Our Correspondent in Arcadia

Barn fires and birthday parties, weddings and funerals, visitors from out of town and trips to town – those were the mainstays of the community correspondents who helped fill the pages of the Kingsport Times in the early years of publication.

These anonymous, unpaid writers would scribble down the mundane events of their communities and mail them into the paper where these items would be collected under the standing head “News of Nearby Communities.”

There would be news from well-known nearby communities, like Fordtown and Fall Branch, and lesser known – at least today – wide spots in the road like Enterprise and Cross and even a place called Lady’s Academy.

And the Queen of the Community Correspondents was Miss Eula Gaines, the Scribe of Arcadia, a community out Bloomingdale Pike, just beyond the Kingsley School.

For 18 years she mailed in her monthly – sometimes even more often – dispatches, a compendium of Life in Arcadia. Until 1942 when she retired as the longest continuous correspondent of the Kingsport Times, citing “other activities keeping her so busy.”

I was introduced to Miss Eula Gaines a couple of weeks ago through the above picture from the March 19, 1939 edition of the Kingsport Times.

I was searching for “news stands” on newspapers.com and the optical character recognition software mistakenly read “now stands” in the photo caption for “news stands.”

At first I was intrigued by the sign, a Kingsport City Limits marker from 1918 (the city was chartered in 1917):

Corporate Limits

City of Kingsport

Speed Limits Per Hour

Residence Section, 20 Miles

Business Section, 10 Miles

Then the photo gets a little fuzzy. Fortunately the City of Kingsport Archives has a similar photo taken in a different location that is more legible. The sign continues:

No Out-Outs (or Cut-Outs, I can’t tell which) Permitted (I have no idea what that means anyway)

No 5 Ton Loads, No Disc Harrows, Traction Engines, Etc. And No Loose Live-Stock Allowed On The Improved Streets.

Keep To The Right

The caption to the newspaper image notes “The photo shows the old Eastman bridge.”  

It does not note the two young women posing behind the sign. But it does say, “Submitted by Miss Eula Gaines.” And that’s when I became intrigued by Miss Eula.

I suspected Miss Eula Gaines might be one of the two young women so I searched the archive for her name.

I had the parameters set to “newest first” and the item at the top of the list was the 1975 obituary of “Miss Gaines, Pioneer City Nurse.” It was not Miss Eula Gaines but her sister, Miss Fannie Gaines, one of the first registered nurses in Kingsport, “graduating from Knoxville General Hospital in 1924.” Miss Fannie had been the supervisor at Riverview Hospital in Old Kingsport and started working at Holston Valley Community Hospital when it opened in 1935. “Survivors include a sister, Miss Eula Gaines, Kingsport.”

That had to be the two young women in the photo, Miss Eula and Miss Fannie.

From the obituary I knew about Miss Fannie, the Pioneer Nurse.

But what about Miss Eula Gaines? (And I am not mocking Miss Eula. Unfailingly every reference to her – and there are more than 400 in the Kingsport Times-News archive – calls her “Miss Eula.” So I will, too.)

It turns out Miss Eula was the Chronicler of Arcadia, a community out Bloomingdale Pike. And I mean THE Chronicler. She began chronicling the events of the community for the Kingsport Progress, an early newspaper that began publishing in April 1917. When she retired from writing Arcadia news for the Kingsport Times in 1942 after 18 years, she said wryly of the Progress, “It was only in progress one year.” She was the Times’ longest continuous community correspondent. Her retirement was necessary, she said, because other activities were keeping her busy.

She wasn’t giving up the pen entirely. She continued submitting regular Arcadia chronicles for other area newspapers, in particular the Sullivan County News, out of Blountville. Her last byline in that newspaper was from September 1971. Miss Eula was 77 at the time.

1917 to 1971 – 54 years - she chronicled Arcadia.

A few months after her final byline for the Blountville newspaper, Times-News reporter Joan Roesgen visited the Gaines sisters at their log home in Arcadia – where else? - and found Miss Eula finishing up her review of Arcadia in 1971.

Roesgen wrote:

 One quiet afternoon last week, Miss Eula Gaines gathered up the various birth announcements, wedding invitations, and death notices she had been accumulating, and seating herself in the front parlor of the old Gaines Homestead proceeded to write down the "Main Events of the Past Year, 1971, in Arcadia Community."

