The mother of Thomas Wolfe was immortalized in Look Homeward, Angel as Eliza Gant, a shrewd and hard-nosed businesswoman driven to distraction by the histrionics of her alcoholic husband. In this 1937 portrait Julia and Tom, the youngest of her eight children, sit on the porch of Julias boardinghouse “The Old Kentucky Home”. Julia began her business in 1906 as a way to earn extra money to invest in real estate. As the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, Julias boardinghouse, called “Dixieland” in Wolfes novel, has become one of literature’s most famous landmarks.
