Friday, December 23, 2011

E-Readers and Historic Sites

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   An old chimney from a rice thresher is all that’s left of the Butler plantation. The two roadside signs are just enough to stir some interest and a little Googling yields a free book to download with a tale that won’t soon be forgotten. Pierce Butler married Fanny Kemble ,an English actress and soon afterwards inherited several plantations and a large number of slaves. Fanny was appalled at the inhuman and degrading treatment of the slaves which she witnessed firsthand when she visited the plantation over the winter of 1838-1839. Her journal from that time was published in 1863 and may have been partially responsible for England’s decision to not aid the south in the Civil War.  Project Gutenberg download - Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation by Fanny Kemble
   It’s surprising how many searches for more information lead to free books. A good place to start is Wikipedia especially the bibliography section. Once you find a title check Amazon ,Many Books and Project Gutenburg for a free download. I’ve downloaded many more than we’ve had time to read but a sampling includes Adventures of a Forty-niner , Andersonville, The Acadian Exiles, American Notes and Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America.

2 comments:

  1. I have yet to travel extensively in my van so I am vicariously living through your travels for now. Thanks for sharing and may you have many wonderful times ahead. Happy Christmas Holidays!

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  2. Happy Holidays to you too! I've been keeping up with your blog. Hope everything works out. It seems like many of the forum members are hitting little roadblocks but I really like the way everybody is trying to help everyone else even though some of them are living on opposite ends of the country!

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