From the reaches of a memory honed with age, Miss Eula Gaines labored throughout the afternoon, bent over a stack of loose-leaf notebook paper and using a TV snack tray for a writing table.

The TV tray is the only modern intrusion in the Gaines parlor which saw its finest hour 50 years ago. In one corner of the room is a grand organ, and beside it on a white crocheted doily is the Family Bible, its pages turned brown by time and reverent hands.

The walls abound with faces of Gaines' kinfolk in their prime laughing out of faded photographs. There is Miss Eula herself, a pretty young thing beneath a wide-brimmed hat. And there is Miss Fannie, her regal profile framed by a mass of strawberry blonde hair.

The sisters never married, and they live together today in the log cabin where they were born.

Miss Fannie Gaines spent her youth as a registered nurse. Miss Eula Gaines turned her talent to writing personal items for area newspapers, no small achievement, since years ago the county correspondents’ tidbits often were the hottest news items off the press.

How else was an Arcadia housewife to know her sewing circle refreshments really were delicious and that Lorabelle's rheumatism was acting up again?

In recent years, having lost her daily clients to the New Journalism, Miss Eula Gaines turned her attention to compiling a "History of Kingsport," a work that also manages to read like a Gaines family scrapbook.

Arcadia Community stretches along a mile of Bloomingdale Pike beyond Kingsley School. There are about 50 homes, three churches, and one deserted store, the store having been abandoned, the sisters say, after it was robbed two or three times.

But who needs neon and night life? Miss Eula Gaines had no trouble collecting newsworthy items for her "Main Events of the Past Year, 1971, in the Arcadia Community" which she sent to the Times-News for publication, she said, "because everyone out this way would be so pleased to see it."

The chronicle is not a day-by-day accounting. There is no entry, for example, for April 19 when Arcadia resident (and Times-News reporter) Bob Smith, arriving home late from a poker game, stubbed his big toe on the bed post and let loose with a string of obscenities that could be heard all the way to Stuffle Heights.

But these trivia are perhaps best omitted. And the "Main Events” exactly as Miss Eula Gaines lived and wrote them are recounted here below.

The newspaper printed, in its entirety, Miss Eula’s 1971 Chronicle:

Jan. 4 – The earth was covered with beautiful deep snow for one week.

Jan. 13 - Judith Ann Newland was born at Holston Valley Community Hospital, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Newland, and granddaughter of Lessley Newland and the late Mrs. Newland of Arcadia, and Rev. and Mrs. F. F. Perry of New York.

February - A big snow again. The Sullivan County schools were closed at different times on account of the freezing cold weather and deep snow and ice.

Mar. 4 - Mrs. M. R. (Maud) Hickam passed away at Holston Valley Community Hospital.

Apr. 11 - Rev. Guy Tilley delivered the Easter sermon at Arcadia Presbyterian Church. A pot of flowers was given and sent to the mothers in the community.

May 23 – Rev. John Myers, the former pastor, delivered the annual Memorial Service at Arcadia Methodist Church at Reedy Creek Campground, followed by lunch.

June 3 - Mae Lynn Tilley and Danny Surgenor graduated at Ketron High School.

June 5 - William James Gaines and Esther Ruth Horton were married at Freewill Baptist Church in Unicoi, Tennessee. Relatives and friends from Arcadia, Bluff City and elsewhere attended the Gaines-Horton wedding. Reception was at the bride's parents' home, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Horton.

June 12 - William Boyd Hickam and Selma Christine Bledsoe were married at Vermont Methodist Church. Reception was in the basement at the church. Relatives and friends attended the Hickam-Bledsoe wedding.

June 20 - Rev. and Mrs. Dan Graham celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary at Graham Bible College on the Bristol Highway. Quite a number of friends from Arcadia, and elsewhere, and relatives were present. Rev. Dan Graham is founder of Graham Bible College.

July 17 - Lynn Hicks and Judie Davis were married at Ketron Memorial Methodist Church at Lynn Garden, Kingsport. Reception was in the basement at the church. A number of persons from Arcadia and elsewhere attended the Hicks-Davis wedding.

July 18 - Rev. and Mrs. Dick Knox and family John, Janice, and Steven Knox gave a musical program at Arcadia Presbyterian Church.

July 19 - The Knox family left Tennessee for a visit with Rev. Knox's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Knox of New York, before their departure overseas in the Middle East at Beirut, Lebanon.

