From the Editor

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.

Sharman Ramsey

Webmaster
Roll Tide!

By the way, did I mention? My novels Swimming with Serpents and In Pursuit are available through KOBO, Independent Book Stores, Barnes and Noble, Mercer University Press, and Amazon. My cozy mysteries, the Mint Julep Mysteries, are available on Amazon as is Wakefield Plantation: history and cookbook of one southern family.

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