Why Was NC Village of Wagram Named for Austrian Village? French Emperor Napoleon Inspired It

I bet few residents of my hometown of Wagram, NC, population 850, consider themselves global citizens, but they are. A television reporter in the nation of Austria contacted me to ask why a village in North Carolina where I grew up was named for a village so far away, 4,712 miles away to be exact, in...

Kathy Buie Vance’s Memories of Growing Up in Wagram, in Scotland County, NC Until 1965

Wagram, NC, is a small town (population 840 in 2010) in the southeastern part of North Carolina, located on US Highway #401 between Raeford and Laurinburg. Scots settled the area in the 1700s and named it Scotland County in 1899. These stories are my memories of growing up there from 1943 through 1965 when I...

3: Following An Older Cousin Everywhere

Daddy's second older brother was Uncle Jim (James A. Buie I, 1898-1943)) who died of a ruptured appendix before I was born. He was married to Aunt Lottie Mae Julian (1904-1993) and they had three daughters, Lute, Virginia, and Mary 'Becca. Lute and Virginia were teenagers when their dad died, and Mary Becca was six....

11. Remembering Hattie Williams and ‘The Help’

By Kathy Buie Vance. Across the big, two-lane blacktop highway, U.S. 401 was where the Black people lived. We called them “colored people” in the 1950s. I knew many of the colored women since they worked as domestic help in every home on the other side of #401. I also knew some of the men...

13. How Our Fathers and Mothers Made A Living in the Small Town of Wagram

By Kathy Buie Vance. The men in Wagram had various jobs. A couple of them owned and operated filling stations and several of them owned and managed grocery stores, a hardware store, a pharmacy, a feed and seed store, and there was Dr. Womble's medical practice. Bill Shaw had an office, but I never knew...

14. Ann and I Loved School. Our Brother Did Not

By Kathy Buie Vance. I loved school. Wagram was a 1-12 school, so the same kids were together for 12 years. Pat and Flora Jane were my best friends in my class, and I was also good friends with the boys – David, Johnny, Cal, Thomas, Billy, and Johnson. Also I had dear friends in...

15. Summers Spent At the ‘Resort’ of Riverton

By Kathy Buie Vance. In the summer, we spent our time at the river. We would go to Jolly Bend in the mornings and Dan and Wrae's landing in the afternoons. Jolly Bend was a gathering place for the whole community. We would pile into the station wagon with our inner tubes and wave to...

17. My Beloved Aunt Mary Lived Right Across the Street, in Wagram for 99 Years

By Kathy Buie Vance. Aunt Mary Buie Pence, Daddy's older sister, was like a grandmother to me. She had a green thumb and an absolutely lovely yard as well as a beautiful house, and there were always yummy smells in her kitchen. She always had time to sit down and visit with us when we...

24. Remembering Grandmother Lessie and Her Remarkable Siblings, All Born in the 19th Century

By Kathy Buie Vance. Lessie Covington Secrest, Mother's mother, was the grandmother I loved with all my heart, and remember the best. She would spend weeks, sometimes months, with us, and my mother took care of her the last two years of her life in our childhood home. As a young child, I couldn't wait to...

21. As Teens, We Engaged With Presidential Politics

By Kathy Buie Vance. The presidential elections were always of interest in the Buie household. At almost five in 1948, I don't remember Truman defeating Dewey, but I remember the story of how everybody thought Dewey won and the next morning it was Truman. The first election that I remember was Eisenhower vs Stevenson in...