Early Light

A visit to the Carolina coast found me rolling toward home very early on Monday morning of this week. Realizing that my last visit to John Blue’s house in Laurinburg, NC had been eight years ago, I decided to stop by and pay my respects.

Since rising that morning, the sun had been trying to burn through low heavy clouds without much success, and I was in the process of deciding that Farmer Blue’s homestead would need to wait for a visit in better light. Then, literally as I was about to pass the Laurinburg exit and keep rolling, things changed. By the time I arrived at the doorstep, a soft early light was there to welcome me.

This house is part of what has become the North Carolina Rural Heritage Center. If you have never heard the remarkable story of how it was built, I offer it here.

As husbands go, Miss Flora Jane McKinnon of Laurinburg, North Carolina found herself one who was mighty handy. His name was John Blue. She married him in 1883.

John Blue was a farmer with an inventor's mind. Rural Scotland County, NC was (and still is) big farming country, and John's mind was always at work on better ideas. As a result, he invented - and patented - a cotton stalk cutter, a fertilizer distributor and the John Blue cotton planter.

Apparently, in his spare time, he knew a thing or two about house building as well. He built this beauty for Flora in 1891 - all by himself. The heart pine lumber came from his own trees, and he hand carved every frilly inch of the decoration on this double-height circular porch.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "honey-do", doesn't it? I'd say honey-did - and I hope Flora Jane kept that man supplied with chicken-and-dumplings and sweet potato pie for the rest of his life.

Many of Blue’s farm implements are on display across the street in the museum that is part of this complex. As well, in recent years additional structures from the same period have been rescued and moved to the site, each telling a piece of the story of rural farming life in this part of the state.

And as much as I recommend a visit during business hours, the solitude of Monday morning’s fresh light had me at hello. I spent the next ten minutes strolling the grounds all alone.

The house, by the way, is undergoing a merciful rehabilitation. I was at first heartbroken to see the decline, but did a little research and learned that a recent hurricane had inflicted near catastrophic water damage to the structure. Thanks to grant money from the State of North Carolina, repairs are underway.

Hopefully, progress will not linger. Work of this importance deserves to be protected at all costs. And to that, I am sure Flora Jane McKinnon Blue and her husband, John, would offer a heartfelt “amen”.

Photos by Beth Yarbrough.