A good local history is an excellent andagreeable thing. It pleases on two counts. It satisfies the curiosity of theinhabitants of a region, whether newcomers or old settlers, especially if noadequate history had existed before. It dispels myths, corrects old wives'tales. And, if the history is first-rate, it goes beyond a factual account ofpersons and places, the particularities of a region, and shows the significanceof these human happenings in a larger scheme of things, in this case theemergence of a new nation.Ellis's history succeeds on both counts. It is a delightful andauthoritative account of lore which not even St. Tammanyites may have heard of.Did you know, for example, that there was once a flourishing wine industry inSt. Tammany Parish? That local vineyards produced excellent red and whitewines, the red from Concord grapes, the white from Herbemont? Did you know thatin 1891 a rice crop of 50,000 barrels was harvested, half the entire output ofSouth Carolina? . . .Ellis has rendered this pleasant and authoritative history in a graceful andlively style and with a genuine affection for the people he writes about.Walker PercyFrom the Foreword
