Mary Moore Mason leans against a Greyhound bus during recent travels. Moore has written a book about her travels after breaking from her Southern belle upbringing.
Mary Moore Mason grew up in the days of segregation in Kentucky where she felt “a real push” to be a Southern Belle.
She was, however, a “bit of a renegade,” she said, before recounting a date that was arranged by an aunt.
Her aunt introduced her to what she described as a “nice Christian young man,” who invited her to a fancy ball. She was told to dress in a hoop skirt and that her date would dress as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
“Bob got drunk, fell under the table and was groping up my hoop skirt,” Mason said. “I went home in a taxi. My aunt said, ‘Wasn’t he a nice Christian man? I’m sure you’ll see him again.’”
Mason paused in telling the story and then deadpanned, “I never saw him again.”
Moore, a former Maplewood resident, veered away from the Southern Belle path and charted her own course. She recounts a lifetime of adventure and travel in her memoir, “Goodbye Hoop Skirts—Hello World! The Travels, Triumphs and Tumbles of a Runaway Southern Belle.”
In the book, Moore shares her unusual and colorful adventures including her world travels.
She was born in Louisville and grew up on a farm her parents inherited. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and got into journalism.
Her first job was at News Leader in Richmond, Va. She refused to work on what was called the “woman’s pages” writing about fashion, society and food and became the first woman at the News Leader to write for the news pages. She covered hard news topics including local politics, conditions at mental hospitals and prisons, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
She eventually left the newspaper, spent some time in Paris, reigniting a summer romance, then lived in Athens for six months, where she became a travel writer and started selling her pieces.
She moved to “Swinging London” during the 1960s and married David Redern, a renowned English photographer. His collection included photos of The Beatles.
After many years of being together Mason and Redern divorced, and she moved back to the United States.
A friend she made while working at News Leader, was living in Maplewood, and that’s where Mason ended up for five years.
“I loved the community feeling,” she said. “I love the ambience. I love the park.”
Living in Maplewood, Mason was able to take on various jobs in Manhattan. She then went to Ireland to write for Country Inns. Mason loved Ireland, but really missed living in London, where she currently resides. It was there she launched the UK travel magazine, Essentially America magazine UK, in 1994. She still edits the publication today.
In 2019 Mason received two media awards, one in London from the Visit USA Association and another at its annual convention in St. Louis, Mo., from the Travel South organization.
Her first book, “The Picture Book of the USA” was published in the 1970s.
“It’s totally out of date,” she said. “But people are still buying it.”
Mason had no interest in writing another book, but then in 2020, the pandemic happened.
“I’m stuck in Covid,” she said. “Might as well write a book.”
“Goodbye Hoop Skirts—Hello World! The Travels, Triumphs, And Tumbles of a Runaway Southern Belle” was published in 2021 by TSL Publications. It can be found at Words bookstore in Maplewood or on line at https://www.marymooremason.co.uk/.
Southern Belle, Jersey girl, expat, tells her story added by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta on
View all posts by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta →