The Little Way of Ruthie Leming

There is a reason Grandmother’s Buttons settled in tiny St. Francisville, Louisiana many years ago.  It isn’t the most convenient location from which to run a business.  There are many limitations involved in setting up shop in a small, rural town, but we make it work.  You may ask why?  Because small town life is more than just quaintness.  It is more than simply cute streets and picturesque buildings.  While St. Francisville has these in abundance, it also has a steadfast community that you would be hard pressed to find in a city.  In much the same way that the community raises its children, St. Francisville has raised Grandmother’s Buttons from infancy to adulthood.

[caption id="attachment_1538" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Rod's Sister Ruthie"][/caption]

So imagine our excitement when we learned that our very own Rod Dreher was writing a book about small town life, entitled “The Little Way of Ruthie Leming:  A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret to a Good Life.”  The book covers his sister’s battle  with cancer and the way in which the community here stood by her until the end.  As soon as he was old enough, Rod moved away from St. Francisville, opting for big city life and a successful career as a journalist.  However, through his experiences with Ruthie’s illness, he came to learn the value of a small community again. He came to value the support it can provide and the overwhelming feeling that comes from an outpouring of love from an entire town.

We waited for months and months to finally get to read Rod’s creation.  And it didn’t disappoint.  Last weekend, Grandmother’s Buttons had the honor of hosting the very first book signing on Rod’s tour.  Hundreds of St. Francisvillians came out to support him and Ruthie’s family, lining up an hour before he arrived to have their copies signed.

[caption id="attachment_1542" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rod Dreher"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1551" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rod and his mother, Dorothy Dreher"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1553" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rod, his wife Julie and their daughter Nora"][/caption]

We had the fortune of having the talented Emily Branton, a local school teacher and Rod's  first cousin, perform for us as well that day!

Now we have to mention the Bopontamus Stew.  Bopotamus Stew is a creation of the community in St. Francisville called Star Hill, where Rod grew up.  It looks and tastes suspiciously like gumbo, but is delicious none the less!

British artist Alice Tait did a wonderful drawing of a map of the Starhill community for the book's endpapers.  We are offering a limited edition 11" x 14" print of the map in our store and on our website for $25, half of which will go to the Ruthie Leming Scholarship Fund for West Feliciana students.

GB's Amber, Breanna, and Daria  after a long, but wonderful day!

Rod, we can't thank you enough for sharing this amazing day with us.  Your book and your family are inspirations to us all!

Images provided by

St. Francisville History - Celebrating the Republic of West Florida



[caption id="attachment_521" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Our new monument to the short-lived Republic of West Florida"][/caption]

This past weekend was a big one in our little town: it was the 40^th anniversary of our annual tour of historic homes, the Audubon Pilgrimage, and was also the closing ceremony for the 200^th anniversary of a short-lived independent nation, the Republic of West Florida, for which St. Francisville was the capital!

[caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Lowering the Bonnie Blue flag of the Republic of West Florida during the ceremony."][/caption]

That’s right - for 74 days in 1810, St. Francisville was capital of an independent nation that won its freedom from Spain in a one-night battle in Baton Rouge. The Free and Independent Republic of West Florida stretched from the Mississippi River along the Gulf Coast to the Perdido River (Florida’s current western border).

[caption id="attachment_535" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Sweet Maid dancers perform a maypole dance in the lawn next to Grandmother’s Buttons all three days of the Pilgrimage. (Photo by Amanda McKinney)"][/caption]

West Florida even had its own flag: called the Bonnie Blue, it featured a white star on a sky blue background (we were actually the first lone star state!)

[caption id="attachment_519" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Our high school band, the West Feliciana Saints, marching in to the monument dedication ceremony."][/caption]

Grandmother’s Buttons is situated across the street from where the republic’s constitution was signed in a long-gone hotel, and the original Bonnie Blue flag is said to be buried in the street in front of us. This past Saturday, a new park and monument were dedicated on the grounds of the old hotel.

