Charm of the Carolines

Frogmore Plantation

Today the historic preservation community and I are brokenhearted for Lynette Tanner and the Natchez, Mississippi, community after hearing about a fire destroying her 204-year-old Ferriday, Louisiana home, Frogmore Plantation.

I've only visited this site once, but was blown away by the example of a complete plantation community it was with home, cotton gin, church house, slave quarters, cotton fields and such. As painful as our southern history has been, it's also real. Frogmore Plantation stood to educate current and future generations about the lives of past generations, because the way I see it, we only have 2 choices.... learn from the past and create a better future or rewrite it and learn nothing.

 

Lynette researched and published a book Chained to the Land,  recounting Louisiana slave narratives that I found fascinating and recommend everyone should read; personal accounts of former enslaved people regarding their experiences while enslaved. It will truly open your eyes to seeing a sample of the diversified and wide-ranging personal experiences told from people who were there and lived it and how different their accounts are from whatever stereotype you may embrace.

Sending hugs and healing thoughts to all my friends and acquaintances in the Natchez community, especially the Tanner family, for their loss.

 

Photo Credit: Sabrina Robertson/The Natchez Democrat via AP

River Sisters, the Giver

"The peace and prosperity of Nancy Hilderbrand's existence on the banks of the Tennessee, the ancients' Giver of life, is disrupted by the Removal of 1838, when native peoples are stripped of their lands by Federal powers greedy for gold and fertile soil. "The finest seamstress outside New Echota," Nancy, widowed, with child, and awaiting deportation from the miserable internment of the stockade near Ross Landing, joins forces with Kaquoli Hicks, a devoted teacher left without students, and Sara Colaquee, a young girl left without parents. Their talents and strengths make them a formidable assemblage.

Nancy had determined: "The men in blue might strip them of their heritage and steal from them their home, but they could not taint the color of their blood, the nobility of their character. Their big knives were no match for the long, gleaming, razor-edged blade of hatred sheathed in her soul. Their big knives could only pierce the body--at worst, setting the spirit free. Hatred could do so much more."

River Sisters, the Giver is the account of these courageous women, as they escape captivity, make their way back to the river valley, and, ultimately, gain entrance and acceptance into "white" society. Nancy declares: "The future is in our own hands. We must make a way for ourselves. Whether it be white, Cherokee, or something in between--it must be a way that is right and good for us. And I must make a way for the children." Like the Giver itself, the lives of the "sisters' take unexpected turns, sometimes churning and with hidden dangers. Motivated by the past, accepting the challenges of the present, and unable to anticipate the future that lies ahead, the "river sisters" preserve the mark of their noble character on generations to follow." 

Are you counting down the days to summer with hot afternoons, lazy reading on the front porch swing, the backyard hammock or on a blanket at the beach? (Or possibly in the air conditioning draped across the davenport?) Several publishers have offered me several books to give away this summer starting with Lucky in Love. Lesley Stevenson was our lucky winner of that book, but there will be many more opportunities to win. 

Leave a comment below for your chance to win, or to the Charm of the Carolines Facebook page, and be sure to follow the page, or to my Instagram page SusanElizabethJones_Art, and be sure to follow. You may enter up to three times (once on each platform) and if you tag a friend that will count for additional chances, one for each friend tagged. On June 1 a random number will be selected from Random.org.  The winner will be contacted by email or private message (depending on the platform) and asked for their shipping address. And that's it! Easy, Peasy, Lemon-Squeezy!  This Give-away is only for residents of the US. 

Once I receive the shipping address of the winner, I'll congratulate him or her on this post and ship the book. I'll also set up the next book give-away. Check back often!

On June 1, we'll be giving away River Sisters the Giver, a wonderful new book just published on May 3, 2019. And there's more! Make your plans now to come meet the author, Jan Dearman, at Viola's Pizza Company at 7 Lynn Street in Viola, Tennessee at 2pm. The restaurant will start serving at 3pm, so stay for the best pizza in town!