July 30 - Dewey Dingus died at Holston Valley Community Hospital, husband of Mrs. Dewey Dingus.

Aug. 2 – Mrs. Mary Rogers died after a lingering illness at Holston Valley Community Hospital, mother of Mrs. J. L. Cain.

Aug. 3 - Charlie Dixon died at his home at Arcadia of a heart attack, husband of Mrs. Katherine Hicks Dixon.

Aug. 17 - Michael Surgenor and William James Gaines graduated at East Tennessee State University with 562 students in Johnson City, Tennessee. A number of persons from Arcadia community and elsewhere attended their graduation at the summer term.

Aug. 29 - Doris Ethel Payne Hale died at Holston Valley Community Hospital, wife of Robert Hale.

Sept. 26 - Garvie East died at Holston Valley Community Hospital, husband of Mrs. Garvie East.

Oct. 2 - Rebecca Ann Strickland was born at Holston Valley Community Hospital, daughter of Kenneth and Helen Carter Strickland, and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Carter of Arcadia.

Oct. 16 - Michael Blain Surgenor and Frankie Turner were married at Bethel Presbyterian Church, Warpath Drive, Kingsport, Tennessee. Relatives and friends from Arcadia and elsewhere attended the Surgenor-Turner wedding. Reception was in the basement at the church.

Nov. 22 - Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Hicks, Jr. celebrated their 25th Silver Wedding Anniversary at their home in Arcadia, with a family gathering and refreshments.

Dec. 18 - Linda Lue Surgenor and Ronnie Gatlett were married at Arcadia Union Church. Reception was in the church basement. Relatives and friends attended the Surgenor-Gatlett wedding.

 

Miss Eula Gaines was last heard from in the Times-News in a 1981 remembrance of the old Arcadia School, which was closing for good. Miss Eula had attended the school, then called Temperance Hall, beginning in 1900. At that time it only went through the fifth grade. “They taught us reading and writing and ‘rithmetic. Now they get to high school and can’t even read.”

Miss Eula learned her lessons well, reading and writing for newspapers for over half a century.

Miss Eula Gaines died in 1994 at age 100. 

 

“News of Nearby Communities” ran for 18 years.

The “News” came from all over the “section,” as editors liked to call the Kingsport area. The Jan. 31, 1932 edition had a representative sample with reports from Reedy Creek, Cook’s Valley, Fordtown, Bloomingdale, Green Shed, Eastern Star, Fall Branch, Harbor’s Chapel, Hiltons, Va., Nickelsville, Va., Cross, Vermont, East Kingsport, Goshen Valley, Sulphur Springs, Yuma, Gunnings, Rock Springs, Enterprise and Midway, Va.

“News of Nearby Communities” began as a regular feature in 1924. The first communities to report were Indian Springs, Bloomingdale, Blountville, Bristol Road, Blairs Gap, Kingsley, Pactolus, Cook’s Valley, Solomon’s Temple, Hemlock, Falls Creek, Pine Grove and Arcadia.

I don’t know where some of these communities are.

Miss Eula Gaines’ first Arcadia report on May 6, 1924 began:

“The following young ladies hiked to Chestnut Flatts Sunday. Misses Ada Hicks, Mae Denison, Mabel Hickam, Grace Fain, Izola Denison and Mrs. S.P. Fain. They picnicked in the beautiful grove that surrounded the little church and afterward visited an old man and lady who were nearing the century mark and to their surprise they learned from the old lady that they were distant related to her, she having the same name as one of the party before her marriage.”

What a nice little scene from a century ago, six young women hiking together from Arcadia all the way to Chestnut Flatt, which as best I can figure from the map is almost five miles away, near Hiltons, Virginia. And after their picnic visiting with an old man and an old lady. The last community news roundup to be published under the head “News of Nearby Communities” was on Sept. 24, 1941 and contained news from only four communities: Green Shed, Hiltons, Harmony and Arcadia.

Miss Eula’s final Arcadia dispatch had only three items, beginning with “Misses Fannie and Eula Gaines visited Lucy Rill and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Anderson at Beason Well.”

  

My father grew up in one of those “nearby communities,” Green Shed, which is on the old Greeneville highway, five miles past Fall Branch. (Turn at Haw’s Crossroads. Green Shed is just past Bethesda Church.) The first time his name appeared in this newspaper was in 1929 – he was 13 years old and visiting his sister. The item was published under “News of Nearby Communities – Green Shed.”