The impact on the Carpenter family went beyond their house burning down. The Carpenter family lived in the barn for a total of six months, from the end of April through November 30, 1935. During this time, Louise “cooked on an old stove that had been in the fire, outdoors. [She] had to cook on the top of the stove; could not do anything with the oven; could not cook bread [so she] had to buy bread from the store.”[1] Their old farmhouse in Madison County was bigger than the Herndon home so they had stored some furniture and laundry in the barn’s attic, but according to Louise, they lost everything else. Louise said they stayed in the barn as long as they could, but the cold weather finally forced them to find another place to stay. They found sanctuary in the nearby all-Black community of Oak Grove.[2]

Louise still owed money on the Herndon property at the time of the fire.[3] She made a claim to the Aetna Insurance Company, but it was denied because of the ongoing criminal investigation into the fire. Aetna refused to pay the claim even after a jury acquitted both Carpenter women of the charges against them in November 1935. On August 30, 1938, Aetna finally paid some money they owed to the Carpenters although it took multiple lawsuits and an order from the Treasurer of Virginia.[4] It would take longer to receive all the money owed to her.