[caption id="attachment_539" align="alignleft" width="222" caption="Camie Norwood, wife of Republic of West Florida commissioner David Norwood, in full Pilgrimage regalia. Our tour is called the Audubon Pilgrimage to commemorate the years John James Audubon spent in West Feliciana painting some of his Birds of America. Pilgrimage volunteers dress in stunning and authentic 1820s costumes for the weekend."][/caption]

More pictures below. We certainly know how to celebrate our history in St. Francisville!  

[caption id="attachment_541" align="alignright" width="259" caption="The Sweet Maids taking a break in front of Grandmother’s Buttons"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on the Audubon Pilgrimage, visit the town’s blog: http://bit.ly/fp6yht. Also on the blog is this very informative article about the Bicentennial of the Republic of West Florida: http://bit.ly/fI2dQw.

 

 

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_543" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Susan’s good friend Dorcas Brown, publisher of Country Roads magazine, observing the festivities."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignright" width="205" caption="West Feliciana Parish Historical Society chair, local elementary school principal and Susan’s sixth grade math teacher Dot Temple opening the ceremonies."][/caption]

 

  

 

 

 

The photo below is one of two lovely gardens on the tour, Afton Villa Gardens encompasses the grounds and ruins of a mid-nineteenth century estate that burned in the early 1960s. (Photo by Felicia Senette)

 

St. Francisville Plantations

[caption id="attachment_471" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Myrtles Plantation, included on the list of America's Most Haunted Homes"][/caption]

Spring in the South.  Doesn’t' that sound inviting in the midst of this coldest-of-all-winters-on-record-in-a-long-time?  Magnolia trees blooming, birds chirping, warm breezes – are you longing for that sort of spring?

[caption id="attachment_472" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Catalpa Plantation"][/caption]

If you're looking for a warm escape with a nice little mix of historic luxury thrown in, we have just the place for you - St. Francisville, Louisiana.

You might know St. Francisville as the home of Grandmother's Buttons Jewelry.  Did you also know that the West Feliciana Parish & St. Francisville boast more plantations, open for public tours, in one area than anywhere else in Louisiana?  It's true.  There are seven plantation homes within a 12 mile radius of St. Francisville, each with it's own unique history and architecture (http://bit.ly/fVbZFE) .

Interested?  We've created an overview of some of the homes here – in a later post we'll give you in-depth info on each individual property.

[caption id="attachment_474" align="alignright" width="298" caption="Cottage Plantation"][/caption]

For starters, there's Catalpa Plantation (http://bit.ly/fFwDSK), a Victorian cottage significant for the beautiful gardens that surround it.  Devastated during the Civil War, the house was rebuilt in 1885 and is filled with paintings and treasures from the original home.

If you need a place to sleep, try the Cottage Plantation (www.cottageplantation.com), a bed and breakfast where you can enjoy plantation life in one of the few remaining complete antebellum plantation complexes.  We love that Andrew Jackson was a guest at the Cottage on his way to Natchez after the Battle of New Orleans.

[caption id="attachment_476" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Greenwood Plantation"][/caption]

There's also Greenwood Plantation (http://www.greenwoodplantation.com/), originally built in the 1830's as a 3,000 acre plantation, or Myrtle's Plantation (http://myrtlesplantation.com/), built in 1796 and often described as one of "America's Most Haunted Homes."

If you're a fan of the drawings of John James Audubon, you'll want to be sure to schedule a visit to Oakley House circa 1806 (http://bit.ly/hOQzzm), where Audobon taught painting to the daughter of the owners of Oakley House.  While there, he began 32 bird paintings that eventually became part of his Birds of America.

 

[caption id="attachment_478" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Oakley House"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_480" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Rosedown Plantation"][/caption]

For the ultimate in size and historical scope, visit Rosedown Plantation, built in 1834, (

http://bit.ly/hYICDU).  Its distinguished by the size, shape and sophistication of its pleasure gardens.  The gardens were the passion of Martha Turnbull and her garden diary provides invaluable insight into the story of the garden's planting and management.  With 18 acres of ornamental pleasure gardens, this plantation includes one of the earliest collections of camellias in the Deep South.



St. Francisville, Louisiana.  Home to rich history, beautiful plantations AND Grandmother's Buttons.  Come to see us this Spring – we promise we won't let it snow on your vacation.

