Rare Books | Emma Bell Miles |
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Emma Bell Miles
(1879-1919)  Emma Bell Miles lived on Signal Mountain, outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She was a poet, writer, naturalist, artist, and author of a novel, The Spirit of the Mountains (1905). She was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1879, to Benjamin Franklin and Martha Ann Mirick Bell. Her early years were spent in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, where her parents were school teachers. The family moved to Signal Mountain (Walden’s Ridge) in 1890. Emma grew to know the people living on the mountain as well as to develop her talents in drawing, studying nature, and writing. Emma Bell enrolled in the St. Louis School of Art in 1899 and spent two winters there. However, she became homesick and eventually returned to Signal Mountain, determined to remain there, despite her father’s hopes for her to study in New York and Paris.
Emma Bell married Frank Miles in the fall of 1901, several weeks after her mother’s death. She had met and fallen in love with Miles three years before. In the fall of 1902 they had twins- Jean and Judith. A year after that her father turned them out of their home, despite having had it left to her in her mother’s will. She used this theme in her novel, The Spirit of the Mountains.
Emma Bell Miles published her poem, “The Difference,” in Harper’s Monthly in March 1904, leading to more publications of her work in national magazines. The Spirit of the Mountains was published in November 1905 by the James Pott & Company of New York. In December 1908, Harper’s Monthly published her short story, "The Common Lot.”
Emma Bell Miles continued to write, and the family had additional children- Joe Winchester (February 1905), Katharine (January 1907), and Mark (March 1909). After a trip to Miami for health reasons in 1909, Emma Bell Miles accepted a position as artist-in-residence at Lincoln Memorial University. It was there that a local physician diagnosed her with tuberculosis.
 Returning to Chattanooga, Miles supported her family by selling her paintings, as well as poems and stories. Her youngest child, Mark, passed away during this time. In 1914, she contributed her "Fountain Square Conversations," a column for the Chattanooga News where she wrote on matters relating to the environment and human nature.
Samples of Emma Bell Miles' PoetryIn early 1917 she entered Pine Breeze, the county tuberculosis sanitarium. She later returned to Signal Mountain and began a series of bird paintings. She subsequently returned to Pine Breeze, and remained there until a few months before her death on March 19, 1919. Before she died, she completed the bird book she had always wanted to write and illustrate. The book, Our Southern Birds, was published two weeks before her death, at the age of thirty-nine. The Special Collections of Lupton Library has two collections with Emma Bell Miles material: The Jean Miles Catino Collection (MS 078) and The Kay Baker Gaston Collection (MS 057). Jean Miles Catino (1903-2000) was the daughter of Emma Bell Miles. Kay Baker Gaston is the biographer of Emma Bell Miles (Emma Bell Miles, Walden's Ridge Historical Association, 1986) Samples of Emma Bell Miles' Artwork Excerpts from the Journals of Emma Bell Miles For more information, email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 February 2009 ) |