The Candy Lady
1922 is the year Margaret McCoy was born.
I grew up on the story of a woman I never fully met but always felt. Her neighborhood knew her as the Candy Lady — a woman who built something of her own, sweetened people’s days, and did it all on her own terms, long before the world made room for women to be businesswomen.
I’ve always carried a piece of her with me. That itch to create, to build something with my own hands, to leave a mark that’s mine. For years it sat in the back of my mind, waiting for the right shape. This is it.
The House of 1922 is my ode to her.
Margaret “the Candy Lady” McCoy
“I built this to be the thing I needed: a quiet reminder that where you are is enough, and where you’re going is worth the walk.”
I’m picking up what Ms. Margaret (my great grandmother) started. The everyday things can help you appreciate where you are while keeping you moving. Made with intention, for people becoming themselves.
take the long way home.
It doesn’t mean being slow. It means stop rushing straight to the finish line and missing the journey. The corner where you used to buy candy. The extra few minutes with someone you love. The detour that turns into the story you tell.
We’re taught to chase the destination. The next milestone thinking. Curate a life people remember not because you sprinted to the top, but because you sweetened the ordinary days along the way.
For the little girl in the pictures
You’ll see her throughout the site.
The little girl with the big eyes, the one who was always in a hurry.
I scattered her here on purpose.
For a long time, I rushed her. I pushed her to grow up, to figure it out, to be further along than she was. I didn’t trust her timing. I treated her like she was already late.
She wasn’t. I was.
These pictures are me letting her be little. Letting her take the long way. Letting her know that her journey is her own, and it was never behind. Every version of her, from the little girl to the woman building this house, was exactly where she needed to be.
If you’ve ever rushed yourself, this is for you too. You’re not late. You’re not behind. You’re just on the walk.
Take your time. Take the long way home.