Margaret Morley

From WikiFolk South

Margaret Warner Morley (1858-1923) was a naturalist, writer, illustrator, and photographer who documented early twentieth century life in western North Carolina.

Published Works

Morley wrote and published two travelogues, Down North and Up Along (1900) and The Carolina Mountains (1913). Down North and Up Along documents her travels in the Canadian maritime provinces. The Carolina Mountains focuses on her explorations of Appalachian nature and culture in North Carolina. She also produced eighteen books for children on nature themes, many used as classroom textbooks.

Morley & North Carolina

Early in her career, Morley became attracted to western North Carolina, beginning with an 1890 trip to Tryon, North Carolina with her close friend, the photographer Amelia Watson. Morley would live there for part of each year, until finally purchasing a Tryon home in 1915. For an “outsider” and Northerner, Morley is noted for her unusually close relationship with many people in the mountain communities, though her writings do often characterize Appalachian people in stereotypes common during the period. The lives of these mountain communities are documented in many of her photographs, of which a large collection is held by the North Carolina Museum of History

References

McCue, Michael J, Tryon artists, 1892-1942. (Columbus, N.C.: Condar, 2001)

Morley, Margaret Warner, Down North and Up Along. (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1900) and The Carolina Mountains. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin company, 1913)

Photograph courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History.