Building the Ainab houses

 My grandfather, Leslie Leavitt, wrote an autobiography written for his family.  It's quite detailed and covers his life from his early days in New Hampshire, through Dartmouth College, and on to what was then Syria and Beirut (traveling to Syria, upon graduation from Dartmouth, he met my grandmother for the first time on the Galata Bridge in Istanbul; she also was headed to Beirut).  He taught at the Syrian Protestant College's Prep School (later International College) and then was head of IC until his retirement in 1960, when he and my grandmother (Margaret Bliss Leavitt) returned to the States, buying a house in Wellesley.  They lived there until their deaths in the 1980's.

There has been a lot of discussion of the building of the houses in Ainab.  Here is an extract from my grandfather's autobiography on that subject (I believe this is set in 1932/1933):

     "As the summers in Beirut are quite hot and sticky, those who can make every effort to escape to the cool of the mountain villages, returning to their work in Beirut as frequently as required.  During our first few years, our family took advantage of various opportunities and tried out, so to speak, Shweir, Brummana, 'Aleih and Shemlan.  None of these villages appealed particularly, so we began to look elsewhere, together with some of our closest friends.  The result: the Closes, Crawfords, Kerrs, Dodds and Leavitts purchased a lovely pine forest above the village of Ainab: 2700 feet above sea-level, and some 40 minutes by car from Beirut.  Our next step was to divide the property into five portions, which we did in such a way that each family pretty much got its first choice.

     "Next came the drawing up of plans for our houses and contracting with local builders to have them built...from stone found in abundance nearby.  This was followed by the building of a road up from the village of Ainab, the building of a joint wash house, and a tennis court.  Our water came from the sky, off the roof and down into a cistern, in our case a cistern under the outdoor dining room.  From there it was pumped up into a barrel under the eaves.  Our light was supplied by pressure lanterns, our cooking was done over kerosene stoves or "puffers."  In addition to our master bedroom, guest room, and porch, we had a wooden "shack" where the boys slept, and another for the maids.  The whole outfit was small, simple, adequate...and Oh! so nice.  I am certain that every member of the Leavitt family will testify that our summer home, costing only a few thousand dollars, was a joy, a treasure that even today holds a warm place in our hearts and memories.

     "I shall have occasion to speak of our Ainab experiences many times as the years pass by, but during those early years when all four children were with us, they are especially memorable.  Of events in the grove, one recalls the children making cement roads for their toy vehicles...the gathering, cracking and eating of pine nuts (snobar)...the evening group "sings" by the tennis court, on which occasions Harold Close sang a comic song...rides for the children on the donkey that brought us food supplies.  Outside the grove, there were trips...1) to the ever-popular Tom Sawyer's Pool down in the deep valley to the east of our mountain, or 2) to the rock formations and the stream at the Fizur below the village of 'Aleih, or 3) to the Boy Scout Camp at Jisr-el-Kadi down the steep road below Munzerain."

photo of the Leavitt house

1960 watercolor painting of the Leavitt house by Juanita Soghikian (that's me in front of the house, by the lavender bush)

Steve Peters

Princeton, NJ

Home movies from Leslie Leavitt

I've inherited several home movies from my grandparents, Leslie and Meg Leavitt, which I had digitized some years ago.  I've just uploaded them to YouTube.

The first is from 1933 (!) and includes scenes from a baseball game at the Dormans' house in Shemlan; Leavitt family scenes with my mother Marga Peters and her sister Helen (Hayin) Campbell, along with brothers Howard and Dan Leavitt; playing on a paddle board in Beirut; the Leavitt family at their summer house in Brummana (before their house in Ainab was built).  I can recognize members of the Leavitt family but not anyone else.

https://youtu.be/1tzEDmIkazQ

The second is from 1947, when Dan and Lois Leavitt visited Lebanon (I believe this was their first visit after getting married in the States).  Included here are views of the coast and Beirut, as well as surrounding countryside, from Ainab; much-anticipated (by this blog community) scenes of tennis games; Lois Leavitt riding on a donkey; another baseball game at Shemlan; and a big family dinner; and finally Marga and Hayin flying back to the States.

https://youtu.be/0Dkkqe19pdk

I don't believe my grandfather took all of the movies, as he appears in many of the scenes, but I have no idea who else did, and I'm not sure how he came to possess these movies.

