In 1873, a group of 50 or so African Americans facing threats from the Ku Klux Klan in their hometown of Cross Anchor in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, left in the middle of the night for the western North Carolina mountains. They named a king and queen, built a two-story palace and called their new kingdom Happy Land. Bestselling author Dolen Perkins-Valdez has written a novel with the same title based on this incredible true story. She takes readers on a journey of the challenges the people might have faced and the legacy they left for their present-day descendants.
Gwendolyn Glenn: Prior to moving to the mountains of Henderson County, records show that the Happy Land residents became expert farmers during their enslavement. After emancipation, they successfully tilled the land they were allowed to live on in Cross Anchor, South Carolina. "Happy Land" author Dolen Perkins-Valdez says that Klan attacks on Cross Anchor’s Black residents stemmed mainly from their prosperity and activism. She points to Martin Bobo, the father of the queen of Happy Land, who was a minister and leader in Cross Anchor’s Black community.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez: I believe a lot of the whites were jealous of him because we found evidence that he was making over $900 a year with his crops, which was a lot more than even some of those white farmers in that area. Martin Bobo had been publicly whipped in the center of town. We believe that had to do with the fact that he was voting and that he was encouraging the men in his church to vote.
Glenn: The story of the Happy Land community Bobo helped develop is not well-known. Perkins-Valdez says she only stumbled on a small account of the community during the (coronavirus) pandemic.
Perkins-Valdez: I took up the banjo as my pandemic hobby, and I was researching western North Carolina old-time musicians in early 2021. And I stumbled on this local newspaper article about this kingdom that had been started by formerly enslaved people and I thought, ‘Is this true? Is this real?’ I reached out to a local librarian at Henderson County Library — Ronnie Pepper — and I learned from him that it was true.
Glenn: Well, let's talk about this book. Tell us about why they left South Carolina.
Perkins-Valdez: For a long time, there was this pamphlet that was published in 1957 by this local court stenographer, Sadie Smathers Patton. In her pamphlet, she said that the original kingdom dwellers came from Mississippi. Something about that I just did not believe.
I thought, if you were just looking to create a mountain community, there were a lot of places between Mississippi and North Carolina you could have stopped. So, we began to dig into the archives down in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and also in Henderson County. And what we discovered was the people were from a little town in South Carolina called Cross Anchor and the Klan activity in Spartanburg County at that time was pretty dangerous for Black folks in that area.
And the newspaper articles that show that they left in a hurry. They sold things for less than market value. You know, they sold a hog that was worth $3, they sold it for a dollar. They sold their crops for next to nothing, and then they left almost overnight. And we believe the urgency of that departure signifies that they were fleeing for their safety.
Glenn: In your book, you talk about how there was an inn there owned by a white woman whose husband had passed, and she let them live in former cabins that had been used for enslaved people.
Perkins-Valdez: That was true. The widow's name was Sarah A. Goodwin, and she owned the Oakland Inn, which was on the Buncombe Turnpike. After the war, she lost her enslaved labor. She was really struggling, and when the freed people from South Carolina came up that mountain, they struck a deal with her that they would help her in return for living in those abandoned quarters.
Glenn: It seems like it was always their plan to be self-sufficient.
Perkins-Valdez: Yes, down in South Carolina, the Black men of that community had been voting and they were making a difference in South Carolina politics. We found evidence of them on the voter registration rolls. What we also found was Luella Bobo. Luella was the only queen of the kingdom, I should say. The king becomes William Montgomery, who I think led them up the mountain. He knew about that path, and he knew about the widow. He had traveled that turnpike before and so he became king.
Glenn: And he had been enslaved himself?
Perkins-Valdez: That's right. (He and his brother) have been on the Montgomery Plantation in South Carolina. When they established that kingdom, they decided to disconnect themselves and create their own nation within a nation and their own government. They pooled their resources together, and they had a communal treasury.
Glenn: The residents funded the treasury by working for the railroad and in nearby mines. Some were skilled laborers and found work and the women developed a popular liniment that they sold in town. They used that money to buy the land they lived on in 1882, plus 75 acres in Greenville County, South Carolina. They put half of it in the queen's name and half in the king's name, that I'm sure was unheard of during those times.
Perkins-Valdez: That struck me, too. Just seeing that deed with her name on it — it told me something about the power that she had in that community. I think the fact that the women were so successful with that liniment, and part of the reason they were able to have a voice, is because they were contributing to that treasury just as the men were.
Glenn: Kingdom residents sold the land in 1919, as younger generations moved to less isolated areas. Perkins-Valdez’s novel takes readers back and forth between the 1800s and Queen Luella’s present-day descendants, who are trying to save the kingdom’s lands from unscrupulous developers. During her research, Perkins-Valdez says she toured the actual Happy Land property.
Perkins-Valdez: So the only thing that's left from the actual kingdom is a chimney, which is sort of crumbling. We believe that it was the building that served as both the school and the chapel. And then there are just a bunch of crumbling rocks, which we believe were the palace that the king and queen lived in. It's the prettiest land you've ever seen. It's green. It's rolling hills. The areas that they farmed are still cleared. There's a trail. None of it is paved. There's a creek that goes through there. It was their water source, and it's still clean, potable water. It's beautiful.
Glenn: How did you feel walking through there and knowing the history of that site?
Perkins-Valdez: You know, there's a line in the book where Nikki [a descendant] looks out over the land and she says, “Looking out on this land, now I understand why all Luella wanted was to love and be loved.” I wrote that line thinking about how I felt when I was on that property. It's awe-inspiring. It reminds us of our humanity and our oneness with nature and with God's creations. You know, you close your eyes and it’s so quiet. You're literally living in another realm.
Documents, maps, photos and the history of the Happy Land kingdom can be found online at dolenperkinsvaldez.com and at https://blueridgearchive.org/s/the-kingdom-of-the-happyland/page/welcome
