Yet today when I visit, I am thrilled that the beauty and spirit remain the same as when I was a child. I hope my book helps today’s visitors feel some of the same serenity tinged with mystery and romance that Brookgreen has always inspired in me.
Are there other “Tales from Brookgreen” that you didn’t include in this book?
Oh yes. There is at least one more book of them. I am working on it now, but don’t know when I will get More Tales from Brookgreen ready for publication. I keep getting sidetracked with other projects.
Currently, I am trying to finish up a book on Billy the Kid in Santa Fe (where my husband and I live most of the year). It deals with legends and facts surrounding this young outlaw’s two—or possibly three—stays in the capital of New Mexico Territory.
I do keep coming back to the stories from Brookgreen, however. Several of the new tales involve hurricanes, such as “Cousin Allard’s Raft,” included as the bonus story in this ebook. Cousin Allard was a relative, a nephew actually, of Alice of the Hermitage, Murrells Inlet’s favorite ghost. As Miss Genevieve often said, all these stories are connected, don’t you know?
Book Discussion Guide
1. Which story in Tales from Brookgreen did you find most interesting? Why? Which character did you find most interesting? Why? Which character did you like the most? Is it possible to find a character interesting without liking him or her?
2. Why are ghost stories so popular? Have you ever had an unexplained experience? If so (or if you were to have one), did (or would) you find it frightening or comforting? Why?
3. Rachel of Brookgreen Plantation faced a difficult choice when her former fiancé “returned from the dead.” She decided to remain with her husband. Did she make the right choice? What would you have done?
4. Rachel, in managing Brookgreen Plantation, and Sandy Island’s Phillip Washington, in becoming a businessman, took on roles unusual for someone of their gender or race in their time. What do you imagine their greatest challenges to have been? Have you ever found yourself taking on an unusual or unexpected role? What were your greatest challenges? What are the challenges of taking on unusual or unexpected roles in our society today? How accepting is our society today of people in unusual roles? What are the “frontiers” of new roles today?
5. Several animal tales appear in this collection of stories. Why are animal stories so often used to teach lessons? Which animal do you identify with most in these stories? Why? The role of trickster is a common one in folktales worldwide. What different attitudes do we have toward a trickster? What determines our feelings and attitudes?
6. A number of stories throughout Tales from Brookgreen involve triumph of the underdog. Why do we so often root for the underdog? Have you ever felt yourself to be the underdog in a contest or conflict? Did you use any particular strategy or skill in your struggle? What was the result?
7. Religious leaders in Colonial America, especially in the South, dealt with slavery in one of three ways. (1) The Anglican Church used religious teachings to support and reinforce the established social and political status quo. (2) Early Methodist leaders fought against the social and political injustice of the system. (3) Later Methodists such as Parson Belin and many others focused strictly on meeting the religious needs of enslaved people, ignoring any inequities within the established system. What do you believe the proper role of religion and religious institutions within society to be? Can you think of examples of each approach to controversial issues in our own society today?
8. Retelling folktales was a popular form of entertainment before radio and television. Is there any value today in keeping these old stories alive? Do you remember hearing anyone tell stories when you were a child? Do you tell any stories about events or people within your family or cultural group? If so, what kind of stories are they? Why do you tell them?
9. Have you ever been to Brookgreen Garden? To the South Carolina Lowcountry? Did Tales from Brookgreen take you to a place you have never visited? Would you like to visit, or not? Did it change the way you see a place you already know? In what way?
10. Did you enjoy this book? Would you recommend it to someone else? Why, or why not?
Additional Lowcountry Books
Would you like to read more about the South Carolina Lowcountry? Here are some books to get you started. Most of these are available only in print but those marked “(e)” are also available as ebooks.
Please check the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section on the Amazon page for each book to discover more books by the same author, as well as other similar books.
Brookgreen Gardens
The Archer and Anna Huntington Sculpture Garden by Charles Slate
A Century of American Sculpture: Treasures from Brookgreen Gardens by A. Hyatt Mayor
Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture by Robin Salmon
Brookgreen Gardens by Robin Salmon
Sculpture of Brookgreen Gardens by Robin Salmon
Ghosts, Pirates, Folktales
Tales of the South Carolina Low Country by Nancy Rhyne
The Return of the Gray Man by Julian Stevenson Bolick
Pirates of the Carolinas by Terrance Zepke
Ghosts from the Coast by Nancy Roberts
Tales along the Grand Strand of South Carolina by Blanche Floyd
Planters, Pirates, and Patriots by Rod Gragg
Ghosts of Georgetown by Elizabeth Huntsinger
Memoirs
Heaven is a Beautiful Place by Genevieve Peterkin
The River Home by Franklin Burroughs
The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy (e)
A Diary from Dixie by Mary Boykin Chestnut (e)
Biography
Theodosia Burr Alston by Richard Cote (e)
Swamp Fox by Robert Bass
Mary’s World by Richard Cote
Plantations
Plantations of the Carolina Low Country by Samuel Gaillard Stoney
An Antebellum Plantation Household by Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq
A Woman Rice Planter by Elizabeth Pringle
South Carolina’s Plantations and Historic Homes by Paul Franklin (e)
The Slave Experience
Down by the Riverside by Charles Joyner
Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball
Black Rice by Judith Carney (e)
Before Freedom, When I Just Can Remember by Belinda Hurmence (e)
Gullah Culture
Sweetgrass Baskets and the Gullah Tradition by Joyce Coakley
Grass Roots by Dale Rosengarten, et al.