Deena's Favorite Grandmother's Buttons Jewelry

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="507" caption="Deena's Favorite Grandmother's Buttons Jewelry"][/caption]Deena Trisler is the only native New Orleanian on our staff, so it's no surprise that she picked two pieces with fleur-de-lis on them as her favorites.  She grew up cheering for the New Orleans Saints (during all those years when they didn't win games) and now has three boys who play sports for the St. Francisville Saints, our local school, so there have always been lots of fleur-de-lis in her life!

She wears the long silver fleur-de-lis necklace (01-NC010S) almost every day, and has added her own personal charms to the antique button and large fleur that come on the necklace: a sterling baseball player (her boys excel at baseball), a mom charm and another button with a crescent moon (for the Crescent City, of course). 

On special occasions she'll layer that pendant with All that Jazz (01-BN016S), our silver and pearl statement  bracelet/necklace, shown here as a 20 inch necklace.  "I just love being able to wear such a gorgeous piece as a necklace or as a charm bracelet," she explains, "And of course I love the name and the additional fleur-de-lis!"

Top Ten Reasons to be in St. Francisville, Louisiana this weekend!

[caption id="attachment_144" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dancing Santas in the St. Francisville Parade - Photo by Patrick Walsh"][/caption]

1.    Santa Claus will be there (at the tree lighting ceremony on Friday night, at Breakfast with St. Nick on Saturday morning, and riding in a sleigh in Saturday afternoon's parade).

2.    The Baton Rouge Symphony will perform its annual concert of holiday selections on Friday night.

3.    Grandmother's Buttons will have crazy bargains at St. Francisville's annual Christmas in the Country Sale!

4.    You can Peep Into Holiday Homes from 6 – 8 p.m. Friday (it's a rare chance to view some amazingly decorated homes along Ferdinand and Royal streets).

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo by Patrick Walsh"][/caption]

5.    The Women’s Service League will sell fresh wreaths and pre-wrapped Plantation Country Cookbooks all weekend on Ferdinand St. next to the library, with proceeds benefiting local civic and charitable activities.

6.    Grandmother's Buttons will sell earrings starting at $5 and necklaces starting at $10 all day Saturday!

7.    Jimmy Heidel of the original 1967 New Orleans Saints team will be one of the parade's grand marshalls.

8.   Photographer Bevil Knapp will be signing copies of her book, "St. Francisville:  Louisiana's River Bluff Country", at Hillcrest on Friday afternoon and Grandmother's Buttons from 10 to 2 on Saturday.

9.    There will be a Community Sing-a-long at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the United Methodist Church on Royal St., and a Live Nativity, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on US 61 at LA 10.

[caption id="attachment_143" align="alignleft" width="286" caption="Bargain hunters at last year's Grandmother's Buttons sale"][/caption]10.    The prices at Grandmother's Buttons will make you feel like Christmas arrived three weeks early!

Yes, we know we listed Grandmother's Buttons Christmas in the Country Sale bargains three times, but honestly, this is the one time of year when you can get unheard of prices on beautiful, heirloom-quality jewelry. It's a one-day sale with tables set up outside the store on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m.

In previous years, we've had almost 100 women lined up for the opening (no one is even allowed to peak at the tables before then) and we'll sell until dark. It's sort of like our much-smaller version of the annual tent sales Vera Bradley does in Indiana.

We'll be selling discontinued jewelry pieces, lots of beaded earrings, and some real antique button treasures, including a few trays of sterling rings and some watches. This year we're even selling a couple of our sterling pieces. We'll literally sell thousands of pieces in that one day--it's intense but a lot of fun for us and for our shoppers.

[caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bins and bins of Grandmother's Buttons bargains!"][/caption]Susan's the queen of finding the great deal. Raised by a mother who had to find ingenious ways to dress four daughters at one time on a farm income, Susan learned early on how to be an avid sale shopper and a bargain hunter. She says, “I grew up loving the thrill of the bargain hunt, which probably led directly to me loving the hunt for old buttons!”

