Mary E. Miller. Baroness of Hobcaw: The Life of Belle W. Baruch. Columbia: University of Press, 2006. 212 pp. $29.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-57003-655-2.

Reviewed by Joan Johnson

Published on H-SC (March, 2008)

Heiress, Pilot, Conservationist: Belle W. practiced frst in Camden before moving the fami‐ Baruch and Hobcaw Barony ly to . Their second eldest son, Belle W. Baruch was a wealthy, talented wom‐ , began working on at an, the daughter of one of the wealthiest Ameri‐ age nineteen and quickly made his fortune as a can fnanciers in the early twentieth century, trader. He would soon be advising presidents. In Bernard Baruch. She befriended First Lady Edith 1897, he married Anne Wilcox, an Episcopalian Wilson, rode horses competitively, few planes for whose family resisted the marriage due to pleasure, and searched for German U-boats of Bernard's Jewish faith. Isabel (she later ofcially the coast of South Carolina. She capped her ad‐ changed her name to Belle) was born two years venturous life by purchasing her father's vast later and spent her childhood in New York, and coastal estate and then leaving it in a public trust on the family's 17,500 acre retreat, Hobcaw for research and conservation. In this book, for‐ Barony, near Georgetown, South Carolina. The mer journalist and current spiritual director Mary original 12,000-acre barony, granted to John, Lord E. Miller chronicles Baruch's life, with great em‐ Carteret (later Earl of Granville), had forests, phasis on the time she spent in South Carolina, swamp, ponds, oceanfront, and thousands of living at Hobcaw Barony. Written for a general acres of salt marsh. Wildlife was plentiful, fshing audience, the book will leave historians eager for and hunting were rich, and Belle grew to love the a richer analysis of Baruch's life and times. fora and fauna. Belle's grandfather, Simon Baruch, immigrat‐ Belle also developed a love for horses and ed from Schwersenz, near Poland, in East Prussia, sailing. She sailed competitively, becoming the to Camden, South Carolina, where Mannes Baum, frst woman to win the Queen of the Bay Cup on from the same village, employed him in his gener‐ Long Island. She rode horses for much of her life, al store. Baum also paid for Simon's medical edu‐ competing in international show jumping at the cation. After his marriage to Isabelle Wolfe, Simon highest levels. Educated at the Rayson School in H-Net Reviews

New York, Belle came of age in the 1920s. She cut seemed to have inherited many of her racial her hair short, wore pants, danced, partied, and views from her father. While they saw themselves traveled, spending months at a time in France. as responsible for the welfare of the blacks who She also became friends with Edith Wilson, wife lived there and believed that they treated them of President , acting as her trav‐ fairly, neither Belle nor Bernard was able to tran‐ eling companion after his death. Eventually, when scend their paternalistic attitude. He resented arthritis cut into her riding abilities, Belle took up African Americans when they eventually left the fying planes for enjoyment. barony. Former workers expressed both loyalty to Belle was able to continue her extravagant the family as well as feelings of humiliation in lifestyle in part because her father divested much their subservient role. of his stock just before the market crashed in Miller also chronicles Belle's love life. Al‐ 1929. His enormous wealth paid her expenses, in‐ though briefy engaged to two men (one of whom cluding her travel and staf. Her relationship with was a homosexual who suggested that they marry her father was strong but sometimes conficted; each other to placate their families and have chil‐ both were stubborn personalities with opinions dren), Belle spent most of her life in long-term on everything. Bernard was generous (giving each sexual relationships with women. Miller contends of his children a gift of one million dollars on his that the force of Belle's personality was so strong or her twenty-frst birthday), but demanding. He that those who knew her, even if they disap‐ disapproved of Belle's drinking and requested proved of her lesbianism, ignored it to remain that she wear skirts to dinner parties. Although friends with her. Her family did not approve ei‐ she grumbled, she did respect his wishes and ther. They denied or ignored it, and Belle usually wanted to please him. Bernard also trusted Belle, felt compelled to leave her girlfriends at home and when she asked him to sell her part of Hob‐ when she visited or dined with her parents. Only caw Barony, he agreed (although it appears he her brother explicitly acknowledged her lifestyle then made a gift to her of the purchase price). In and openly disapproved of it, refusing to visit her 1936, Belle took over management of the estate, home. which she ran with the help of her secretary, Lois Miller has provided a lively portrait of Belle, Massey. She lived there for the rest of her life, one that captures the adventurous life that she though she continued to spend time in New York led. Historians searching for a more analytical ap‐ and Europe whenever possible. proach to the context of her experiences, howev‐ When Bernard purchased the barony, African er, will be disappointed. While Miller explains the American families, descended from slaves on the Baruchs' racial attitudes, for example, further plantations, remained there. Though free, they context of the historical position of African Ameri‐ had little education or opportunity. Bernard con‐ cans in this area of South Carolina would illumi‐ tinued to employ them at low wages to work nate the choices that the Baruchs made. More‐ around the barony, although he never attempted over, while Miller tells us that Belle became a suf‐ any large-scale agriculture or other moneymaking fragist, and, like other "fappers" of her day, chal‐ venture on the land. Bernard built larger homes lenged gender conventions in the way she dressed for them--from two to four rooms per family--al‐ and drank, it would be interesting to understand though Belle's playhouse was larger than even more clearly how Belle understood gender roles these bigger houses. Bernard also renovated the as she grew older. Did she ever experience the church, built a dispensary and a school, and hired "social claim" to afect society in a larger way that a preacher, a visiting doctor, and a teacher. Belle reformer Jane Addams described? Did she wear

2 H-Net Reviews pants instead of skirts because she rode horses and fshed, because she wanted to make a state‐ ment about her sexuality, or because she wanted to challenge ideas about gender? It is not clear how much her life refected challenges that wom‐ en across the state were making, or if Belle was able to get away with unorthodox behavior be‐ cause her wealth and relative isolation at Hobcaw insulated her. Finally, although it is clear that Belle loved Hobcaw Barony, her growing interest in ecology is largely left unexplored, leaving her decision to establish a trust to preserve the land for research and conservation somewhat inexpli‐ cable. Such analysis would better serve the care‐ ful research that Miller conducted in Baruch's pa‐ pers and interviews with those who knew her. Still, this is a valuable introduction to a fascinat‐ ing woman who gave an important gift in Hobcaw Barony to conservationists, researchers, and the people of South Carolina.

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Citation: Joan Johnson. Review of Miller, Mary E. Baroness of Hobcaw: The Life of Belle W. Baruch. H-SC, H-Net Reviews. March, 2008.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=14259

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