Documenting the American South

Monument Name

Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye, Fletcher

Type

Marker

Subjects

Historic Cultural Figures

City

Fletcher

County

Henderson

Description

This memorial is one of a series that once comprised the now removed “Open-Air Westminster Abbey of the South.” The plaque for this memorial is attached to a shaft made of irregular sized, roughhewn blocks of granite standing eight feet tall. Other markers in the series had plaques attached to a single large granite boulder; all about the same size but of different shape. Those plaques contained the date of birth and death and a statement about the person’s significance to southern culture or in some cases their relationship to Calvary Episcopal Church.

This marker and another memorial to Bill Nye are installed on the same day in the church yard. They were the first placed in the “Open-Air Westminster Abbey of the South.” The other 18 “Abbey” memorials were removed from a different part of the church property in October 2020 upon reflection by the church on their ties to the Confederacy.

Images: Far-off view | View of the memorials at "Westminster Abbey of the South" before they were removed in October 2020 | View of the lawn where granite boulders stood

Inscription

IN LOVING MEMORY / OF /EDGAR WILSON NYE / “BILL NYE” / AMERICAN HUMORIST AND FRIEND / BORN IN SHIRLEY, MAINE AUGUST 25, 1850 / DIED AT “BUCK SHOALS” NEAR THIS SPOT FEBRUARY 22, 1896 / ADMITTED TO THE BAR 1876 / HE BELONGED TO THE MASONIC FRATERNITY / A MEMBER OF CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, FLETCHER N.C. FOR MANY YEARS / HIS BODY IS INTERRED IN YONDER CHURCH YARD / ERECTED 1925

Custodian

Calvary Episcopal Church

Dedication Date

August 24, 1925

Decade

1920s

Geographic Coordinates

35.442600 , -82.503600 View in Geobrowse

Series

Westminster Abbey of the South

Supporting Sources

"Westminster Abbey of South," Spartanburg Herald Journal (Spartanburg, SC) September 24, 1939, Link

Calvary Episcopal Church. "Reconsidering 'The Outdoor Abbey of the South'," in Monuments at Clavary, www.calvaryfletcher.org, (accessed February 24, 2023) Link

Ellisont, Jon. "Confederates at Calvary," Mountain Express (Asheville, NC), September 16, 2019, mountainx.com, (accessed February 24, 2023) Link

Hicklin, J.B. “Elaborate Abbey to Immortalize South’s Leaders,” Forest City Courier (Forest City, NC), September 24, 1931, (accessed May 27, 2016) Link

Jenkins, Mark. “Historical Sketch of Calvary Episcopal Church,” (Calvary Parish, Fletcher, 1959) Link

Nye, Bill. Bill Nye’s History of the United States, (Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co, 1894), Archive.org, (accessed June 17, 2016) Link

“Calvary Church, Fletcher, N.C. Between Asheville and Hendersonville,” in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (PO77), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Link

“Edgar Wilson ‘Bill’ Nye,” Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com, (accessed June 7, 2016) Link

“Fletcher Markers,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed May 25, 2016) Link

“The Bill Nye Memorial,” The Index-Journal (Greenwood, SC), March 4, 1925

“The Last Tribute to Bill Nye,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO), August 30, 1925

Public Site

Yes

Materials & Techniques

Bronze, granite

Monument Dedication and Unveiling

A three day celebration culminated in the Bill Nye memorials being dedicated on the 75th anniversary of his birth with many of his children and grandchildren participating in the ceremony. The day’s events also saw the dedication of a Nye Memorial window in the sanctuary and the pew he occupied on Sundays marked with a plaque.

Subject Notes

Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye was a journalist and one of the main American humorists of the last half of the 19 th century. His newspaper articles were widely read and compiled into numerous published volumes. One of his most well know books is Bill Nye’s History of the United States.

Location

Calvary Episcopal Church is located at 2840 Hendersonville Road at its intersection with Old Airport Road in Fletcher. The memorial stands on the front lawn of the church. Another memorial to Bill Nye is in the church cemetery, near the grave of Bill Nye. The Calvary Church marker stands near the sanctuary.

Landscape

The marker is prominently located in the center of the front lawn.

Relocated

Yes

Former Locations

The memorials on the church grounds were moved twice before. Originally they were dispersed throughout the churchyard before being placed in a landscaped plot along the western edge of the church property. It is likely they had to be relocated when the road was widened to four lanes.