In Southern Pines, James Boyd remodeled an old farmhouse on his place which became his winter home and also that of a young grandson whose health was not the best.
This lad, son of John Y. Boyd, was named James after his grandfather. He loved the place, which they had christened Weymouth, and spent much of his boyhood and teenage years there.
When he grew up and married, he and his wife Katharine made it over into a lovely and elegant home that became a center for many activities.
James Boyd became a writer of poetry and historical novels, earning a place in American literature, and among friends of the couple were many writers and other gifted people for whom Weymouth provided rest and relaxation.
James Boyd and his brother Jackson, avid horsemen, were among the founders of the Moore County Hunt, which still exists today.
Boyd purchased The Pilot in the early 1940s and served as its publisher until his untimely death in 1944. His wife Katharine took over responsibilities at the newspaper until she sold it in late 1968 to Sam Ragan former editor of The News & Observer of Raleigh.
Social doings and cultural events, of which Southern Pines has always had many, draw from all the Sandhills towns. This is partly because of the creative atmosphere that has come down through the years from the Boyds and some others in all the towns.
Katharine Boyd bequeathed her home for the benefit of Sandhills Community College, for whatever use could be made of it.
To sell it to a local group with plans for a literary center seemed the best plan, so they could obey the injunction of the late playwright Paul Green, an intimate of Jim Boyd’s, when he cried out in a meeting of hopeful friends, “Don’t let Weymouth die!”
Sam Ragan and others in the community were determined that the building would become a place in which many programs of value and interest could take place.
There is a “writers in residence” program which allows North Carolina writers to come and spend a few days working on their projects in the peaceful surroundings of Weymouth.
Poetry readings, dramatic presentations, musical events and weddings also take place in the house and gardens that have been brought back to life and beauty by volunteer horticulturists.
Weymouth is also home to the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame, authorized by a joint resolution of the N.C. General Assembly on July 23, 1993, then formally established by a grant from the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources to the N.C. Writers’ Network, a literary organization serving writers and readers since 1985.
The Hall of Fame, to which James Boyd was named in 1996 and the late Sam Ragan in 1997, is located in an upstairs room at Weymouth. Displayed there are plaques, pictures, books and other memorabilia of Hall of Fame members.
Weymouth Center is located on Connecticut Avenue in Southern Pines. For information, call 910-692-6261.
