In 1982, sisters Ruth Finley and Margaret Finley Shackelford
made wills bequeathing 2,500 acres and two antebellum houses in
Marshall County, Mississippi, to the National Audubon Society.
Early in 1998, the surviving sister Margaret Shackelford invited
the society to open its state headquarters at the family home in
Holly Springs and to begin working at Strawberry Plains, the
plantation where she lived four miles north of town. At her death
late that year, the society took full possession of the sisters'
bequest, and Strawberry Plains Audubon Center was established.
"Strawberry Plains Audubon Center: Four Centuries of a Mississippi
Landscape" documents the unique and complex history of the land
encompassed by the center.
With a large cast of characters from many generations, this book
richly delineates life on a tract of land in north Mississippi. It
tells a fascinating story involving famous historical figures like
Hernando de Soto and William Tecumseh Sherman, but concentrates on
those who owned and worked this land and their changing fortunes.
Through their individual stories, the author conveys the larger
sweep of history in the South and tells an uplifting saga of
stewards of the land, conservators whose vision led to the creation
of a lasting legacy for people and wildlife.
Hubert H. McAlexander is Josiah Meigs Professor of English at
the University of Georgia. His previous books include "Peter
Taylor: A Writer's Life" and "Conversations with Peter Taylor"
(published by University Press of Mississippi), and his work has
appeared in numerous periodicals.
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