(Source: bjldaily)

diamondgothic:

We invented an imaginary sibling for famed Pembroke Jones… Dorothy Jones Mason.  If you are from the south, chances are you have heard of Pembroke and Sarah Jones, and if you’re from anywhere other than under a rock, you’ve heard of “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Here’s a little history lesson on the wealthiest family in North Carolina…

In 1884, when Sarah Wharton Green, of Fayetteville, married Pembroke Jones, of Wilmington, it was eastern North Carolina’s answer to a royal wedding.  After the service, the bride’s father provided “supper” for 1000 at Tokay Vineyard, the bride’s home. Colorful lanterns lit the approach  and lavish decorations transformed ten adjoining rooms of the house into a palace for an Eastern potentate. “The rarest delicacies from many lands and the costliest wines were served in an abandon of profusion.”  The biggest gifts were bestowed on Sarah Green before the wedding. On May 13, 1884, “Sarah W. Green, of Cumberland County, N. C.” purchased the 52-acre Seaside Park Improvement Company, once known as Mount Lebanon, on Wrightsville Sound, for $5,000. After their marriage, it was usually identified as the groom’s property but remained in Sarah’s name. Even after Pembroke Jones renamed the land “Airlie” Sarah Jones would refer to it often as the “old Wright farm.”  Sarah and Pembroke had three granddaughters, Mary, Sarah, and Jane London Pope – the children of their daughter Sadie Jones and her husband, John Russell Pope.  Jane Pope Akers Ridgway, remembering that time, wrote in 2001, “Airlie was a happy, beautiful, magical place.”

Despite the fun involved, there was a poignant aspect to the family history. Young Sarah died of disease in 1922. Mary would perish in an automobile accident in 1931, at age 17. The roadster Mary was driving, a gift from her grandmother, had been hers for only a week.  

Pembroke Jones died following surgery, in 1919. In 1922, Mrs. Jones married their longtime friend Henry Walters, and the two of them spent much time at Airlie.  Then, after Sarah Jones Walters’ death, daughter Sadie Pope inherited Airlie. On January 16, 1948, she sold the estate to Bertha Barefoot and W. A. Corbett. 

Airlie gardens is now a Wilmington, NC staple with festivals year round and beautifully preserved grounds.  The other part of the Jones’ estate is now called “Landfall”, which is a private golf/home community that feels more like a city within a city.

In this week’s Diamond Gothic, we imagine that Pembroke Jones had a sister called Dorothy, who married Walter Mason and gave birth to our very own Annabell.