If you need details on all St. Francisville events scheduled for this weekend, you'll find them at http://stfrancisville.blogspot.com/. And we've added the blog as a link on this site, so that you can subscribe and get all the ongoing news about our fabulous town.

[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="The mosh pit at last year's Christmas in the Country Sale"][/caption]

We love the holidays. We love a bargain. And we'd love to see you this weekend in St. Francisville, preferably in that line waiting for us to open on Saturday morning! We guarantee you'll have a great time.

Bettie Gandy Garrett - The Original Grandmother of Grandmother's Buttons

[caption id="attachment_58" align="aligncenter" width="694" caption="Bettie Gandy Garrett at 16 - circa 1905"][/caption]As the name implies, Grandmother's Buttons is all about history, about noticing the small things, and about finding beauty in the simplest of everyday objects.  We thought it only appropriate that we begin our blog by telling you our favorite story, the one about Susan's grandmother and her boxes of buttons.  We even named the company after her! 

There may be those of you who have heard this tale.  It's frequently a one-liner on our website and in out press kit - “knowing she needed to start a business for additional income, Susan went to her 95-year-old grandmother for inspiration.”  But we want to give you more - that's what blogs are for, you know - for giving you the inside story, for letting you know what inspires us, what keeps us showing up every day to create beautiful, unique and what we consider heirloom quality jewelry. 

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignleft" width="166" caption="Bettie on the Steamboat, headed to Cincinnati in 1905"][/caption]

Susan's grandmother Bettie Gandy Garrett was born in 1889 in rural north Louisiana, the youngest daughter of a fairly successful farmer.  In her early life she was part pioneer woman (adept at wringing chickens’ necks and shooting wild hogs) and part belle of the ball (her diary speaks in great detail of her many beaus and country social activities).   At only 16 she took a steamboat by herself from Memphis to attend the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, a great adventure documented in these faded photos.           

[caption id="attachment_54" align="alignright" width="142" caption="Bettie in Cincinnatti"][/caption]

Bettie married J.B. Garrett, ten years her senior, in 1912.  Together they raised three children, including Susan’s father Harvey, living on extension farms that J.B., an entomologist, ran for LSU.  Frugal does not begin to describe Bettie’s methods of housekeeping.  Recycling was an economic necessity, not just a good thing to do:  bread wrappers and “tin foil” were washed and used again and again; socks were darned; elastic was cut from old slips and reused; and of course, all buttons were clipped from old garments and saved in boxes. 

[caption id="attachment_56" align="alignleft" width="175" caption="Bettie Gandy at an oil well with friends"][/caption]

Through the years, these boxes of buttons built up, so that in 1985, Bettie, at 95, had at least 30 of them. Susan and her husband Donny had moved back to the family farm in St. Francisville, Louisiana, just down the road from Bettie’s house.  Their plan was to run a small gourmet vegetable growing operation.  Donny, however, fell and broke both arms, and Susan had to come up with an income to tide them through until he recovered. 

At loose ends, she took to visiting her grandmother in the afternoons, relishing stories of the steamboat, her many admirers, and raising children during the Depression.  Often the two would rummage through Bettie’s closets and drawers, each artifact bringing forth a host of memories.  When they began delving into the button boxes (an amazing assortment of kitchen tins and candy boxes), Susan was struck with an idea that she has lived with every day since.  Plucking a pair of beautiful vintage faceted glass buttons from the 30's out of a box, she held it to her ear and said, “Grandma, these buttons would make great earrings!” 

Sensing a way to create a quick income and exercise her artistic yen, Susan was soon buying other buttons and selling her wares at local crafts and antiques shows.  Within three years Donny put up his plow and joined Grandmother’s Buttons as a business manager.  Bettie, sadly, lived only to see the bare beginnings of the business that she had inspired, but Susan’s mother Miriam, still living nearby on the farm, is at age 92 Grandmother’s Buttons' very best model. 

The most important part of this story is that Susan's grandmother was always an inspiration, and at a moment when Susan needed a creative nudge and some income, Grandma Garrett provided her with yet another new idea, and reminded her that making something old new again is always the best method.  Grandma Garrett was the ultimate recycler, and at Grandmother's Buttons we like to think that we're honoring her memory in the most powerful way by “upcycling” antique buttons into beautiful jewelry. 

