Thanks -- and someone else had raised the Louisiana-Washington-Custis
connection, but Mrs. Keyes didn't move to New Orleans until later in her
life. Her husband was the senior senator from New Hampshire and she
considered herself a Washingtonian, a Virginian--by birth, at least, and a
New Englander through her mother and grandmother's line.
But you bring up a salient point.
The settings for Mrs. Keyes' Louisiana novels were always real-life edifices
(like "San Francisco" and "The Cottage" along the River Road) and she went
into great detail about them in her forewords. This one--Honor Bright was
written shortly before her husband's death-- is different. It's definitely
in Virginia and, for some reason, she says no more. I'm hopeful her papers
will reveal why, but until I can get to them I'm looking for any clues in
this mystery. My suspicions are it may unlock some clue about Mrs. Keyes'
personal life and the inspiration for her writing career. Thank you so much
for your response!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Kukla" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: plantation used as setting by novelist in 1936
> Just a thought - but through Nelly Custis Lewis, there were Washington
> kin in Louisiana (Patricia Brady, who spoke at LVA today, has written
> about Nelly). Right off hand you may want to entertain the possibility
> that Keyes - a prominent New Orleanian - might have had a Louisiana
> Plantation in mind....
>
> Jon Kukla
>
>> I'm researching the life of novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes and would be
>> very grateful for any information concerning the setting of what may be
>> her
>> most autobiographical novel. In 1936, Mrs. Keyes began her novel Honor
>> Bright with an author's foreword that stated:
>>
>> "The old plantation of Solomon's Garden, described in Honor Bright,
>> has its prototype in reality. It is presented in fiction form with the
>> knowledge and approval of its present owner, the nearest living 'kin' to
>> George Washington."
>>
>> There is no other information in the forword. In fact, Mrs. Keyes was
>> uncharacteristically coy about the identity of this plantation and its
>> inhabitants. She typically shares much more about such settings with her
>> readers. Mrs. Keyes goes on to say another, nearby plantation actually
>> bore the name Solomon's Garden "but that [place] is now obsolete." It
>> was
>> definitely another estate which served as the model for the plantation in
>> Honor Bright
>>
>> Can anyone enlighten me as to the name of the estate in question? Or the
>> names of its inhabitants in 1934-36? Moreover, can you think of any
>> reason
>> Mrs. Keyes would be so mysterious about this place?
>>
>> A careful reading of the novel itself gives this information about the
>> estate: It is--or was --a white clapboarded, green-shuttered house with a
>> wide brick walk leading up to it and four white outbuildings arranged in
>> a
>> symmetrical square. It sits atop a knoll or slight rise in the ground.
>> It
>> may be the older of two homes on one property. However, if Mrs. Keyes is
>> true to form, she also used factual information to describe the history
>> of
>> the place--and in that case, it was built around 1678 by James Fitzhubert
>> for his bride, Sally Hunter. Its most famous attribute may be a Painted
>> Parlor -- a formal sitting room outstanding in its hand-painted panels.
>> That parlor was decorated by a Hessian soldier rescued (from drowning?)
>> by
>> the plantation owner/another Virginia landowner. In gratitude, the
>> Hessian
>> made his own paints from clay on the grounds and decorated the room in
>> the
>> European "fashions of the day."
>>
>> Mrs. Keyes has used the Fielding name in several of her novels, both as
>> main characters and in minor, supporting roles. In Honor Bright, a ghost
>> named Lucy Fielding is said to haunt Solomon's Garden. In her foreword,
>> Mrs. Keyes' says she appropriated the haunt--name and all -- from the
>> real
>> Solomon's Garden, the one that is NOT the setting of the novel -- but
>> which
>> is nearby.
>>
>> Again, I'd be most appreciative of any information or even supposition in
>> this case.
>>
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>
>>
>
>
> Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President
> Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial
> 1250 Red Hill Road
> Brookneal, Virginia 24528
> www.redhill.org
> Phone 434-376-2044 or 800-514-7463
>
> Fax 434-376-2647
>
> - M. Lynn Davis, Office Manager
> - Karen Gorham-Smith, Associate Curator
> - Edith Poindexter, Curator
>
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