The Hamptons live an Edenic life on their plantation the western North Carolina. Mrs. Hampton died young, but Mr. Hampton has had the pleasure of watching his children Walter and Norva grow to adulthood. The snake who enters this garden is Norva’s new husband Lawrence Hastings, a man she met in London. Hasting is lascivious and greedy, and his plot to seize the Hampton’s family’s wealth almost succeeds. The novel is thought to be set in Yancey County; the time is the early nineteenth century.
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The family in this novel is named Hampton, not Mead! The mead is the location of their dwelling, in the county in WNC where I grew up. I have been trying for years to determine the relationship between Elizabeth Van Loon and my Bailey family! Someone help me!
You’re right, Mr. Bailey, and we have corrected the post. Thank you for pointing out our error. I know that you are a thorough researcher, so there is not likely to be a source on a Bailey-Van Loon connection that I know but you don’t. Perhaps a reader from western North Carolina will chime in with a suggestion.