The Blue Lady is Back

The Blue Lady Bookshop in downtown Rocky Mount is open again. Originally located in the former law office of General Jubal Early, its owner Ibby Greer moved it to Eagle Plaza over a year ago.

Now the Blue Lady is back home at the corner of Floyd and Route 40. Well, the bookshop by that name is home. The real “blue lady” never left.

The actual “blue lady” is a ghost—Margaret Hale who died in the 1880s and who is buried less than a mile away. You can sometimes feel her presence—or smell her perfume—in the music room of The Grove, the pre-Civil War mansion on whose grounds the old law office is located. A few folks have actually seen Margaret in her blue dress. I haven’t been so lucky, but I once smelled her heavily floral-scented perfume. A sociable ghost, Margaret makes hers presence known during social occasions.

Anyhow, my self-published novel, Patches on the Same Quilt, was the bookstore’s best-selling novel. (The best-selling non-fiction was Keister Greer’s The Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935.)

If you’re looking for books on regional subjects, the Blue Lady is the place to go. It’s open Monday through Friday from noon to 3:00 p.m. and other times by appointment.

And—if you want to meet a ghost—you just might get lucky. Margaret isn’t the only ghost at The Grove, but she’s the best known. If you see her, tell her I said hello. (If you can't get there in person, there's an on-line bookstore.)

Don’t forget to buy my books while you’re there.