Evan Peter Smith’s debut historic, nonfiction book, Here by the Owl, pieces together the story of the late Robert and Agnes Shipley of North Carolina, and sheds light on Robert Shipley’s role in a mostly forgotten, yet historic, mission of World War II.
Smith, who is a senior staff writer at Community Journals, used photographs, military records, letters, oral histories, in-person interviews, and documents sourced from the National Archives to detail how Shipley—along with a group of other young farmers—is ordered by the military to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic and tasked with growing vegetables in the volcanic island’s inhospitable soil.
“In the process, they built the world’s first modern hydroponics farm,” Smith says, adding that even Shipley and his teammates had no idea why they were doing what they were doing.
Worse for Shipley, shortly after leaving for the island, his pregnant wife, Agnes, was stricken with a deadly disease. “So while he was struggling to grow life out of ashes, she was clinging to life herself,” he says.
But Here by the Owl is more than a history. “At the end of the day, this book is a love story,” Smith says. “It’s about two people split apart by war who do all they can to get back to each other.”
By the time of their deaths (Robert died in 2015 at the age of 103; Agnes in 2013 at the age of 96), the Shipleys had achieved an almost legendary status in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. And yet, their story has been untold.
“I honestly couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of this mission before,” Smith says. “Shipley and his team were on the cover of National Geographic in the 1940s and were celebrated across the country, and now their story has practically disappeared. But if you’ve ever shopped at a grocery store or eaten at a restaurant, you’ve seen firsthand the impact of that mission.”
Smith decided for a variety of reasons, both personal and professional, to self-publish Here by the Owl. Doing so allows more creative flexibility, including releasing an eponymous, free audiobook on both Spotify and Apple podcasts.
Smith enlisted Community Journals creative director and coworker Laura Allshouse to come up with cover art that, according to Allshouse, is meant to be both striking and intriguing.
“One character is trying to grow a life, and one is literally trying to grow crops,” Allshouse notes. “They’re separated, but their stories are still intertwined.”
Smith says the book is not only a professional accomplishment; it’s a promise kept.
“Robert Shipley is my great-great uncle,” he reveals. “In the final years of his life, he was in the process of putting together his memoirs but died before finishing them. I gave my grandmother—and my family—my word that I would do it, and that was that.”
Here by the Owl is available at M. Judson Booksellers and on Amazon. The audiobook is free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts by searching “Here by the Owl audiobook.”
Did you know?
The title Here by the Owl is a nod to Future Farmers of America meetings. During the official roll call, the chapter vice president calls for the advisor, who responds, “Here by the owl.”
