How Come
Penland
Some of Pcnlond'» Building».
I
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Morgan tells the
story of a rare North
Carolina institution.
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Merrill Co. $S.
When a traveler rounds a bend and
comes upon some odd or imposing
structure or institution, the first ques¬
tion coming to mind often is:
"Wonder how it got here?"
Such a place is Penland, tucked far
back in the mountains of Mitchell
County. The usual mountain homes,
businesses and schools have greeted
the motorist for a hundred miles. Sud¬
denly. the road enters a mountain
"flat," and sprawling out over the roll¬
ing hills is a group of substantial and
graceful buildings. In summer, they arc
hives of activity, people of all ages,
conditions and nationalities going to
and from a multitude of exotic chores.
This is Penland. the handicraft in¬
struction center, internationally known
and firmly established now as a unique
North Carolina institution. It has been
there a quarter of a century, growing
all the while in stature, and we have
visited it many times. But not until we
read this book did we learn "how it
got there."
Miss Lucy Morgan, Pcnland’s
founder and director, tells the story,
and it has been set down by LcGctte
Blythe. It is a happy collaboration, be¬
cause Lucy Morgan, a chirpy little
woman of perpetual good disposition
and keen perception, has not let her
earnestness override her sense of
humor. And her accumulation of anec¬
dotes was made to order for a good
story-teller like Blythe.
Lucy Morgan is a Carolina moun¬
taineer with solid family connections
among the aristocracy of the pioneers.
She tells how she came to help her
brother with a mission school, was
distressed to see the old mountain
crafts dying out. and how she went
about reviving them. It is a little curi¬
ous to us that Penland has an about-
face history. At first it was concerned
with bringing the arts of weaving back
to the hills and to thereby increase the
income of mountain families.
Today the indigenous mountain
craftsman is buried beneath an army
of people coming from the four corners
of the world to learn crafts Mitchell
County never heard about. And so the
hills have repaid the gift Lucy Morgan
brought from the outside.
The book’s good reading, aside from
its story of unusual achievement. Only
a native-born mountaineer would dare
speak so intimately of her neighbors
as Miss Lucy does. For example,
there's the story of Tippytoc.
"My brother. Rufus, was the first
Episcopalian to live in this neighbor¬
hood and also the first man these peo¬
ple had known who never wore a hat.
Ergo, Episcopalianism and hatlcssncss
were related. Well, Tippytoc was in a
secluded spot back in the hills one day,
having just run off a batch of moon¬
shine when the revenue officers came
crashing through the bushes. But the
moonshiner managed to get away just
in the nick of time. Later, however,
the officers spotted Tippytoc and ar¬
rested him.
"•What for?’ he innocently asked
the revenuers
" ‘For making moonshine liquor, of
course.’ they replied, and they de¬
scribed the exact location of his still.
He protested that he knew nothing
about it. Whereupon they produced his
hat. which in his hurry to get away
he had left behind.
" ‘Tippytoc.’ one of them said *wc
got you this time, and you know it.
You ran out from under your hat. We
found it right there at the still and the
hat puts you there. You know that’s
your hat: we’ve caught you not far
away anil you don’t have a hat on.
How do vou explain not having a
hat?’
" ’Easy.' said Tippytoc. I'm an
Episcopalian’."
Then there was the helpful but
somewhat arbitrary Penland Station
agent.
"As soon as Mrs. Evans arrived in
Penland. she gave helpful Mr. Mea-
cham a message to be telegraphed her
husband telling him of her safe ar¬
rival. and ending, ‘Love, Mabel.’ Mr.
Meacham always used his judgment
(Con li mted on page 16)
THE STATE. JULY 12. I9SB
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