 

Congratulations Leslie Ann Stephenson! You are our lucky winner!!

It's Time for a Give-Away. Do you feel Lucky??

Congratulations to Leslie Ann Stevenson!

She is our Lucky in Love book give-away winner. 

 

Check back soon for the next book review and give-away... 

River Sisters the Giver

by Jan Dearman

 

 

As many of you already know or can figure out easily, I love history, patriotism, reading, writing, painting, and puppies. If I could choose a Superpower it would be Time Travel. And my favorite era is the US Homefront during WWII. Is it any wonder why I love Joan La Blanc's series of historical fiction books based in the 1940s? And I'm sure you will, too!!

Just listen to this...

At 4 PM on a holiday weekend in 1943, the Pennsylvania Railroad's premier express departs Washington's Union Station for a high-speed run to Penn Station in New York City. Among the 541 passengers in its sixteen coaches are a disillusioned war widow and a Navy submarine officer on route to an exciting new duty. Over the next hours, these strangers discover they share not only adjoining seats but the same final destination-Portsmouth, New Hampshire-and an intriguing attraction.

As the Congressional Limited barrels into Philadelphia, however, fate intervenes to tear them apart and change their lives in ways neither could have foreseen.  Based on an actual event, Lucky in Love explores the challenges this couple faces in the aftermath of that eventful journey .

 

Thoroughly researched and richly detailed, this is the latest in Joan La Blanc's series of engaging novels set during World War II. It offers a compelling glimpse of the many faces of that conflict, including the roles of both railroads and military hospitals of the era. Carefully blending fact and fiction, this is a novel for anyone who relishes a good romance, WWII era history, and yes, a brief, mental time travel.

Ms. La Blanc began writing when she was 83. Presently in her ninetieth year, she relishes historical fiction even more than she did when she was young enough to live the amazing lives portrayed in her books. 

And there's more!

Leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy of this book. You may also leave a comment on the Charm of the Carolines Facebook page. One lucky winner will be selected at random on May 1, 2019, and announced here. Make sure and sign-in with your email address so that you can be contacted if you are the winner. I'll contact the winner by email to request shipping information. 

Good Luck!  And check out all of Joan La Blanc's other books. 

*** And a special thanks to Lenore Hart at Northampton Press, Franktown, VA, for making this give-away possible!!

Plantation vs. Farm vs. Estate

Nearly a decade ago I had the pleasure to meet Robert Grede, a charming and creative gentleman from Milwaukee who traveled to Columbia, TN, to spend hours in our local county archives conducting research for his book The Spur and the Sash, a historical fiction book based on the US Civil War experiences of one of his ancestors Sergeant George Van Norman and the time he spent convalescing in Maury county.  We met at the Maury County Archives where Grede was scheduled to speak about his research and his soon to be released book. 

One thing in particular really stuck with me from that presentation. Robert Grede said that as a far northern resident, he and his friends were curious about the seemingly romantic notion of the "old south plantation." He went on to say he was a bit disappointed to learn that a plantation is simply a farm. 

A farm? I never really thought about it. Born and raised in a southern border state, I've always taken for granted the word "plantation."  What is a plantation?  Is is simply a farm? Is it defined by historical era? Architectural style? Size? Crop? Activity? Way of life?

Growing up in Franklin, Tennessee, we passed antebellum plantation home after plantation home on the school bus each morning going to school. It was just somebody's big, old house. Most were still residents, even if a bit dilapidated. Carnton Plantation, though fully restored and open to the public, was a rental house adjacent to the Carnton Golf and Swim Club (now a part of the Battle of Franklin Trust.)  Some homes, I'm sorry to say, housed hay bales and smoked country hams. It's expensive to maintain a big, 150+ year old structure. 

But what make large, old houses plantation homes verses just farm houses?  I needed to know, so I went on a quest. 

