Harley-Davidson

What’s the connection between Peter Fonda’s ‘Captain America’ (Wyatt) in Easy Rider, the Sons of Anarchy, and the early medieval, Pictish, ‘Serpent Stone’ in rural Angus?

[A mellow, 90 second read]

It was from a two-bedroomed cottage in the tiny hamlet of Netherton, nr. the village of Aberlemno, in the Angus countryside between Dundee and Aberdeen that the Harley-Davidson story began. Alexander ‘Sandy’ Davidson, a wheelwright, lived here next to the smithy/smiddy with his wife Margaret, their six children and two fellow labourers. In 1858, we can assume influenced by the harsh and cramped conditions at home, the Davidsons (by now Sandy was fifty-two years old) emigrated to America. After a short time, Sandy found work as a carpenter with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad and the family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

One of their Angus-born sons, William C. Davidson married a woman of Scottish descent (another Margaret) and together they raised two daughters, Janet and Elizabeth, and three sons – Arthur, William and Walter. Arthur (born in Milwaukee, 1881) developed a close childhood friendship with William (Bill) Sylvester Harley, the son of an English railway engineer, William Harley and his wife Mary – both of whom came from the village of Littleport in Cambridgeshire.

In 1903 Arthur and Bill established the proto Harley-Davidson company, which would be legally registered in 1907, and were joined in the endeavour by William and Walter Davidson.

Both Arthur and Bill were outdoor enthusiasts, and the Harley-Davidson legend has it that (arguably) the world’s most iconic motorcycle brand was born of Arthur’s passion for fishing and his desire to ease the strain of cycling around the Wisconsin countryside with his fishing gear. [As an aside, when he was sixty-nine years old, tragedy struck the family when Arthur and his wife Clara died in a two-car road traffic accident – two others also died – on a rural road in Wisconsin in December 1950.]

In 2008, three Harley-Davidson enthusiasts found the cottage in Netherton, “a crumbling ruin… [and] earmarked for demolition to make way for a new housing development.” This small group worked tirelessly to fundraise and make true their dream of saving and restoring Sandy and Margaret’s former home and turning it into a site of pilgrimage for fellow H-D disciples. Since 2012, bikers from all over the world, but particularly the USA, Europe, and Australia, have visited the cottage to pay their respects. Visitors are still welcome and it is even possible, by arrangement, to stay at the cottage.

Long before the discovery of its links with motorcycling aristocracy, and its place at the centre of American popular culture, Aberlemno was noted as being home to five early-medieval (7-8th century) carved Pictish standing stones. Four of these remain dotted around the village (in the churchyard or at the roadside) while one is now on display at a museum in Dundee. If visiting, note that they are covered from late September to April to protect them from frost damage.

[As another aside, Bill Harley’s ancestral village in England has its own rich heritage. Littleport was founded by King Canute, was the scene of some infamous rioting involving returning soldiers after the Battle of Waterloo, and was the home of the legendary Burns guitars.]