She was the first first lady to invite an African American to a White House tea, to speak on the radio, to give regular interviews, and to create a political program. She was an active philanthropist throughout her adult life, in the U.S. and abroad. Eager to encourage young women to be strong and successful, she worked with the Girl Scouts of America, the League of Women Voters, and the Women's Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation.
Despite her accomplishments, Lou Hoover's memory lies in the shadows of our nation's history, hidden in part by her affinity for privacy and emphasis on projects that encouraged self-sufficiency, and eclipsed by her successors' ability to promote their accomplishments. In the mountains of Virginia, though, her legacy lives on, in a mountain retreat that welcomes visitors to Shenandoah National Park, and in the ways she touched the local community. Here she demonstrated a love of the outdoors, early environmental awareness and beneficence that engendered self-reliance.
Young Lou Henry grew up with an appreciation for nature and the active life that accompanied it. During her childhood in Iowa, she enjoyed fishing, hiking, horseback riding, camping and sports with her father and friends.
Later, as president of the Girl Scouts, she worked to enable all young women to experience that same enjoyment of the outdoors and "the refreshment and invigoration of muscles, nerves and spirit" of sports. "The happiest part of my own very happy childhood and girlhood was without doubt the hours or days, the sometimes entire months ... in our wonderful western mountains," she told other Girl Scout leaders. "So I cannot but want every girl to have the same widening, simplifying, joy-getting influences in her own life."
Lou Henry Hoover was amiable and lively, independent and adventuresome, intelligent and articulate, self-confident and compassionate.
Both Hoovers appreciated the area's natural beauty. The "Chief " was also drawn to the region's trout fishing and the "Lady" to horseback riding opportunities.
"Here is the quiet comradeship of trees and the liquid lullaby of murmuring waters," wrote Thomas Lomax Hunter in a 1931 souvenir booklet on Camp Rapidan, " ... a charmed spot of wild and sylvan loveliness."
Lou Hoover took charge of planning the buildings and the property. In designing her family's quarters, later dubbed the Brown House, she suggested to architect James Rippin that the president's room be positioned so he could "hear the water murmuring." She arranged for a sun porch office for herself. Reflecting their affinity for the outdoors, she requested rooms so "One would wake up to the feeling that he was on a sleeping porch ... Some opening could be left wide enough that a bed could be pulled straight out on a platform under the stars without much ado, and could be as hastily pushed back under cover when the first sprinkle came."
Though they were millionaires and could have afforded the finest in structures and furnishings, the Hoovers wanted a retreat that fit the natural habitat. The structures were to be rustic, of logs and slab shingles. To the existing hemlock, oaks, maples, sycamores, tulip poplars and mountain laurel, Lou Henry Hoover wanted to add indigenous plants, "either the identical species which grow in that neighborhood ... or of perhaps hardy species that might be better to cultivate but very similar to the native ones."
Mrs. Hoover wanted "mass effects of color," to please her husband's fondness for garden color, without "formal beds of plants or flowers but, while having a certain compactness so as to give masses of color, [they] should ramble off into the surroundings," plus "wild-like" flowers suitable for cutting.
All disturbances from their settlement were to be muted: Stepping stones over creeks were placed to look natural; plants and rocks were replaced after pipe was laid for a fountain; only dead wood was used for cooking and heating; and the Brown House porches were built around trees.
Camp Rapidan had easy access to the trout streams, stocked for the president's enjoyment. "Fishing is the eternal fountain of youth," declared Herbert Hoover. "The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent in fishing."
Lou Hoover's secretary, Ruth Fesler, later told of the school's inception:
Upon the occasion of the President's birthday, August I0, 1929, one eleven-year-old boy, Ray Buraker, living on the mountain side above the President's Camp, presented the President with a possum. From him it was learned that he had never attended school; that he had seven brothers and sisters; that there was no school in that vicinity—the little log school house of one room having been abandoned years before.
Herbert Hoover may have received the initial inspiration and contributed funds and influence, but his wife was the prime mover in establishing and operating the school.
For the Hoovers, the school was a personal mission, a natural fit with their goal of helping people take care of themselves. Local labor was used to erect the building, helping the laborers gain marketable experience and home-improvement skills. Lou Hoover arranged for the new teacher, searching for someone who understood the mountain people. She helped choose books and furniture for the school and teacherage, including women's groups in the philanthropic opportunities.
The new building was more than just a children's schoolroom. It was a place for adults to learn and families to gather. Christine Vest, the teacher, used the sewing machine sent by Mrs. Hoover to teach sewing and to mend student clothing. She served hot soup and cocoa from her kitchen, entertained the older girls in her home and gave haircuts to the boys.
The Hoovers were generous with the local families in other ways as well, sharing money for items like shoes, mufflers, gloves, flour and sugar. They hosted the students at the White House, provided a movie camera, screen and projector, threw Christmas parties, funded vaccinations and supported a school trip to the county fair at Madison. Two schoolchildren were treated by the White House physician, Dr. Joel Boone.
The tale is told of the time Mrs. Hoover spotted a house fire near Culpeper. She stopped to help carry valuables from the house, then drove the family to town and bought them clothes—without telling them who she was.
When the Hoovers left D.C. and the Blue Ridge Mountains, they donated their property and buildings to Shenandoah National Park. Lou Hoover gave household items to local residents. They left behind 75 miles of new trails and the Fork Mountain fire tower that U.S. Marines had helped to erect. Several original Camp Rapidan structures have been restored and are open to Shenandoah National Park visitors, accessed by foot or on ranger-led tours.
For families of those displaced from their homes, Shenandoah National Park may have a bitter aftertaste. Though the Hoover administration had said that mountain residents could remain, those good intentions were ignored by the new administration. However, schoolteacher Christine Vest Witkofski commented later, "When [the students] moved from the mountain because of the park, the older ones went to work and the younger ones found their places in the regular schools where they moved. I often wonder what their lot would have been if they had not had all this preparation before leaving their mountain."
Though Lou Hoover is little remembered today, she left a generous legacy in words and deeds. "The ambition to do, to accomplish, irrespective of its measure in money or fame, is what should be inculcated," Lou Henry Hoover wrote, "the desire to make the things that are better, in a little way with what is at hand—in a big way if the opportunity comes."
This modern first lady lived as she believed in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
She brought a picnic lunch with extras for the children and we all had a good time at lunch time under the big oak tree. After lunch, she went inside to watch them have their regular class work. She seemed very pleased with what she saw and the children enjoyed displaying the knowledge and skills they had gained. As I now recall, very few children were shy—in fact, I remember having the same worry any teacher would have—that of keeping them from over doing. They showed her how they had learned to raise and lower the flag without letting it touch the ground.
The children had a genuine affection for Mrs. Hoover. They appreciated the school but were genuinely fond of her. They called her "Miz" Hoover or "Miss" Hoover. Regardless of how much I tried to emphasize the word Mrs., they always came back to their original way of addressing her. To those of us reared in the South, this is nothing new—Miz or Miss, as applied to an older, married woman is a token of affection, love and respect.
When she was out riding, the parents loved having her stop for a visit. She learned all their names quickly and when I talked to her of the school and the people, it was on a name basis for each one.
I recall once Mrs. Hoover stopped for a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Weakley. Mr. Weakley told of his rheumatism and of some liniment he was unable to get at Syria. I don't know where she procured it, but Mrs. Hoover delivered the liniment in person on her next visit!
There are so many examples of the kind and thoughtful things the President and Mrs. Hoover did for these people.