Louisa Venable Kyle (August 11, 1903 – October 24, 1999) was an American historian, author and journalist. She wrote works of fiction based on the history of her home state of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
Biography
Born in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
Lasell Seminary
Lasell University (LU) is a private university in Auburndale, Massachusetts. Lasell offers Undergraduate education, undergraduate and Postgraduate education, graduate degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional fields of study.
Hist ...
. In the 1950s she wrote for ''
The Virginian-Pilot
''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia ...
'' and ''The Portsmouth Star''. She wrote about the first minister to
Knotts Island
Knotts Island is a marshy island and a small unincorporated community. The island is shared by Currituck County, North Carolina and Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, bounded by the Currituck Sound, North Landing River, Back Bay, and Knotts ...
on
Currituck Sound
Currituck Sound () , from the North Carolina Collection's website at the to have lived there:
In November 1956, she reported the opening of land between Seashore State Park and Crystal Lake.
Kyle was married to William Emmett Kyle (1896–1972). They had three daughters. She was one of the founding members of the Princess Anne County Historical Society. She died in
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
.
Literary works
Kyle wrote ''Historical Data on Little Neck Section of Princess Anne County'', which was published in 1960. ''The History of Eastern Shore Chapel and Lynnhaven Parish, 1642–1969'' appeared in 1969.
''The Witch of Pungo and Other Historical Stories of the Early Colonies'' is a fiction book written for children, with the tales of seven folk tales from the history of
Princess Anne County
County of Princess Anne is a former county in the British Colony of Virginia and the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, first incorporated in 1691. The county was merged into the city of Virginia Beach
on January 1, 1963, ceasing t ...
, including "Christmas at Adam Thoroughgood's House" and ''Blackbeard's Treasure''. The historical background of each story is provided at the end of the story. ''The Witch of Pungo'' is based on
Grace Sherwood
Grace White Sherwood (1660–1740), called the Witch of Pungo, is the last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia.
A farmer, healer, and midwife, she was accused by her neighbors of transforming herself into a cat, damag ...
, a woman who was accused of witchcraft in February 1706 and tried by ducking: "If Grace would float in consecrated water, as she did after being ducked in the Lynnhaven River off what is now called Witchduck Point, then she was deemed guilty of witchcraft". Sherwood spent seven years in jail and then lived on a farm granted by Governor
Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood (12 December 1676 – 7 June 1740) was a British Army officer, explorer and lieutenant governor of Colonial Virginia; he is regarded as one of the most significant historical figures in British North American colonial h ...
. The book was published in 1973 by Printcraft Press, Portsmouth, Virginia, reissued in 1978 in Four O'Clock Farms Publishing Company, and again in 1988.
Kyle's book ''Ram Lam'' (1975) was published by the Four O'Clock Farms Publishing Company. Her memoir, ''My Virginia Childhood: The Years 1903-1914'', was published in 1976. Other works included ''A Country Woman's Scrapbook'' (1980) and ''A Country Woman's Christmas'' (1993).