“Before we open the pages of the old Tryon Album, I want to set the stage for the following pictures and ask you to try to erase your present-day picture of Tryon, and go back 100 years.” 

So begins a presentation given by Betty Doubleday Frost, the granddaughter of one of Tryon’s earliest settlers, General Ulysses S. Doubleday. “Tryon Early On,” was first presented as a program of the Lanier Library in 1968 at the Congregational Church, and shows images of the earliest days of Tryon, along with her unique narrative from a lifetime of living in Tryon. 

Julia Calhoun and Robert Lange will introduce and provide commentary on Mrs. Frost’s presentation for Live@Lanier at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Lanier Library, 72 Chestnut St., Tryon. 

Recently rediscovered in the Lanier Library, Lange has been sorting through slides, Frost’s notecards and audio recordings to recreate her presentation for today’s Tryon audience.

It was in search of those original photos in his research of the origins of Tryon that led Lange to the presentation.

“There are photos from the 1870s through the 1890s in the Frost collection I have been trying to track down which help tell the original story of Tryon and its visionary, Lemuel Wilcox,” he said. 

While Lange has still been unable locate many of Frost’s original photos, there are many historic slides in the presentation of Tryon that have been all but forgotten to history.

Additionally, Betty’s narrative gives context to many photos people already know something about, but not the full story. 

“For example, in a well-known image of first Tryon railroad depot, the ‘hack’ was from the McAboy House awaiting guests arriving on the train, and the man in the doorway is Mr. Morton, the editor of Tryon’s first newspaper, The Tryon Bee,” Lange said. “These are invaluable tidbits which would have otherwise been lost to time.”

People may contact the library for more information at 828-859-9535.

– Submitted by Amber Keeran