Boardinghouse Guests: Thomas Wolfe’s Lost Summer of 1919
Recorded on page 59 of the guest register for Julia Wolfe’s Old Kentucky Home boardinghouse are some of the visitors from the summer of 1919. Summers were generally a memorable time for Thomas Wolfe. His memory of home recounted evenings spent sitting on a cool porch watching “the summer crowd of fortunate tourists.” Yet, little has been written about Wolfe’s summer of 1919. Probably due to the fact Thomas Wolfe himself did not write much about that particular summer. Wolfe enthusiasts know that in Look Homeward, Angel, during the summer of 1917, there was Eugene Gant’s romance with Laura James. In the summer of 1918, Eugene nearly starved working at the shipyards in Norfolk, VA. Returning to Asheville in 1918 from Virginia, just before his junior year at college, he observes the boardinghouse “Dixieland almost deserted, save for a glum handful of regular or semi-regular guests.” In his manuscript O’ Lost, characterizing events after the October 1918 death of Benjamin Gant, Wolfe begins “two years past.” It would appear Thomas Wolfe’s summer of 1919 was truly lost. Conceivably he spent little time at home. Maybe because Ben was gone, or maybe none of the boardinghouse guests held his interest. None found a place as characters in his works. Wolfe historian Richard Walser described 1919 as a “relatively uneventful time.”
While the boardinghouse business was declining by 1919, Julia Wolfe’s house was certainly not deserted. Judging by the number of guest signatures, the house appears to be at least half full. There were still interesting people paying for room and board at the Old Kentucky Home. The boarders who Wolfe may have observed that summer included a Charlotte Tiffany, who was spending three months in the mountains. Twice divorced at age 62, she was considered a pioneer of West Palm Beach, FL. She was the proud owner of the Tiffany House Hotel and Dixie Highway Inn, and was travelling with one of her sons, Stetson Oman Sproul, age 20, who was a cashier at the Farmer’s Bank and Trust at Palm Beach. Lester M. Flax, a confirmed bachelor at age 33 and a self-proclaimed expert accountant from Columbus, OH, was staying in the house and looking for a job in Asheville that summer. Retired New York stable owners Samuel Wilmarth and wife Alice, age 68, were visiting halfway between a summer home in Long Island and a winter home in Port Orange, FL. Albert M. Riser, age 31, was with his wife Jennie, age 29. Albert worked as a wholesale grocery salesman in Savannah, GA. Perhaps the Risers were combining business and pleasure. Bessie McEwen, age 30, was the wife of a successful fire insurance agent in Orlando, FL and traveled with her children Charles Larson McEwen age 5, Dorthea McEwen age 3, and her sister, Eloise Larson age 18, who had just finished school and would soon go to work as a stenographer. Arriving late in July were George Washington Crosby age 27, and wife Leila age 24. George was a clothing salesman from Savannah, GA. In addition, Lawrence Sidney Cody age 29, and wife Verdie age 28, stayed with their three children, Lillian age 11, Lawrence age 10, and Helen age 8. Lawrence was a telegraph operator for the Florida East Coast Railway at Bunnell, FL. In August they were all joined at the Old Kentucky Home by Elizabeth Pricilla Briggs age 32, the wife of a bookkeeper at Gayso Lumber Company in Memphis, TN, and a Mary Lusco Portero age 21, who came to America from Italy in 1904. She moved to Greenwood, MS in 1914, and established Lusco’s Restaurant with her husband. Boarder Martha Estridge, age 20, was the daughter of a prominent Charlotte, NC merchant and worked as a clerk and stenographer for the Charlotte Observer. She was closest in age to Wolfe, and perhaps they shared an interest in journalism, although he did not write about it.
Thomas Wolfe did come home to Asheville in mid-June 1919. He had probably stayed on campus in Chapel Hill long enough to attend the big end of term affairs. There were commencement events and homecoming celebrations for the students who served in the war, and there was an issue of the Tar Heel newspaper to publish by June 16th. Wolfe’s first years at UNC had been successful and he was now reaping the rewards. In June 1919, as a rising senior, he was elected to Golden Fleece, an honorary organization for leading students. He was selected as an officer, class poet, and named editor and chief for the Tar Heel. One biographer observed “he went home loaded with honors.” His college commitments even followed him home. He took a leading role in organizing and selling tickets for the annual banquet of Buncombe County Alumni and the Student Body Association. It took place at Asheville’s Masonic Temple July 15, 1919.
Why he later skipped over the summer of 1919 in his writings is not known. He surely had something on his mind. He had made a note in his Autobiographical Outline “The summer of 1919.” Followed by “war over — return of the heroes — The Patton Ave. arch.” Most of the men who had served overseas were already home when Wolfe arrived, although some homecoming events did continue into July after the grand parade and picnic had occurred earlier on May 8th. A large welcoming arch had been constructed on Patton Avenue for the parade that spring. The wording on the arch had been considered controversial and Wolfe certainly had heard about it while at school and saw the arch in person when he came home. In other news, although considered to have lasted until April 1920, the Spanish Influenza pandemic was ending. The most vulnerable, like Ben Wolfe, had already died and most other people had been exposed and developed immunity. Biographer Andrew Turnbull recorded that Wolfe, upon returning home, found his father in the hospital and spent time visiting with him. While at the hospital, he occasionally slipped off to watch the nurse working in the operating room. His father had received treatments at Johns Hopkins earlier that January for his cancer. He had now been living almost two years in the large back room on the first floor of the boardinghouse, with Wolfe describing him as “hanging on by one rusty hinge, but hanging…” William Oliver Wolfe was still well enough to spend time with his family. Mabel Wolfe Wheaton recalled that their brother Fred came home from the Navy in July 1919. For the holiday on July 4th, her husband Ralph drove the Wolfe family, Fred, Mabel, Momma, Papa and Tom south to Hendersonville for a picnic on a lake.
Later in July, Wolfe traveled to Anderson, S.C. to visit his sister Effie. Wolfe might also have watched his cousin Henry Westall that summer performing as a stunt pilot just outside of town at Beaverdam. Wolfe possibly visited that summer with his friend James “Big Mac” McIntosh who lived just north of the old family home on Woodfin Street at 25 Orchard Street. McIntosh, who worked as a police officer and was a noted local professional wrestler, had recently returned from the war. Wolfe writes about wrestling on a large mat in his barn. The letters of Thomas Wolfe reveal one of his greatest interests during the summer of 1919. It was indeed a boarder, just not one registered at his mother’s house. Her name was Lora French, age 16, from Mississippi, visiting in town for the summer. She was staying in the home of Dr. Clement Maples, a part-time resident from Mississippi, at 1 Austin Avenue, about 8 blocks north of the Old Kentucky Home. In February 1932, Wolfe wrote a letter to her. He said, “I remember almost everything that happened during those few weeks.” But admitted that he had forgotten about jumping across the hedge. Apparently, he had stayed too late with her on the front porch one July evening, and was chased off by Mrs. Maples. Escaping over a hedge, he tore his pants and damaged his pride. The romance was lost, and it was almost time to go back to school.