-Steve Peters

Princeton, NJ

stevepeters1@hotmail.com

________________________________________

a note from Alice Nicolson (June 3, 2022)

a.taxonomy@gmail.com

what a treat to see these movies! The early one gives the feeling of those baseball games at the Dormans’ in Chemlan, though before my time. The 1947 film was really great - my brother Crif, having just graduated from Mr. Hermon, was home for the summer, playing tennis with other “kids” home from school or college. I remember how thrilling and romantic it was to have the first young married couple among the children of the hilltop returning. In addition to the Leavitt girls and boys, I spotted Dottie Kerr playing tennis, and I think Mac batting at the baseball game. There was a brief visit to Beit Crawford to visit Archie, who had broken his pelvis in a car accident and was in a body cast and hospital bed for a while, but sitting in a chair in the film. Also at the tennis court were my West cousins, Dorothy and perhaps Bill, plus daughter Liz and son Allen. Particularly wonderful for me was glimpses of Hughie Dodd and an unforgettable shot of the three little pigs, Hugh, Doug and me, and a later one of Doug and me. I think that may have been the last summer the Dodds were at Ainab. Also, as Lois is riding the donkey, a glimpse of Hehni, our wonderful grocery deliverer, who went ofer to Souk el Gharb most mornings to buy our food orders and bring them up to the hilltop on his donkey. He lived in Ainab and once took some of us down in the early morning to watch his mother make flatbread on the dome-like metal sajj over a fire of pine needles and twigs, He was an assistant at the AUB pharmacy, I believe, and spoke very good english and was very kind and patient with us kids. (There was also a milkman, who had a larger donkey - or was it a mule? -  and would come up with metal cans of fresh milk which had to be boiled before use so was not very tasty, but made wonderful leban.)

I think I was the youngest of the original hilltop kids, but surely there are still a few others still around who remember these things?

Ainab Visit 2022 by Julia Costello, granddaughter of Bill and Mary Eddy

 

Ainab Visit, 13 April 2022

By Julia Costello, granddaughter of Bill and Mary Eddy 

During my recent visit, Leila Badre – the recently retired Director of the AUB Museum -- arranged for a wonderful trip to Ainab with our friend Nour (Minnie) Majdalany. Leila, Minnie, and I have been friends since the early 1970s when I spent several years working on archaeology projects in Lebanon; I have returned regularly since. 

View of Beirut from the Ainab hilltop where the American houses were built (photo by Julia Costello 2022)

Leila came to Ainab during Mary Eddy’s last summer there in 1973, and Minnie had gone up with me about 15 years ago. Recently, Leila connected with Shadia Shaar, a Druze woman from the village of Ainab, who was our guide and informant and was also commissioned to provide us with a sumptuous lunch at her village home. Her wide lawn was once the location of a nightclub where singers would perform on a small stage! 

Shadia Shaar, a Druze woman from the village of Ainab, with Nour (Minnie) Majdalani in front of the Dodd/Dodge House 2022

The complex of American houses on the hilltop above the village is an historic landmark in Ainab, variously referred to as the American Forest, American Hill, and American Mountain (Jebel American). Shadia (who appeared to be about 60) said she once played on the tennis court at the complex when she was 12 years old. 

View of the hilltop. The houses in the distance have been built since the civil war (photo thanks to Julia Costello)

Visiting the remaining houses – known for their last occupants as the Eddy, Crow, Dodge, and Close houses (the Gordon house is gone)– was confusing as the land has been divided up and now each old dwelling is accessed by a different road from a different direction. The land between is grown over with trees and brush so it was hard to get my bearings. Additionally, all the houses have had renovations since I was last there in 1974, with additions of side rooms, porches, and upper stories. 

