dorland bell photos, hot springs, nc, 1920's

I hit the family archive mother load on Sunday. My aunt dug an old photo album out of a drawer at my grandmother's old house (no one lives there now, but we gathered there for Easter dinner for old times' sake).

Among other treasures were these pictures from my grandmother's girlhood, when she was a student at Dorland Bell, as I've written about before. They are, by far, the earliest pictures I've ever seen of her. I wouldn't have known it was her, except she wrote on the backs of the pictures - thank you, Grandma; I wish everyone was that diligent.

My aunt says the picture below is of Hot Springs; I choose to believe her.

Below is Hattie R. Carter, a classmate, and my grandmother, Linda Freeman, at the badminton net. Grandma once told me that she played a lot of sports at Dorland Bell, including basketball.

Below is Linda and another classmate, Elizabeth Lollan.

The picture below is labeled simply "school friends" on the back. Grandma's in the middle. I actually think this picture and the next are earlier than the Dorland Bell days; she looks very young.

Here are Lois Hill, Elizabeth and Eugenia Lollan, and Linda. I would not believe that were her if she had not written her own name on the back. I cannot trace any resemblance to how she looked as an adult...except she didn't like to smile for pictures then, either.

Nothing was written on the back of this next picture, but my aunt identified the girl in the front row, second from left, as Grandma. My aunt, who was a schoolteacher and later superintendent of schools in Madison County, said that she taught the daughter of the boy in the front row years later. She told me his name, but I didn't write it down, and promptly forgot it.

I love this next picture. On the back is written, "Picnic girls of Dorland Bell Hot Springs N.C. going up the Mt."

And, finally, graduation day at Dorland Bell. I believe this was in 1923 or 1924 (Grandma was married in 1924, and she and Grandpa were a pretty serious item by graduation day.)

I never thought I'd see pictures from this part of our family's history. It's almost beyond words, how much this means to me. Grandma's days at Dorland Bell made her who she was...she learned how to cook (and she was the best cook, the best), how to think about the wider world, how to take care of guests and treat everyone like they were special. She remembered her time in Hot Springs, her education, very fondly.