A New Life
funds. In addition, the state govern¬
ment has generously allocated
$400,000 to preserve the 165 acre vir¬
gin pine forest, which will he added to
Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature
Preserve, donated earlier to the state
by the Boyd family. Early in 1979.
Weymouth was purchased from Sand¬
hills Community College.
Before World War II the James
Boyds made their home the cultural
center of the Sandhills, where artists
and writers were especially welcome.
Among their visitors were Sherwood
Anderson. Laurence Stallings ( What
Price
(Ногу?).
Struthers Burt and his
wife, who settled nearby, and Ashe¬
ville’s Thomas Wolfe. Paul Green, the
state's leading dramatist, became a
close friend, later writing the preface
to Boyd’s posthumous collection of
poems. Adlai Stevenson was also a
frequent visitor.
The Train Broke Down
For Weymouth
llou a famous beauty
нам
rescued
from an untimely demise, to start an
exciting new career.
tty GUY »WI\
For those Tar Heels who knew
Weymouth, the Southern Pines home
of novelist James Boyd, in the grand
old days, its decline in the I970’s was
like the debilitating illness and near
demise of a famous beauty. Following
the death in 1974 of Boyd's wife
Katharine, who willed the estate to
Sandhills Community College, the
handsome Georgian mansion and its
extensive park-like grounds fell into
disrepair. Paint peeled away, the slate
roof sprang leaks, undergrowth
threatened the woods; finally the fur¬
niture was auctioned off to pay the
taxes and maintenance costs, leaving
an unsightly, empty shell. The hand¬
some property seemed doomed to fall
into the hands of developers. But,
fortunately, the famous beauty was
rescued before her untimely death.
The story of her recovery is both re¬
markable and inspiring.
Just when it seemed that James
Boyd’s homcplacc was to go under the
bulldozers, a group of interested
Sandhills citizens was galvanized into
action. Friends of Weymouth. Inc., a
non-profit organization, was estab¬
lished to purchase and restore the es¬
tate to its former grandeur. By 1979
they numbered over 600 Tar Heels,
from all over North Carolina and
beyond — and their number increases
every week.
Distinguished Friends
Among the leaders of the group were
Mrs. Elizabeth Ives, Adlai Steven¬
son’s sister; Admiral I. J. Galantin,
Chairman of the Friends of Wey¬
mouth; and Paul Green of Chapel Hill.
Jonathan Daniels. Sam Ragan and
Sarah Hodgkins have written elo¬
quently of the need to preserve the
historic mansion, which is included in
the National Register of Historical
Places. Among the honorary directors
of the Friends of Weymouth are two
former governors. Robert W. Scott
and Terry' Sanford, as well as such
leading citizens as William Friday and
R. J. Reynolds. III. The state’s literary
organizations have lent their support,
and countless naturalists and en¬
vironmentalists have helped raise
(The Boyd estate is. of course, nota¬
ble for other reasons as well. It still
includes nearly 200 acres of virgin
long-leaf pine — the largest in the State
and part of the Great Pincy Woods that
once stretched to Texas. Many of
these trees arc from 275 to 300 years
old. On this valuable tract are also
found three colonies of red-cockaded
woodpeckers, an endangered species.)
Environmentalists should appreci¬
ate how Weymouth came to be built in
the first place. As the story goes.
James Boyd’s grandfather was
stranded in Southern Pines in 1904 by
the breakdown of a train engine. Dur-
No>clitt Joinci Boyd come *outh to li*o *bc<ou*e he
lo*ed North Corolmo . and wonted to write obout
the *tote4 eotly day* "
18
THE STATE, April 1979
