State

Origin of ‘‘Lockwood’s Folly” There are differc»nt versions in connection with the naming of this locality in Bruns¬ wick County, anil th«»re*s an interesting story in connection with each one. HAVE you ever driven through Brunswick County, from Southport in the direction of Shnllotte? If you have, you passed through the little commu¬ nity of Lockwood’s Folly and — like practically everyone else — you probably have wondered how the place got such an unusual name. The story that is in most general circulation is the one about a man by the name of Lockwood build¬ ing a boat at that point. When he finished the job and started to launch the vessel, he found that the stream was too shallow for it. So there he was, with a boat and no place in which to sail it. That tale, however, is of a leg¬ endary nature and I never have been able to obtain any informa¬ tion which might substantiate it. On the other hand, there is con¬ siderable substantiation for the story that the name came from the misguided activities of an indi¬ vidual who, either in trying to complete a handsome new home or in establishing a settlement at this point, was responsible for the name of Lockwood's Folly. The Meaning of “Folly” Some interesting information has been obtained from a Univer¬ sity professor as to the several changes in usage and acceptance of such a word as "Folly.” This will be brought out later. I also have seen some records from the State of Georgia entitled "Georgia Historical Papers." One of these is captioned by an individual trav¬ eler as follows: "Л Visit to the Cape Fear in 1734." This venture¬ some voyager of nearly eleven score years ago left the following document for us to peruse: "I intended after my return to Charleston to take a journey by land to Cape Fear, which I had heard so much talk of. Therefore I set out from Charleston on the 10th of June on my travels to Cape Fear in North Carolina, in company of thirteen more. On the first night I reached Mr. Moore's home in Goose Creek. After pro¬ ceeding some distance the next THE STATE. Fcdruary 21. 1948 By I .«US T. MOO BE morning and afternoon, 1 reached Lockwood’s Folly the same night, after having crossed the ferry. "Lockwood’s Folly is so named after one Lockwood, a man from Barbados. He attempted to settle it sometime ago. Because of his cruel and unjustified behavior he so enraged the Indians that they drove him from thence. It has not been settled for the past ten years." So there you have what is pos¬ sibly the most direct and authen¬ tic reason for the place having been given the name which it bears to this day. A man unable to control his temper and passions later was punished by being driven from the place he intended as his home. Thus he displayed a spirit of "folly” which is perpetuated in the name. Another record says that the town of Brunswick, settled in 1725, began to dwindle in population and eventually was abandoned about 1775. There was no other town in Brunswick County at that time. The county seat was first established at Lockwood’s Folly. In 1805 the courthouse was moved to Smithville (now Southport). There many of the old families, while retaining their plantations in other parts of the county, built commodious and handsome homes. Through the years, however, the boat - building incident has per¬ sisted and, like Banquo’s ghost, has refused to be downed. Its repetition has caused many peo¬ ple to wonder if, after all, this is not the real reason why the set¬ tlement received such an unusual name. Personally, however, I do not believe there is any truth to it. Now let us look at the other version again for a moment. If Lockwood built a large house or mansion which the Indians de¬ stroyed because of his harsh treat¬ ment of their people, then it might not be out of place to study the derivation of the word "F'olly" and see whether it would be appli¬ cable to the situation. What the Dictionary Says A few years ago, Mr. W. W. Storm, of Wilmington, asked Pro¬ fessor George R. Coffman, then head of the Department of Eng¬ lish at Chapel Hill, for informa¬ tion as to the various meanings of the word "Folly." In part, Professor Coffman re¬ plied as follows: "I review the definition as found in the New English Dictionary, which lists the meanings of all words in the English language, supporting the definitions with a quotation from literary or non-lit- erary documents under the date when these first appeared in writ¬ ing. Thus ‘Folly’ as a noun has five definitions listed with sup¬ porting quotations. The first four are merely the kind one would normally expect to find for this word. But number five lists the following definition: ‘A popular name for any costly structure con¬ sidered to have shown folly in ( Contiyiued on page 18) 1 1