Wilson and North Carolina
War |ircvsitl«*iil lia«l many and inliinal«k lies
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RALPH HARDEE RIVES
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born
in Virginia. He was the Governor of
New Jersey. He lived during a very
formative period of his life in Geor¬
gia, South Carolina and North Caro¬
lina. He was educated in North Caro¬
lina, Virginia and Maryland. He began
his teaching career in Pennsylvania
and later taught in Connecticut. He
died in the District of Columbia and
was buried there.
His personal associations throughout
his lifetime with North Carolina were
especially significant and noteworthy.
Here, in 1873. he matriculated at
Davidson College where he remained
for a year in the wholesome environ¬
ment of the distinguished old Presby¬
terian school. The intellectual stimu¬
lation he received there would play a
prominent role in shaping his attitude
toward higher education years later
when he was the President of Prince¬
ton University.
In 1874 Woodrow Wilson's father
moved front Columbia. South Caro¬
lina. to Wilmington, and "Tommy." as
young Wilson was called in his early
years, passed a year here with his
parents while he recovered from a di¬
gestive disorder and made up his mind
what to do next.
In September. 1875. he traveled
on the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad
northward to Washington. D. C.. and
then on to Princeton, where his father
had once been a student and where
he would spend most of his academic
career as student, professor and ad¬
ministrator.
Five years later, in the midst of his
second term as a law student at the
University of Virginia. Wilson once
again returned to Wilmington to rc-
Woodro* Wilton,
о
poinling by Sir Williom
Orpcn Courtesy of Bernard Boruch, Jr., photo
grophed by Fernond Bourgcs.
cuperate from repeated attacks of in¬
digestion. This time he stayed with his
parents for a year and a half.
During these months the future
President of the United States read
numerous legal treatises and books on
associated topics. He often visited the
wharves where he felt the tang of the
salt water and observed the various
vessels as they rested in the harbor of
the old coastal city. He occasionally
talked with the men whom he met
along the docks and. he confessed in
later years, he was almost tempted to
become a seaman himself.
In the company of his close friend,
John D. Bellamy, the frail Wilson often
look hikes, went swimming in the Cape
Fear River, and attended picnics, par
ties and various church affairs. On
Sundays he worshipped quietly at the
side of his mother, while his father ex¬
pounded the stern Calvinistic doctrines
of the Scottish faith from the pulpit
of the First Presbyterian Church.
Woodrow Wilson eventually re¬
gained his physical strength and ac¬
quired sufficient knowledge of the law
to secure a license to practice. In May,
1882. he went to Atlanta, then a rap¬
idly developing city, and opened a
law office with his friend. Rdward L.
Renick. It was while Wilson was a
not-too-successful lawyer in Atlanta
that he fell in love with Hllcn Louise
Axson. daughter of the Presbyterian
minister in Rome, Georgia.
In September. 1883, North Carolina
furnished the setting for one of those
delightfully rare incidents which add
romantic charm and interest to the
study of history. Woodrow Wilson
and Ellen Axson, already deeply in
love with each other, met quite by
accident in Asheville and became en¬
gaged there.
Wilson had spent the summer with
his parents in Wilmington and was cn
route to Baltimore to enroll for a doc¬
toral program at Johns Hopkins Uni¬
versity. He traveled via Asheville in
order to handle some church business
for his father, an official in the South¬
ern Presbyterian Assembly. One day
as he stood at the window of his hotel
room. Wilson accidentally spied Miss
Axson. who had been studying art in
New York, as she passed along the
street. With great haste he dashed out¬
side and u|x»n catching up with her
found that she was staying with friends
in Asheville. Wilson proposed marriage
and Miss Axson accepted. Shortly
thereafter, in a letter to his betrothed.
Wilson referred to "that horrid, yet
blessed little Asheville."
On June 24. 1885. the two lovers
were married in the home of the
bride's grandfather, also a Presbyterian
minister, in Savannah, The young
couple then came to Arden, ten miles
southwest of Asheville, to spend their
honeymoon.
Arden was a popular summer resort
и
THE STATE. August 15. 1965
