Robert Joe Martin

Central Pike Robert Joe Martin

This book is about a prominent white family in Mt. Juliet that adopts an African American baby at the beginning of the 1900's. The child's mother is a young field hand that under duress got into trouble with a white man that lived on Central Pike. She was afraid of her family finding about this unfortunate incident. She gave birth to the child alone, during a rainstorm, and took the baby to her friend Albert, a worker employed by Perry Quartermain, who lived on Central Pike. The Quartermains, who ran a dairy, and were very prosperous were considered the upper crust of the community. This community was located almost midway between Lebanon on the East, and the Stones River Bridge on the West. The families in this community were somewhat different from each other, although in some ways they were much alike. They were hard-working, kind, gentle, and church-goers. The Quartermains were pillars of the community, and were looked on with great, warmth and respect. It was baffling to many families as to why the Quartermains would adopt a black child and raise it as one of their own. Out of respect this kind of talk was always behind closed doors. There were those who said they knew why, but would not say. This story follows the growth of the black child along with the other Quartermain children, as well as the lives of many neighbors, and friends as they lived through the Great Depression, and the Great Wars, while coping with the many problems and mishaps that they encountered in their daily lives. The glaring question that remains unanswered until the very end, was, "Who was the white man that took advantage of Lucy, a young black woman, and fathered this black baby that was raised as a son by the Quartermains?"