Shadia identified them as I took photos (attached) and scribbled notes, but these may need to be corrected by those who know better. A map would certainly be useful. The tennis court is just a flat spot and I could not see any of the small toy-car roads that were built into the now-overgrown rock outcroppings. Shadia knew the names of the American families and said the village had a list somewhere of everyone who had lived there. She reported the belief that when the Americans arrived in the 1930s “they gave life to Ainab.” 

Crows' "new" Crow's New House below the Eddy House.

 (photo by Julia Costello)

Close House in 1930s with Mr. & Mrs. Close standing in front. The Close house had the dramatic view of Beirut. (Photo provided by Ken Close)

Villagers had helped build the houses, provide groceries, and deliver mail. Her grandfather supplied stones for the Close house. 

Grandmothers and mothers of current town residents cooked and cleaned for the families and helped take care of the children. There were other foreigners in town—English, French, and German (there was a German language institute)—but, Shadia believed, “Americans were the most intelligent.” 

Eddy House, according to Bayard Dodge

Kerr/Kennedy House

Shadia recounted that the Americans paid particular attention to the village children and took the brightest to Beirut, seeing them through AUB with no fees charged. I asked what became of these favored children. She noted Dr. Kamal Chaar, an osteologist and uncle on her father’s mother’s side, was working in the US. Also Raja Hassein Chaar, who designed the “Phantom” (rockets?), was also living in the US. The well-remembered Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, and Buick of the compound all disappeared in 1975 when the war began and foreigners left the mountain. In 1984 the Israeli Army occupied the hilltop with helicopters and troops; a very bad time for Ainab. 

Small house the Crows built for their "Natour" or guard

Shadia told us two village stories about the Americans: 

NO. 1. In early years, many of the foreigners in Beirut were looking for a place to put houses in the mountains where it was cooler but still close to Beirut. This is mostly where the Druze lived. The Americans were the smartest. They obtained a sacrificed animal from the Druze and cut it into pieces. They took the pieces around to various places in the mountain area and hung them in trees. A week later they came back and inspected the locations. The piece hung in the tree in Ainab was in the best condition so they chose this village to settle in. 

NO. 2. There is a sticky herb called tayuune that grows along the roadside. People make it into brooms to sweep bugs out of their homes as the bugs stick to the leaves. During the 1958 troubles in Lebanon, a local man was shot. They did not want to take him to the hospital in Beirut as there would be too many questions asked, so they took him to the Americans. Here the Americans made a poultice of tayuune, binding the wound. The man healed completely. 

Shadia named the families who now owned the houses. All are Lebanese who mostly live out of the country, one in Australia. The Close house is owned by Ghazi Shaar, president of the municipality. She said that they all know that they own something special and historic. I can’t imagine, however, that they would consider any kind of restoration of the American houses. Having been to many homes of Lebanese, they enjoy spacious splendor with lots of light and high windows and ceilings. These little stone cabins of AUB families are quite different. 

Minnie pondered all this as we walked around, cynically concluding: “The Americans had big minds and small houses. The Lebanese have big houses and empty heads.” I remember the old drive to Ainab in 1974, winding up through hillsides of terraced olive groves. Now it is nearly solid with houses all the way from Beirut. The view, however, is still spectacular and the air clear and crisp. Pine trees – snober – cover the hilltop and the cyclamen is in abundant bloom all over the rocky ground.

Dodd/Dodge House with 

Shadia Shaar & Nour (Minnie) Majdalani

Mary Garvin Eddy (b. 26 Dec. 1896, d. 4 Aug. 1990)

Mary Emma Garvin [Eddy]

* This biography and photos of Mary Eddy were contributed by Julia Costell, the Granddaughter of Mary Eddy - May 22, 2022. (All photos are Julia's, except the first and last two)

Mary Eddy (b. 26 Dec. 1896, d. 4 Aug. 1990) in 1965 in Ainab (Photo by Joan Landis)

Mary Emma Garvin was, like her husband William Alfred Eddy, born to a Presbyterian missionary family. 

Mary Emma Garvin at Wooster College, Ohio. Ca. 1914, age 17

Garvin Family Portrait:  Santiago, Chile, 1910-11. Garvin Family. (front row seated) Gordon Goodale Garvin, Emma Frances (Goodale) Garvin, James Francis Garvin, John Trumbull Garvin; (back row standing) Norman Garvin, Mary Emma Garvin (Eddy), Ruth Pamona Garvin (Chaffin), Hugh Garvin, James Francis Garvin, jr.

Her father, James Francis Garvin, and mother, Emma Frances Goodale, established one of the first public schools in Chile. Interestingly, Emma was born in Marash, Turkey in 1861 (another story). Mary was born in Valparaiso, Chile, December 26, 1896, the seventh of nine children (seven of whom were brothers!). As with her siblings, she was sent to the U.S. to attend high school at the College of Wooster in Ohio, well known for educating the children of missionaries. 

At high school, she met the child of missionaries in Syria, Bill Eddy, who became her lifelong partner. He was a good friend of her older brother. While Bill transferred to Princeton his sophomore year of college, Mary Garvin completed her degree at Wooster. Upon graduation, Bill enlisted in the Marines and days before he was to be shipped out he sent a telegram for Mary to meet him at Union Station in Washington D.C – they were married the next day: October 5, 1917. 

Bill and Mary Eddy at hospital after he was wounded in WWI. Eddy was wounded in his right hip at Belleau Wood. The hip eventually became infected, which led Eddy to lose all mobility in the hip and left him with a pronounced limp for the rest of his life. He was then sent back to the U.S. to recuperate. For his actions as a combat Marine in World War I, he received the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, and two Purple Hearts.

The couple had four children: Bill, Mary “Cita”, Jack, and Carmen. 

ca. 1940: (L-R standing)  Jack, Mary Cita, Bill jr, (seated) Bill, Carmen, Mary

Bill, Mary, and Crown Prince, Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود  in Saudi Arabia. In 1943, Eddy was sent to Saudi Arabia as a U.S. State Dept. employee, resident at the American Legation in the city of Jeddah. On September 23, 1944, he became the "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary" to Saudi Arabia, remaining in this post until May 28, 1946

1952 Ainab, Mary Eddy, Ruth Eddy, ??, Dora Eddy Close, Jake Eddy, Harold Close, Carmen Eddy (kneeling)
Ken Close adds: "Dora Eddy and her husband Harold Wilberforce Close built the house in Ainab that they later sold to Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary Eddy. Harold Close was dean of arts and sciences and professor of chemistry at AUB for some forty years. At one point, four Arab heads of states had been his students."

Her life adventures are chronicled with those of her husband in An Arabian Knight by Thomas J. Lippman (Selwa Press 2008). More personally, she was a lifetime avid birdwatcher and sent regular reports to the National Audubon Society when living in Jidda. She was also an intrepid hiker, guiding visiting scholars, friends, and visitors to natural, geological, and archaeological sites encountered in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. 

Bill and Mary 1957

 In addition to her native Spanish and English, she spoke serviceable French and enough Arabic to navigate Arab markets. After Bill died in May of 1962, Mary continued living in their apartment in Ras Beirut near the AUB Hospital and enjoying summers in Ainab. Family and friends were frequent recipients of “Aunt Mary’s” generous hospitality. She was a prominent member of Beirut’s social world with a schedule that left her visiting granddaughters exhausted. 

Above Byblos in Smar Jbeil, 1966, Emmy Boynton (Front Left) Mary Eddy behind her, Doris Dodge, Ann Gordon, Isobel Fistere (standing), Joan Landis (photo Josh Landis)

Mary Eddy and Archie Crawford at the Artist and Art Party (early 1965 Joan Landis)

In 1972 she moved to Hanover, NH, to be closer to her family. She eventually retired to Meadow Lakes, N.J., where she died on August 4, 1990.