By Steve Bergsman

Back in 1958, the Kingston Trio released the song "Tom Dooley," which went on to become the No. 1 record in the country and helped usher in a folk-music revival that didn't end until Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

The song had an unusual history in that it was based on a real-life incident, a love roundelay and murder involving Confederacy war veteran Tom Dula. According to legend, Dula was childhood sweethearts with Anne Foster, but after he left for war she married an older man, James Melton. After the war, Dula (whose name was mispronounced as Dooley) became a lover of Anne, her cousin Laura Foster and another cousin, Pauline Foster. Soon after Dula announced he would marry Laura Foster, she was found dead with a knife wound. Pauline implicated Tom, and he and Anne ran for Tennessee, where they were eventually captured.

I bring this all up because my wife and were taking a drive through rural northwestern North Carolina when we decided to stop for lunch in the small burg of Wilkesboro, which we read had a pleasant, historic downtown. We really weren't all that impressed until we saw there was a town museum.

Now, we have a weakness for these small towns that often boast storefront museums dedicated to the local community or region. However, Wilkesboro had something special. The Wilkes Heritage Museum was established in the grand old courthouse building, erected in 1902, and it was an aggressive preserver of local architecture, having restored the 1779 log cabin home of Capt. Robert Cleveland and the Old Wilkes County Jail, originally constructed in 1860.

As we were walking about the jail, which began with the original jailer residence on the property, I asked Diana Perry, executive secretary of the museum, whether anyone famous had ever been arrested and put in this local jail. She looked at me wide-eyed. My wife kicked me in the shin. Apparently, I had missed something while walking through the museum. But Perry happily explained that Tom Dooley and Anne Melton were incarcerated here after they were captured in Tennessee and brought back to North Carolina.

Now it was my turn to go wide-eyed.

"Tom Dooley of the famous song was jailed here?"

"Yes," Perry said, and she nodded toward a fairly large jail room. Then she pointed down the hall. Melton was put in the next cell, which, surprisingly, is also a large, square room. The original doors are still in place. The locks still exist, and when you place the big iron skeleton key into the door, the lock still works. Bars still block the windows, but there is nothing of the original jail furniture still around except for one thing, the potty Anne Melton used when she was a prisoner. The potty is just a rectangular box with a round hole cut in the top of one end. My assumption is a chamber pot was placed under the hole so the contraption could easily be cleaned of waste.

Perry proceeded to recount the story of Tom Dooley. I asked her why this simple, common tale became legendary, and her response was that during the war Tom Dula's squad captured a Union soldier and sometime later, instead of sending the soldier to a prisoner-of-war camp, he let the man go. After the war the Union soldier became a reporter for The New York Times, and when Dula was arrested, the newspaper covered the crime and subsequent trial in depth, spreading the tale.

Dula's trial was moved to another venue, where he was convicted and hanged. To this day, no one is really sure whether Dula committed the crime. His only comment was that Melton was innocent, and she was acquitted. Soon afterward, a local poet named Thomas Land wrote a song about the incident. Different folk versions of the song were recorded early in the 20th century. Eventually the Kingston Trio found the song and recorded their version, adding to the legend.

Before I leave the Wilkes Heritage Museum, I do want to point out another great surprise in its rooms. The museum boasts one of the best collections of historic local pottery found anywhere in the United States, including a group of rare African-American painted face jugs from the 1920s. The potter was one Lou Nelson, and the large jugs are associated with the local Kennedy Pottery. The collection was put together by a North Carolinian, M. Kenneth Johnson, and is as priceless as the song Tom Dooley is legendary.

WHEN YOU GO

The easiest way to get to Wilkesboro is to drive north from Charlotte via Interstate Highway 77 to state Route 471.

Wilkes Heritage Museum: www.wilkesheritagemuseum.com

Across from the museum, try the peach cobbler at the 50's Snack Bar.

The jail where Tom Dooley was incarcerated is part of the Wilkes Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Steve Bergsman.

Tom Dooley was incarcerated in a jail cell that is now part of the Wilkes Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Steve Bergsman.

A collection of rare African-American face jugs from the 1920s is on display at the Wilkes Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Steve Bergsman.

Steve Bergsman is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

A collection of rare African-American face jugs from the 1920s is on display at the Wilkes Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Steve Bergsman.