A Biography of Lucy Camp Armstrong Moltz – Part 2
If you missed Part 1 of our feature story on Lucy Camp Armstrong Moltz, Grand Lady of Savannah and Lake Toxaway, you can read it here.
MIDDLE YEARS
After the death of her first husband George Armstrong in 1924, Lucy and daughter Lucy Jr. continued to reside in both the Savannah and Lake Toxaway residences. Before too long, though, they established their permanent residency at Hillmont (Savannah County lists the Armstrong House as ‘vacant’ just some four years after George’s death). Lucy had always preferred Lake Toxaway; no doubt that preference grew stronger as Savannah’s economy declined, leaving many of the once-grand homes vacant and inclined toward disrepair.
Moltz Lumber Company employees in the summer of 1928. At right is Carl J. Moltz, an incorporating officer of the family-owned company.
Meanwhile, years earlier around the time of the 1916 dam burst, Jerome Moltz and several of his sons, including then 23-year-old Carl, arrived in the Toxaway area from Williamsport, PA, a major lumbering center near the turn of the century.
The family hoped to find new wealth in the still-viable timber forests of Western North Carolina and began to purchase property in upper Transylvania County. Two years later, the Moltz Lumber Company had 7000 acres to their name and 15 miles of logging railroad north and west of Lake Toxaway.
By 1930, Carl Moltz was a successful timberman in his own right and, at 37 years old, looking for a wife. Locals noted that Moltz became a frequent visitor to the Armstrong home, visiting with Armstrong and her daughter on most Sundays.
One version has it that he first intended to court Lucy Jr., then 24 years old, and was told by Lucy Sr. that he was “too old” for her daughter, but if he wished, he might call on her mother (she was then 47, just ten years older than him). If this story is true, perhaps Lucy recalled the 14-year age difference between herself and first husband George Armstrong and thought it best for her daughter to have a different fate, or perhaps she was simply taken with the dapper young Moltz herself.
Another version has it that Moltz called on the Armstrong house one day. When Mrs. Armstrong told him that her daughter wasn’t home, he surprised her with his declaration that “I didn’t come to see your daughter. I came here to ask you to marry me.”
Whichever version may be true, Lucy and Carl were married some seven months later.
Moltz did not accompany his new wife on a 1930 European Grand Tour, but Frank Bennett, Lucy’s nephew, remarked upon returning to New York that he, his aunt Lucy, and his cousin Lucy were met by “Uncle Carl” at their hotel. The following day, Moltz also took young Frank to the train station for his return trip to Ocala.
A few years later, Lucy Jr. married Dr. Walter Johnson, a physician she met at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, NY, when she was being treated for polio there. The doctor established a practice in Asheville, NC, where the couple eventually had two children, Walter Jr., and Loran.
The Armstrong House Is Gifted To The City of Savannah
In January 1935, Lucy made a special appearance in Savannah at a memorial to George Armstrong, where she and Lucy Jr. officially donated the Armstrong House to the city to be used as a school of higher learning.
The grandbaby that Lucy is holding in the photo helped to unveil the painting of George F. Armstrong; according to a news report in the Savannah Morning News, Walter Johnson Sr. held him up and the child pulled a cord to open the curtain. Lucy Armstrong was pregnant here with the couples’ second baby, Loran, and in fact, went into labor later that same day.
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A plaque beneath the portrait of
George F. Armstrong reads:
This College Was Founded in 1935
By His Wife and Daughter
In Loving Remembrance of
George F. Armstrong
1868-1924
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The new school, first known as Armstrong Memorial Junior College, eventually outgrew the Armstrong House and in 1967 moved to its present-day location on the south side of Savannah. The building has been home to several other entities since and remains a city landmark.
LATER YEARS
Lucy and Carl Moltz remained in residence for several more decades at Hillmont (though, recall, there was no lake, only the former lakebed, at this time), while also frequently traveling abroad together. By all accounts, theirs was a happy marriage.
Mr. Moltz operated the local family-owned business until 1941 when the lumber mill was demolished after logging some 9,000 acres of prime Transylvania County forest. Meanwhile, local lore has it that during these years, Mrs. Moltz helped to support the community with employment and scholarships, taking young people under her wing to help support their growth.
According to a 1997 feature article[1], Clark Lovelace (then the owner of The Greystone Inn) noted that Mrs. Moltz “had an understanding with her employees, that she would pay for their first year of college; and if they maintained a B average, she would continue to pay… for their entire education, provided they made the grades.”
Over the years, some of those who benefitted from the Moltz’ largesse have returned to the area and visited at the Greystone Inn. For instance, Mike Kilpatrick brought his mother in the fall of 2019 and explained that she used to work for Lucy Moltz and had tended to Lucy’s granddaughter, Lucy Gay. Mrs. Kilpatrick had earned her degree in early childhood education with support from the Moltzes.
An undated news clipping including Lucy Jr’s two sons, Walter Johnson Jr., and Loran, as well as Walter Jr.’s future wife, Mary Ann Arthur. Courtesy of Andrea Johnson.
Family members have also weighed in with fond memories of Lucy Moltz and Hillmont.
In a phone interview[2], Lucy Moltz’ grandson Loran Johnson recalled summer visits to Lake Toxaway with his brother and recollecting that there were many snakes in the then-empty lake bed.
Mary Ann Arthur, wife to Loran’s older brother Walter Jr., remembers their small family visiting Hillmont from the late ’50’s until the property was sold in 1963. She notes, “We were living in Brazil at the time, and Walter practically grew up there, so it really broke his heart.”
A 1965 family photo at Hillmont. L-R Mrs. Lucy Moltz with her daughter Lucy Armstrong Johnson, and her daughter-in-law Mary Ann Arthur Johnson and three children: Christina, Walter Johnson III, and baby Andrea. Photo courtesy of Andrea Johnson.
Lucy’s great-grandnephew, Nelson Camp Weeks, came to visit in recent years and provided a short video clip of Lucy Moltz gardening.
Another relation, Diane Camp Fitch McGraw stopped over in 2018. Lucy was her great-aunt, and she remembered her family staying across the then-empty lakebed and walking over it to Hillmont. Ms. McGraw became a librarian in large part because of the impression Lucy’s library — still a fixture at the Greystone Inn — impressed her as a young girl.
By the time of Mr. Moltz’ death in the summer of 1961, the Lake Toxaway Company, a partnership between Reg Heinitsh Sr and Darnell Boyd, had rebuilt the dam to restore Lake Toxaway. Lucy Moltz remained at Hillmont on the new lake for two more years before moving across the lake to a new setting she called Robin Hill, where she resided until her death in 1970.
With the passing of Lucy Camp Armstrong Moltz, Lake Toxaway’s “matriarch,” one era ended and a new one began.
This story continues in Part 3, here.
