Margaret McMurry Royster had a lot of family and a lot of friends. Everybody loved her and her house was always a gathering spot. Margaret and David W. Royster, Sr., married on June 26, 1919 and they moved into the red brick house at 417 South Washington Street in Shelby. They lived in that house for the rest of their lives.
The red brick house on South Washington Street was built in 1857 and is the oldest house on the street. The greek revival house next door was built by Dr. S. S. Royster 51 years later in 1908.
Like many women of her era, Margaret never learned to drive. Most everything she needed was close to home. She was pleasant to be around and people either came to see her or on occasions when she wanted to go somewhere she could find a way.
Margaret's sister-in-law, Kathleen, was in her 50's when she learned to drive. Betty, who is Kathleen's daughter-in-law, told me that the main reason Kathleen got her license was so she could drive the South Washington Street Bridge Club to Virginia Beach every summer to visit with cousin Lucy. Betty and I had fun imagining 6 women with suitcases in the 1950s and 60s piled into a car heading for a week at Virginia Beach. With newly licensed driver Kathleen behind the wheel. That may be a clue about Margaret's framed homemade certificate as a member of the Wildcats.
Because Margaret didn't drive she was at home a great deal of the time. Knowing she would likely be home, people stopped by her house a lot. As David III said, "back then people visited more. And they didn't call or text or email before they came by. They just dropped by." No doubt all of Margaret's family and friends enjoyed those visits and for sure David III did. In fact, for a lot of his time growing up, he was there on South Washington with his grandparents who he called MaMa (pronounced MAHmah) and Pop Ick.
David said that his grandmother almost always had a lemon chess pie on the counter in the kitchen. She made these pies on holidays and to give to people for funerals and for all kinds of reasons. Lynn said when MaMa made a pie, she would always make an extra one to have on hand at home for whoever might come by to visit.
David loves lemon anything so some time ago he got the recipe from Betty Royster - who calls it Aunt Margaret's Lemon Chess Pie.
Chess pie is a very very sweet Southern pie and can be made many ways. Mama Crowder made great chess pie too. The consistency is important - not too juicy and not too dry. The pies can be flavored with lemon, vanilla, chocolate, or even pineapple. Some people call it Vinegar Pie. They put vinegar in it to cut the super sweetness. But it is great super sweet with a cup of hot coffee. A little piece of chess pie goes a long way.
So today I made MaMa's Lemon Chess Pie. I called Betty to thank her for the recipe and we had a fun visit on the telephone. I dropped by Sister's with a small piece and enjoyed talking with her. Then, I thought Anne might want a taste of her mother's pie so I dropped by her house and had a good visit there too.
MaMa's Lemon Chess Pie seems to have brought back the old Southern custom of dropping by to say hey.
I'm thinking David will be happy to find chess pie on the kitchen counter when he comes home.
MaMa's Lemon Chess Pie
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Combine: 2 cups sugar
4 eggs
Mix: 1 Tbsp Flour
1 Tbsp Cornmeal
Add to Egg and Sugar mixture
Add: 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup lemon juice (the real thing!)
Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake 45 minutes or more at 350 degrees. This depends on the oven. I think I baked the one I made today at least 55 minutes.
Betty says you want the top to be golden brown and "the filling should barely jiggle" before you take it out of the oven. This is really important because if you don't cook it long enough, when the pieces of pie are cut, juice will run all over the plate. Then again, if you cook it too long, it will be dry.
Mama Crowder always said "bake it until it doesn't shake".
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