Naomi “Omie” Wise
Her Life, Death, and Legend
Thursday, September 18, 2025, 7 pm
Naomi Wise was drowned by her lover in the waters of North Carolina’s Deep River in 1807. Her murder has been remembered in dozens of ballad versions throughout the last two centuries. Mistakes, romanticization, and misremembering have been injected into Naomi’s biography over time blurring the line between reality and fiction.
Authors Hal E. Pugh and Eleanor Minnock-Pugh, whose family has lived in the Deep River area since the 18th century, are descendants of many people who knew Naomi Wise or were involved in her murder investigation.
This is the story of a young woman betrayed and how her death gave way to the folk traditions by which she is remembered today.
Generously sponsored by the
Margaret Grattan Weaver Institute at Bridgewater College
Hal and Eleanor Pugh are historians and potters living in northern Randolph County, North Carolina.
A graduate of Appalachian State University with a degree in anthropology, Hal’s research on Quaker history and ceramics has been published in The Southern Friend and Ceramics in America journals. He is currently collaborating with folklorist Sarah Bryan on a history of Southern folk pottery, slated for publication by UNC Press in 2026.
Eleanor Minnock-Pugh is a graduate of Appalachian State University with a degree in education. Her research on Quaker history and ceramics has also been published in Ceramics in America.
Hal & Eleanor have worked with the movie industry as consultants concerning such films as John Adams and Cold Mountain. Hal currently serves on the Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission for District 4 and Eleanor is a Board Member with the Randleman Public Library.
Listen to Doc Watson’s classic rendition of Omie’s murder ballad: