Wiregrass Images

South Georgia wiregrass, growing under the tall longleaf pines

As I wrote this novel, images came to mind and I went out to seek them on the internet and in history books. Such a feeling of place accompanied these discoveries, and of stepping back in time. I hope you enjoy them.

In the late 1700s and early to mid 1800s, the southeastern United States was covered by dense forests of stately longleaf pines, and their companion, the wiregrass.  Often we think of buffalo as being native to the western part of our country, but the buffalo roamed the eastern half as well.

When the white man came, the longleaf pines were a huge source of income for the shipbuilding trade.  Just as so many other natural resources have been mined out of existence, the longleaf pines were harvested so many times that they cover only a fraction of their former range.

Cypress Swamp

Bald cypresses rose in the swampy areas, magnificent trees rising 100 to 120 ft. in the air, with extremely hard wood.  They were logged away in the late 1800s and early 1900s but would have still been plentiful in my heroine Lee’s time,  in the swamps that accompany the wiregrass country.

Lee's Wicker Cart

In my mind, I envisioned Lee’s cart as a small wicker thing with two wheels.  Imagine my amazement when I saw the cart I had seen in my mind in the window of a shop in Jonesborough, TN.  Jonesborough has restored its very old downtown area.  I wish I could remove the lights and take it from that window so that it could be recorded in its entirety.

The Browning Place

The little cabin in the picture above is actually at the Georgia Agrirama.   This type of shed roof one room house is so familiar to me from my childhood in Georgia, when so many houses of this type were still standing in the countryside.

Ashantilly - the Spalding Home

Lee attends a housewarming at this home in Darien.  The house still stands today, and though not as grand in reality as it is in my imagination, a recent tour of it brought the guests and their glitter to life for me.