What I discovered is typically a Plantation home is a large house in a tropical or subtropical climate on a farm that concentrates on one crop, i.e. a cotton plantation, a sugarcane plantation, a pineapple plantation, a thoroughbred plantation.  If a plantation had more than one main crop, like cotton, corn, and tobacco, then it was a farm, albeit a large one and could boast a large house. 

Rippavilla Plantation, where I serve on the board of Directors, is really a misnomer. Rippavilla was not a plantation or a farm, but an estate.  An Estate is different from a plantation and a farm in that it also hosts a business or activity either outside or adjacent to agriculture such as milling, ginning, or blacksmithing. What Rippavilla's additional businesses were, I'm not certain. I've heard it had it's on mill, but was that for use on the estate only or was it a business open to the public? I've heard it had it's own kiln, and the slaves were skilled brick masons and carpenters. But was it located at Rippavilla or at Susan McKissack Cheairs' father's home? It's quite possible Rippavilla was simply a large farm. 

Are all large, old, southern homes called Plantations?  The simple answer is No. But no one will point out the mistake if you make it. It does seem that the word "plantation" has become a generic word for large, old, southern home, many simply go by their name or are called farm, hall, estate, home or place. Just look at some of the beauties in Maury County. 

The William McKissack Home (privately owned)

Antrim Farm (now a special events venue)

Elm Springs  (Open to the Public for Tours and home to the SCV Headquarters)

Ferguson Hall  (Open to the Public)

Haynes Haven on the site previously known as Woodlawn (Owned by GM and available to rent for special events)

Mayes-Frierson-Fuston Home  (Privately owned)

Rattle and Snap Plantation  (Privately owned, but Open to the public by appointment only)

Rippavilla Plantation (Open to the Public)

Athenaeum Rectory (Open on weekends and by appointment)

So whether they are Plantations, Farm Houses, or Estates, Maury county is home to more than 1500 structures that pre-date the American Civil War. I have no idea how many exist within middle Tennessee. Each is beautiful and rich with history and stories of the residents and those who worked the land. 

Summer Reading Book Give-Away IV

Ready for another Book Give-Away??

Not reading assignments or reading for work or reading for self-improvement, just reading for the lazy afternoon in the porch swing enjoying the birds sing pleasure of it.

Thank you authors and publishers David Poyer and Lenore Hart of Northampton House Press who have graciously gifted me with a few books to read and to give away for your summer reading.

All you have to do is leave a comment here with your email address. A winner will be selected at random on August 12, and you will be contacted by email for your shipping address so that I may mail you your prize.

And until then you can "LIKE" Northampton House Press on Facebook or visit their website to see all of their books and ebooks available.

  The book we will give-away is The Night Bazaar by a variety of artists and edited by my friend Lenore Hart.

ARE YOU ONE OF THE INVITED?

Various mentions of a Night Bazaar appear throughout history in obscure and controversial works from around the world. A forbidden market which opens at midnight, closes before sunrise, and appears for one week . . . but never in the same venue each night, and never again in the same city.

There's just one catch: To f ind it, you must be Invited.

Tonight the Bazaar opens in a parking garage somewhere in Manhattan. A huge subterranean market fair of antique costumes, alchemical treatments, magical dentistry, palmistry, Tarot and tea leaf-reading, and water-, glass-, and crystalgazing, oddities and objets d'art, medical curiosities and strange instruments, erotic favors, time travel, and body alterations. The narrow aisles throng with jongleurs, freaks, charlatans, mountebanks, faeries, prostitutes, and acrobats. The scents of opium, perfume, tobacco, grease paint, incense, plastic explosive, alcohol, and sex permeate the air. But each object or service comes with a gift, a curse, or a haunting.

The Bazaar sells that which cannot be had elsewhere. Everything you've read about but thought had passed away, or never existed at all. But these eleven haunting tales will show how wrong you were!

Ah! It seems you've already spotted something you desire. But don't head off that way, not just yet. You have all night . . . but not a moment more.

 

Remember--leave a comment below with your email address to be included in the give-away!

 

 

 

 

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