In the Valley Collection (Corra Harris Historic Homestead, Bartow County, Georgia), 1902-2019

Corra Mae (White) Harris: Corra Mae (White) Harris, one of Georgia’s most prominent female writers of the early twentieth Century, was born on March 17, 1869 to Elizabeth and Tinsley Rucker White on her family’s plantation “Farmhill” in Elbert County, Georgia. Corra had a rudimentary education, she first received direction from her mother and later moved to the old Field school in Elbert County. When the family’s money provided Corra attended school at the Elberton Female Academy. She studied with her uncle, Albert Mathews, the principal of a school in Banks County for a short while in 1885. It was in Banks County that Corra would meet her future husband, Lundy H. Harris who was born in 1858 in McDonough, Georgia. She returned home from Banks County in 1886 and finished her final term at the Female Academy. Corra and Lundy Harris were married on February 8, 1887 at “Farmhill.” Lundy became a Methodist preacher the year before; after their marriage Corra followed Lundy, from church to church on the Redwine Circuit in Heart County, Georgia. At the end of 1887 Corra once again returned to her childhood home, “Farmhill,” to give birth to their first child, Faith, on December 24. Faith would be the first of three children of Lundy and Corra, but the only child to survive past infancy. In 1888 Lundy accepted a job at a church in Decatur, Georgia and moved his family. Later that year Dr. Warren Candler offered Lundy employment at Emory College as an adjunct professor in Greek; so the family moved again, this time to Oxford, Georgia. In June of 1898 Lundy suffered a mental breakdown and left Corra and their children to find his faith. At this time Corra wrote Al, Lundy’s brother, and he promptly told her she should come to Rockmart, Georgia and stay with him. By the spring of 1899 Lundy had returned to Corra in Rockmart. Lundy gained employment at the Rockmart Institute and Corra at a Country School. Later that same year an African American man named Sam Hose was lynched by a mob of white people in Newnan for killing a white farmer. Letters and articles denouncing the actions of the mob were published by the New York Independent. In response Corra wrote a letter to the editors of the Independent which explained the southerner’s actions; the Independent published this letter as “A Southern Woman’s Viewpoint.” The publication of Corra’s letter in the Independent received intense reactions from the readers which caused the editor to request more of her work. After another racially loaded piece followed by the reader’s reactions, the paper agreed to publish and pay for any work Corra sent them, launching her professional career as a writer. In 1900 Lundy accepted a position at Young Harris College and the family moves to Young Harris. For the next few years Corra moved around Georgia following Lundy to his various places of employment; first as a supply preacher in a small church in Groveton, Georgia near Augusta then to a church in College Park. Finally in 1902 Lundy is appointed assistant secretary of the Methodist Church’s Board of Education in Nashville, Tennessee. During this whole time Corra continues to write, publishing many articles, serials, book reviews, and her first book in 1902 (first published as a serial and later as a book) Jessica’s Letters. In 1910, Corra’s second and most famous book, A Circuit Rider’s Wife, was published. Though this was a triumphant accomplishment for Corra and her career it was coupled with tragedy; later that year her beloved husband took his own life with a morphine overdose, while visiting some friends in Pine Log, Georgia. Corra had spent her married life following Lundy around to his various jobs, living in dormitories, apartments, and rented homes; therefore after the death of her husband Corra decided that she would purchase the one thing she never owned, a home of her own. Corra spent the next year writing, traveling to research a story, and visiting friends. When Corra returned from Europe and finished her serial, “An Old Woman and a New One in the Old World,” she returned to Georgia to visit family and old friends. While visiting Clarence Anthony at his farm in Pine Log, the same farm where Lundy died, she found the home she would purchase in nearby Rydal, Georgia; Corra decided on this location because she felt close to her husband there. Corra would name her new home, which consisted of only an old log cabin, In the Valley. Over the next few years Corra would renovate the original cabin and make additions to it and the rest of the property. Corra spent the remainder of her years, from 1913 to 1935, at In the Valley writing and entertaining guests. During her time at In the Valley Corra accomplished many things; she published many more works, taught a course on “Evil” at Rollins College, and was awarded three honorary degrees from Oglethorpe University, The University of Georgia, and Rollins College. On May 3, 1919 in the middle of her accomplishments Corra lost her daughter Faith. Corra Harris died on February 7, 1935 and was buried at her home In the Valley. A Chapel, designed by the architectural firm Cram and Ferguson, was built the next year in 1936 over her grave.   In the Valley: In the Valley is located in Rydal, a small town in Bartow County, Georgia, slightly northeast of Cartersville, Georgia. The home was made famous because of its occupant, prominent Georgia writer, Corra Harris who owned the home from 1913 to 1935. Legend has it that the original cabin, dating back to sometime in the early nineteenth century, was built by a Cherokee Indian Chief who’s name does not remain. The Cherokee Chief, given the name Chief Pine Log because of the cabin’s close proximity to the town Pine Log, Georgia, was relocated during the trail of tears with the rest of the native population of the area. There is no record left of any Chief Pine Log in the 1835 Cherokee Census or any other historical record from the area. Corra Harris happened upon the cabin and property while visiting the Anthony Farm, in Pine Log, where her husband took his own life. The property was in ruins when Corra found it, but in the log cabin she saw her home and felt her husband’s presence. Corra Harris purchased the property in 1913, renovating and making additions to the original cabin. At this time Corra also added many outbuildings to the property including a worker’s quarters and a library around 1914. After Corra’s death a small stone chapel was added to the property in 1936. The estate was divided between Corra’s three nephews, William Albinius (“Al”) Harris, John Duncan Harris, and Frederick Mixon Harris, in accordance with her will. The two Rains sisters, Bettie and Trannie, were allowed to live on the land and see to its up keep as long as they never married. The two Rains sisters eventually married and, as stated in Corra’s will, the property was then offered to The Daughters of the American Revolution and then to The United Daughters of the Confederacy, but neither of the organizations was interested in the land. In 1949, the trust for the property was depleted. Al Harris’s widow and Corra’s two remaining nephews, John and Fred, sold the land to Trannie Rains Smith. While the land was owned by the Smith family, portions were sold leaving only the 56 acres directly attached to the cabin. Over the next few decades the property changed hands multiple times and in 1996 Jodie Hill, a Marietta businessman, bought the property and began restorations. In 2000 Mr. Hill began the Corra Harris Garden Club, in memory of the author, which helped with the up keep of the property. In December of 2008 Mr. Hill donated the property to Kennesaw State University.Note written by Nathan Teasdale