On Southern Culture
We Southerners are a unique breed. Pride of place, manners bred into us from birth, the foods
we eat, our bond with the land and our relationship with our family and
friends make us who we are. Most practice true religion. For most of us
football is nearly a religious experience.
Southern-style began as a genealogy
website. It expanded to become a general interest website (generally
anything I am interested in). Those interests evolved with the
discovery that not only did this born and bred southerner have
ancestors on the Mayflower and in Jamestown, signing the Magna Charta (on both sides) but among those Native Americans who originally inhabited these lands through both my mother's Vann line (Powhatan - Cleopatra and Opechancanough) but also through my father's Pettus line (Powhatan-Pocahontas and Kocoum).
You will see that history intrigues me, particularly the people and area in which I grew up, Southeast Alabama.
Folks greet each other asking, "How's your mom an 'em?" Wondering how
all those folks were related led me to doing lots of genealogy that
many of you may find interesting. The same was true for Wilcox county, Alabama,
my father's old stomping grounds and Escambia County, Alabama, where my
mother was born, and now Bay County, Florida where my husband and I have retired. Of course, all of that took me back many generations
and into the history and founding of this nation and those from which
those ancestors came. This tapestry has threads that lead to
fascinating people and their stories.
The discovery of my Native American heritage led to my
novels,
Swimming with Serpents and In Pursuit, published by Mercer
University Press. I wondered what the world was like for my Cherokee
4th great grandmother. Finding Mayan DNA through Tribal DNA testing led to Mayans, Muscadine and Murder, one of my Mint Julep Mysteries. The Mint Julep Mysteries are set on a plantation inspired by my grandparents' home, Wakefield Plantation,
in Furman, Wilcox County, Alabama now owned by my sister, cardiologist,
Dr. Sylvia Burson Rushing and her husband Col. Tom Rushing.
I grew up in a privileged home, the daughter of a small town doctor and a stay at home mother
who met my father after a World War in which my father served in the
Philippines and my mother served as a nurse and earned a battle ribbon
at the Battle of the Bulge. Mattie Martin,
the black housekeeper who helped them raise their children, did much
more than cook and keep house. She supported our parents in teaching us
manners, morals and values and our place in the world. She was also the very best cook in town. The profound impact she made on me influenced my view of the world and the books I have written, including Mint Juleps and Murder, the second in the Mint Julep Mysteries. I combined the first three of that series in the Mint Julep Trilogy. Wakefield Plantation: Cookbook and Family History tells of the plantation that was the inspiration for those books.
If you have a wedding coming
up you might enjoy reading about our daughter Brooke's home spun
wedding. The Wedding Raising was a lot of fun! The "how to" might give
you some ideas. I also share the Mother of the Groom perspective on a wedding as well.
Though
my husband and I have reached a different stage of life now and have
moved from the old family home in Dothan, Alabama, to Panama City, Florida, and our new
adventure called retirement, I will continue to share with you more recipes and menus from my own Southern experience now with a Florida flair.
I also threw in a few short stories you might enjoy. And do not neglect visiting the Inspiration pages. There's an interesting tale about Bear Bryant who was coach at the University of Alabama where I pledged Delta Delta Delta and my husband was a Pi Kappa Phi.
I am also a teacher (secondary and adjunct professor of Western
Civilization) and my concern for the schools is something I write about
on my blog. Links are to the left.
Welcome to this very personal view of the South. I hope you enjoy your visit.
Webmaster
Roll Tide!
I am
a writer
who sings
a song of the South.
My heart beats in unison
with its people,
my soul is soothed
by the sighs of the wind
as it drifts through the needles
of the arrow straight pines
standing sentinal against the back drop
of a cerulean sky.
Sharman Burson Ramsey
|
Note from the author, July 28, 2018
Nothing fancy. I would have been 48 when this website began. It is now 20 years later. Lots has changed.
Joe retired from practicing law in Dothan, Alabama, and we decided to
sell the old homeplace and move to our house in Panama City. We now
live in a three story townhouse and have a house down the street that
we use as a
guest house.
This link takes you to the story of its remodel. We brought the gazebo
and playhouse from the back yard in Dothan. The grandchildren love it.
Quite a life change. But one we really enjoy. I started writing books
inspired by the discovery that my third great grandmother was Native
American. The first was published in 2012 by Mercer University Press.
Since promoting books is so physically challenging, I write because I
love to write and not to achieve great glory. There are stories that
need to be told. So I tell them now and then I self-publish them.
All skills I have taught myself. Fascinating the things you can learn!
"Getting old is not for sissies," my mother always said and I am in total accord.
But the blessings of life are in our family.
Joe has dealt with serious health issues since this picture was taken.
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, often diagnosed wrongly as Alzheimers or
Parkinson's, is an odd condition that takes a shunt to remove the water
from the brain. After a serious infection with the first shunt that had
to be removed, he then went to Shands in Gainesville and now has
another shunt. Those symptoms that led us to get the shunt in the first
place have been greatly helped by this second shunt. We are truly
grateful.
My mother was in a wheel chair for the last thirty years of her life,
and it looks like I am taking after her in that way as well as so many
others. We have installed a chair lift in our three story townhouse
that really helps on the bad days when arthritis flares up. When I
could no longer climb into our Buick Enclave, I decided I, unlike
Mother, I would get a hip replacement. All has gone well with that,
praise God. We did shift from a Buick Enclave to a Honda Odyssey
because it is lower and easier to get into and out of. My luncheon
group commented on the fact that our topic of conversation has surely
changed over the years. Now it is grandchildren (no. 1), eyes, ears,
backs, knees, etc. You get the picture.
Let me share with you one of the dangers of living on the water in
Florida. We have been told by many that this is pelican poop. It looks
like a flock of pelicans, if you ask me. I am only glad I wasn't
outside when that happened! Imagine being dive bombed by a flock of
pelicans!