Inspiring - it's what the strong women in our lives do for us.  Hopefully it's what we do for one another.  As we said in the opening paragraph, history is what we're all about.  But we're not just interested in reviewing past history, we're also dedicated to making worthwhile history.  Inspire someone you love today – give them a reason to create great history.  Make Grandma Garrett proud!

Serendipity, Grandmother's Buttons and How We Literally "Bought the Bank"

[caption id="attachment_7" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Grandmother's Buttons home - St.Francisville's 1905 Bank Building (photo by David Humphreys)"][/caption]

Serendipity is defined as a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated. While writing about the history of Grandmother's Buttons, it dawned on us that Serendipity has been traveling with Susan throughout this adventure, riding at her elbow while she navigated the sometimes treacherous waters of creating, building and then housing a business that was once just a bit of whimsy born on a hot summer afternoon at her Grandmother Bettie Gandy Garrett's house. 

 

[caption id="attachment_8" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Grandmother's Buttons retail store interior - photo coutesy of Dave Humphreys"][/caption]

First you have the great story of the boxes and tins of buttons in Grandma Bettie's chests of drawers, and Susan's idea to make a pair of earrings out of a set of 1930's glass buttons (more on that story in a later post).  

Then you have the crafts shows, where Susan's artistry was put to the test, quite successfully.  Finally, you have the story of the St. Francisville, LA 1905 bank building, where Grandmother's Buttons studio, retail store and button museum is now housed.

 



In 1994, having discovered that there really was a market out there for Grandmother's Buttons jewelry, Susan and her husband Donny started searching for space to house their production offices and retail space. St. Francisville is small – only 2,000 people – and commercial real estate was difficult to come by. The father of one of Susan's friends had purchased the bank building to convert it to a residence. On a whim (with Serendipity sitting nearby sipping a cup of tea), Susan asked the friend whether her father might want to sell what Susan considered the nicest commercial space in town. To her shock, he called the next day, ready to sell immediately.

As one might expect, this was a much larger purchase than Susan and Donny had planned on, but after several days of agonizing, they decided to take a leap of faith and buy. It was, in Susan's words, “absolutely the best business decision ever!”   She also says: “It was only later that we decided to make a button museum in the bank vault, and that project (which was a tremendous amount of work AND fun) has garnered more publicity than anything else we’ve ever done. Also the value of the building has appreciated a good deal in the 16 years since we bought it.”

“When I was a child this was the only bank in town. I remember following my parents in to make deposits; at the time the wonderful mosaic tile floors, soaring 16-foot ceilings and ornately carved oak woodwork made this small-town 5-year-old feel like she was in a palace.

[caption id="attachment_18" align="alignleft" width="185" caption="Original safe"][/caption]Our son was only two when we bought the building. He grew up sitting on a stool and turning the big wheel on the vault doors like it was a ship's wheel. We still have the original 1905 safe marked Bank of West Feliciana and use it for product display in the store. The back of the vault door is marked "Warning: This Property Is Protected by Chemical Warfare Gas" !! We were assured when we bought the building that the gas canisters had been removed long ago!”  [caption id="attachment_20" align="alignright" width="272" caption="Vault Door with Chemical Warfare Gas Sign"][/caption]

 

“Grandmother's Buttons' production offices and studio are upstairs, which was originally space the bank leased to different businesses. When my sisters were small, the upstairs housed the telephone operator, a dentist and a beauty parlor. The telephone operator had the front office so she could look out the window and tell callers if the party they wanted had just gone into the courthouse, the church or the sheriff's office (we were absolutely Mayberry back then).”

[caption id="attachment_9" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Early Days - The bank building right after it was built in 1905"][/caption]

We're pretty sure Serendipity is still along for the ride – every year gets better for Grandmother's Buttons, and the Bank Building attracts more and more visitors. After 25 years, Grandmother's Buttons still has a propensity for making fortunate discoveries – we plan to tell you all about them in this blog. Stay tuned!