Tyler, Margaret Ridley Long

By Claiborne T. Smith, Jr., 1996

26 Mar. 1917–30 Mar. 1991

Margaret Ridley Long Tyler, teacher and preservationist, was born in Roanoke Rapids, the daughter of Thomas W. M., a physician, and Maria Greenough Burgwyn Long. She attended St. Mary's College and was graduated from The University of North Carolina in 1938. The following year she also received a degree in library science. She taught English and mathematics and was librarian in the public schools of Bertie County for thirty years. In 1941 she married John Edward Tyler of Roxobel, and they had three children: Margaret Ridley (m. James E. Smith), John Cotten Pierce, and Ethel Leonard Gregory Tyler Hand.

Mrs. Tyler achieved wide recognition for her leadership in the preservation and restoration of Hope Plantation, the 1803 home of Governor David Stone in Bertie County. She was instrumental in raising funds for this community undertaking, as well as in decorating the house and acquiring furnishings. Especially noteworthy was the replication of the large library of late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century books held by Stone. Her work and the completed project came to be regarded as a model for similar programs.

An Episcopalian, Mrs. Tyler was buried in the family cemetery at Oaklana, the family home near St. Mark's Church, Roxobel, where the funeral was held.