Happy Land is historical fiction which takes place in Henderson County, NC. The county seat is Hendersonville, and the area where the Happy Land was situated in the southern part of the county and straddles the NC and SC border. Some refer to it as Green River or Tuxedo or Zirconia. The Green River runs through it; Tuxedo was where the old textile operated; and Zirconia is now the post office address. I ran a summer camp for boys not far from the Happy Land.
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Hey @Chuck_M. I’m curious if you knew about Happy Land before the books about it were published. I kind of got the impression it was one of those undiscovered pieces of history. Can you set me straight about your area? Thanks!
Yes, I was aware of it, although not because it is real well known in the area. I ran a summer camp in the same area as the Happy Land and the owners of the property, in part, also owned a summer camp. If you look at the acknowledgements at the back of the book, you’ll see there was a short history done by a local person (about 14 pages) and one of the persons who is also acknowledged as assisting the author is Ronnie Peppers who will periodically do session which explains the history. The author also acknowledges Suzanne Hale, who did a lot of the research. The question was where the former slaves moved from. The short history suggested they came from Mississippi plantations. Hale’s work suggests that they actually mostly moved up from South Carolina.
That’s so interesting @Chuck_M. I do remember the 14 pg pamphlet being sited in the acknowledgements. I’m guessing that was most of what the author had to work from as far as factual history. I also read American Queen, about the Happy Land settlement. The author of this title does have them traveling from Mississippi before finally settling in the N/S Carolina location.
Thanks for sharing your personal perspectives.
THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY…went through our midwestern town when I was a child. I grew up
four blocks from it. Remember seeing Eisenhower come through on way to Mamie’s hometown.
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I’ll second @Evonne_Benedict and @Connie_K recommendations for Snow Falling on Cedars - one of my favorites. For non-fiction readers The Good Rain by Timothy Egan and Sky Time in Gray’s River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place by Robert Michael Pyle are beautiful descriptions of western Washington and why I made this area my home.
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