Gullah Images by Jonathan Green
Blue Roots by Roger Pinckney
The Gullah People and Their African Heritage by William Pollitzer
Gullah Folktales from the Georgia Coast by Charles Colcock Jones Jr.
Local Tour Guidebooks
Touring the Coastal South Carolina Backroads by Nancy Rhyne
Coastal South Carolina by Terrance Zepke
Backroads of South Carolina by Paul Franklin and Nancy Joyce Mikula (e)
George Washington’s Guide to the Waccamaw Neck and Georgetown by Sharon Carlisle
Nature Guides
Nature Guide to the Carolina Coast by Peter Meyer
Tideland Treasures by Todd Ballantine
Carolina Seashells by Nancy Rhyne
Birds of the Carolinas by Stan Tekiela
Outdoor Activities
Coastal Fishing in the Carolinas by Robert Goldstein
Paddling South Carolina by Gene Able and Jack Horan
Hiking South Carolina by John Clark
Scenic Driving South Carolina by John Clark and Patricia Pierce (e)
Historic Photographs
Carolina Plantations by William Baldwin
Charleston Come Hell or High Water by Robert Whitelaw and Alice Levkoff
Georgetown and the Waccamaw Neck by Susan Hoffer McMillan
Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand by Susan Hoffer McMillan
Food and Cooki
ng
The Food, Folklore, and Art of Lowcountry Cooking by Joseph Dabney (e)
Blue Crabs by Peter Meyer
Carolina Rice Kitchen by Karen Hess
Southern Belly by John Edge (e)
Hoppin’ John’s Low Country Cooking by John Taylor
Fiction
For adults:
Sullivan’s Island by Dorothea Benton Frank (e)
Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons (e)
Sweetgrass by Mary Alice Monroe (e)
Charleston by John Jakes (e)
Alice Flagg by Nancy Rhyne (e)
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (e)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (e)
Porgy by DuBose Heyward (e)
Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
For older children:
Secrets of a Civil War Submarine by Sally Walker
Buried Treasures of the South by W. C. Jameson (e)
The Coastwatcher by Elise Weston
Dear America: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly by Joyce Hansen (e)
The Secret of Atalaya by Rhonda S. Edwards (e)
For younger children:
Circle Unbroken by Margot Theis Raven
P Is For Palmetto by Carol Crane (e)
Net Numbers by Carol Crane
Searching the Lights by Margie Willis
Other Books by Lynn Michelsohn
(most are available in paperback and ebook formats)
In the South Carolina Lowcountry …
Lowcountry Ghosts
Alice Flagg, Confederate Blockade Runners, and Haunted Beads
(Tales from Brookgreen Series)
Stories of ghosts from Brookgreen Gardens in the South Carolina Lowcountry
~
Gullah Ghosts
(Tales from Brookgreen Series)
Gullah folktales from Brookgreen Gardens in the South Carolina Lowcountry, with notes on Gullah culture and history
~
Crab Boy’s Ghost
A Gullah Folktale
(Tales from Brookgreen Series)
A story from Brookgreen Gardens in the South Carolina Lowcountry
~
Lowcountry Hurricanes
(More Tales from Brookgreen Series)
Joy, tragedy, and surviving hurricanes along the South Carolina coast
~
Lowcountry Confederates
(More Tales from Brookgreen Series)
Rebels, Yankees, and historic South Carolina rice plantations
~
In the Galapagos Islands …
Galapagos Landscapes
Scenic Photographs of Moses Michelsohn, Words of Melville, Darwin, and FitzRoy
(Galapagos Islands Nature Series)
~
Galapagos Birds
Wildlife Photographs of Moses Michelsohn, words of Melville, Darwin, and FitzRoy (Galapagos Islands Nature Series)
~
The Chola Widow
Herman Melville’s Short Story of Death and Rape in the Galapagos Islands
(ebook only)
~
In the Galapagos Islands with Herman Melville
Tour the Galapagos Islands with the author of Moby-Dick
~
In the American Southwest …
Billy the Kid’s Jail
Santa Fe, New Mexico
A glimpse of history on the Southwestern Frontier
~
Billy the Kid in Santa Fe
Book One: Young Billy
Wild West History, Outlaw Legends, and the City at the End of the Santa Fe Trail
(A Non-Fiction Trilogy)
~
Roswell
Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!
Tour Roswell like a Native, or maybe like an Alien!
“The best book on Roswell I’ve ever seen.” - Judge Dick Bean, Roswell Native
~
(Writing for children as Libby Lynn)
I See Santa Fe!
A Children’s Guide
“Should delight any child under ten.” - New Mexico Magazine
~
Table of Contents
Title Page
Introduction: The Hostesses of Brookgreen Gardens
Chapter 1. The Mistress of Brookgreen
Chapter 2. Don’t Tief
Historical Digression: The Methodist Mission to the Slaves
Chapter 3. The White Lady of the Hermitage
Chapter 4. Ghost Ships
Historical Digression: Confederate Trade Routes
Chapter 5. Brother Gator and His Friends
Chapter 6. Crab Boy’s Ghost
Chapter 7. The Wachesaw Ghosts
Chapter 8. The Great Sandy Island Expedition
Historical Digression: The Gullah Language
Historical Digression: Phillip Washington
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Extended Copyright
BONUS FEATURES
Bonus Story: Cousin Allard’s Raft
An Interview with the Author
Book Discussion Guide
Additional Lowcountry Books
Other Books by Lynn Michelsohn
Tales from Brookgreen Page 11
