also sold throughout the base, and we could have bought ads in them that contained what was in our leaflets, our rights were being denied under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Our judge, Wallace C. Jackson, however, had made up his mind on the case long before the trial started. As soon as both sides rested he looked at the table where I was sitting and read the following words, "I implore you to return to the ways of your forefathers and spurn the lawless and vociferous doctrine of hatred and division you are spreading." That statement came as a shock to me since our forefathers had stood up against the unjust British government that tried to squash people who criticized it in 1776.

The outcome of the trial made headlines around the country and many newspapers had accompanying editorials calling the verdict an outrage.

Judge Stevens then took aim at Rose and me as he dismissed the charges against most of the other defendants. He gave us six month sentences, he said, "in order to protect free speech, because if this country is turned over to the elements for which we worked, the first thing that will be prohibited will be free speech." I had not been aware I working for another element. I was simply against the United States involvement in Vietnam War. I also knew from my own thoughts that exercising freedom of speech is something I held dear. For no reason anyone could discern, Scott Bradley, who was seated in one of the cars, was given a three month sentence. Most shocking was that Mike Cozza, the Daily Tar Heel reporter, was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Cozza was not even part of our group and told the military authorities when we first met with them he was a reporter observing our activities. Judge Stevens explained his bizarre decision this way: "Cozza's action was like getting a phone call that a murder was about to be committed, and then riding in the car with the murderers." Obviously he thought Andy and me handing out leaflets was akin to committing a murder. Cozza unfortunately did not have the means to appeal such an outrageous decision and accepted his sentence.

Over the next year much of my life was sidetracked by the appeals process in this case. More than a year later, on November 28th, 1969, the United States Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit, based in Richmond, overturned our convictions.

This is part of the ruling that overturned my conviction in the Fort Bragg case as well as those of Andy Rose and Scott Bradley. It was handed down on November 28, 1969 by the United States Court of Appeals. 

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by Charly Mann

From 1944 to 1972 a true celebrity lived in Chapel Hill at 315 Rosemary Street in perhaps the most elegant house in town . Her name was Betty Smith and she was one of the most acclaimed novelists of the twentieth century. She came to Chapel Hill in 1936 as a poor struggling playwright and author with two daughters to support. She first lived with her two children in a one room apartment on Hillsborough Street. They were so destitute that she once tried to get a $3 loan from the Bank of Chapel Hill so they would not starve. (The bank did not lend her the money.)

The Betty Smith House of Chapel Hill in its prime

When Smith first arrived in Chapel Hill in 1936 she was 39 had endured a hard and harsh life growing up in poverty in a cold tenement building in Brooklyn and an unhappy marriage. The one thing that had sustained her was her love for words and writing. She recalled that that one of the first words she learned was cat and had immediately associated the word with a real moving creature. From a very early age she spent almost all her free time writing, and would even copy entire books she loved word for word. At 12 she sent a poem to a newspaper that was published. When she was 14 she began writing letters to herself and enjoyed reading them as much as writing them. Smith loved Chapel Hill from the moment set foot in town. As she and her daughter were walking from the bus station to their rooming house her daughter asker her "Mama, how long are we going to stay here?" and she replied "Forever."

Betty Smith in Chapel Hill 1955 at her typewriter. She wrote an average of ten pages for her novels every day.

Betty Smith's first novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was published in August of 1943 to almost instant critical and popular acclaim. Like all three of her subsequent books it is highly autobiographical.  The main character Francie Nolan is based on Smith as a young girl. Francie loves to read and write, but lives a lonely life and feels like a nearby tree that is ready to bloom and enjoy the world. Francie sustains herself through her strength and dreams, and has been an inspiration to young girls and women for seven decades.

Entry to Betty Smith house at 315 Rosemary Street Chapel Hill. The double doors are original to the house.

Soon after moving to Chapel Hill Betty Smith and a friend walked by a magnificent house on Rosemary Street and Betty said, "I wonder what you have to do to own a house like that?" And her friend replied, "Be born there." Betty Smith said to her companion, "One day I'll own that house." Less than a year after the publication of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn Smith became wealthy. The movie rights alone to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from Twentieth-Century Fox gave her $55,000. On September 1st, 1944 she bought the house she admired for $15,000. In those days it was called the Mangum Mansion, and when Smith moved in it was in poor condition. It was originally owned by one of the first professors of the University and was built in 1829, making it one of the oldest houses in Chapel Hill.

The parlor of the Betty Smith in Chapel Hill.

She totally renovated the house for a cost of $37,000 from a Southern Victorian to the Williamsburg that it is today. She had the front porch removed from the house, the outside of the first floor bricked, and added the stone walls around the property. She moved into the house in April of 1945 and lived there until she died in 1972. Smith always loved trees and it was the array of shade trees that especially enticed her to want the house. In August 1943 she was given a 14 inch tree in a small flowerpot which she called her pet tree. The first thing she did after moving in was plant that tree in her backyard. By 1955 that tree had reached the height of the roof of her two story house. I spent my earliest years less than a block from her house and recall the chinaberry, elms, oaks, azaleas, and crepe myrtles around her house, as well as a beautiful flagstone walk around a garden that was meticulously maintained. I remember that in the 1950s she had at least one cat, and that the yard always seemed to have lots of squirrels and birds. In later years she had an English sheepdog called Noname.

Betty Smith in 1966 tending to her garden under the trees she so loved.

Smith was a very private person who walked with her head down, but the success of her novel and the movie based on it made her house a tourist attraction and Smith celebrity. For the rest of her life every move she made was watched, and she received hundreds of fan letters and requests for appearances every week. In 1966 Chapel Hill honored its reluctant celebrity with the premiere of Joy in the Morning starring Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux. Chapel Hill mayor Sandy McClamroch declared the day Betty Smith Day and Franklin Street was renamed Betty Smith Boulevard. The profits for the premiere were given to the Chapel Hill Public Library.

Dining Room of the Betty Smith house in Chapel Hill.

Betty Smith for the first forty-seven years of her life lived hand to mouth, and the last twenty eight was very wealthy. I was in her house only once, and remember it being beautifully furnished. It was filled with mementoes including editions of her books in many languages, her original manuscripts, boxes with clippings of reviews of her books, and lots of trays of unopened letters which she said she always tried to answer. On the mantle was a gold trophy that she said was given to her by one the Presidents, but she could not remember which one. My most indelible memory of Betty Smith is seeing her driving around town in her black Cadillac convertible. It was the only time I ever saw her smile.

Front entry to Betty Smith House 1969.

The Chapel Hill Preservation Society was founded to prevent Betty Smith's house from being used for commercial development. The house and garden had deteriorated during the last five years of Betty Smith's life.They renovated the house and cleaned up the garden, and  sold it as a private residence in 1973.

Front entry to Betty Smith house in Chapel Hill 2010.

I heard Betty Smith speak once to aspiring writers when I was very young at the Methodist Church. I recall one of her insights into writing characters was to remember that no person is born bad, but that evil grows inside some people for various reasons. She said the same is true with intolerance, saying no one is born intolerant, but grows into this over time because of the prejudices of the community one lives in. Her greatest fear for civilization was that it would not be destroyed by the atom bomb, as most people felt then, but by intolerance. 

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