Tales of the South Carolina Low Country

by Nancy Rhyne

According to archivists at the Library of Congress, South Carolina is richer in folklore than any other state. After traveling almost every back road in several South Carolina counties, Nancy Rhyne wholeheartedly supports the claim. With her tape recorder in hand, the author interviewed dozens of Low Country people, finding that almost every person had a story to tell. She sought out everyone from millionaires to the humblest of coastal people. From their narratives she has fashioned a collection of stories steeped in the history and character of the Low Country. Some of the tales in this collection are humorous, some mysterious. Others are positively eerie. There are stories of killer hurricanes, bizarre voodoo practices and inexplicable happenings. Effortlessly, the author takes us from a gorgeous plantation estate of the 1850s to an overgrown and forbidding cemetery in 1979. And she never fails to keep our attention on this somewhat alien but fascinating world―a world peopled with witch doctors, ghosts, cruel overseers, slaves and world-famous personalities. Nancy Rhyne has taken scattered bits of folklore and oral narratives, combined these with her gift of storytelling, and created a wonderfully engaging book that will entertain readers for years to come. Nancy Rhyne has traveled all over the world and has collected coastal folklore on three continents, Greece, and the British Isles. But her first love is the South Carolina coast, and she has written dozens of articles and books about the area, its history, and its legends. While living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, she taught a course on South Carolina folklore at Coastal Carolina College in Conway. She now lives in Ft. Myers, Florida.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, United States, Folklore

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Richard Jespers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This combination of fourteen folk tales, ghost stories, and humorous narratives is largely entertaining as well as informative. Rhyne, much like Zora Neale Hurston, albeit about fifty years later, combs the countryside of South Carolina to hear these tales first-hand. She makes an elegant retelling of these pieces, careful to respectfully recreate the language citizens share with her, even when she retells one from the first-person viewpoint of one of the characters. She is careful to give credit to the rich but painful tales of African-Americans (some of these tales having been passed on from slave ancestors). Most of all, readers get a feel for the richness and the hardship of living on the South Atlantic coast in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: hurricanes, floods, the cracked whip of slavery.

[Michael Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Tales of the South Carolina Low Country' has a few good stories, some seemingly factual, others quite unlikely. I would have liked to have seen some in the original Gullah, perhaps with a facing page in English. The stories about the hurricane in the 1890s was quite sad, but left me wanting more detail.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this a lot! Some of the stories were really quite funny, I actually laughed out loud, like the Uncle Hardtimes and Mom Pleasant pranking their master, and the crazy antics regarding the witch doctors in Beaufort. The ghost ones were less wildly entertaining, but still enjoyable. I would recommend for fans of folk tales and/or visitors to the SC low country area, mostly focusing around Murrells Inlet, Pawley's Island, a little in Charleston, etc.

[David Simon]

This book has some really interesting stories from the colonial and civil war era from the Pawley's Island and Georgetown areas of South Carolina. A "must read" for those who live in the area, because it contains history and landmarks.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing true short stories from the low country! All of the stories are about places I've been, multiple times and now i have a new appreciation for them. Definitely want to look into more from this author!

[SarabethRoberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing history books. It makes me interested in wanting to learn more

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The tales read like they've been overtranslated; their native sense has been removed when the Gullah is taken from them.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing collection, some of which aren’t even tales.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book but far too short

[Brianna Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book was a good view into old lowcountry lifestyles, and many of the books were interesting, however a few of the stories didn’t interest me as much

[Miss Meliss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is only about 100 pages, so it's a quick read. We recently visited Beaufort, SC -- a place dripping with history (seriously, I think it's better than Charleston), and I couldn't resist picking up this book. It's also a collection of stories that seem typical of oral tradition -- some are a bit drawn-out, some are truly incredible, and others are slightly anti-climactic. They work together well as a collection, however, as there is a little overlap among the stories with the main characters and plantations involved. The saddest ones are the ones that involve slaves and their mistreatment; however, it helps to know the history of Beaufort and the fact that many slaves "took over" the area when their owners fled at the beginning of the Civil War, and that a few were eventually even able to buy their masters' homes. Other interesting stories involve the hurricane of 1893 that devastated the area. It's worth the time to read, especially if you've ever driven through southeastern SC.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister gave this to me as an early Christmas gift. Since I had some down time while visiting my family this past week, I started reading it and it was better than I expected. I pick up a lot of regional ghost story books and most are written by amateur writers and often have big gaps in the stories and aren't always well-written, but this book is by a retired travel journalist who gathered together stories that had been collected by an elderly Southern Belle who had traveled around to plantations and talked to slaves in the early 20th century about their experiences and the regional stories they knew. Apparently this slim book is just the tip of the iceberg of what that older woman collected.

[Jennifer Wike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this several times - a good look at the folklore of SC's lowcountry

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read of ten or so legends of South Carolina's low country. I 'won" this book at our recent family reunion in Charleston. Most of the stories concern strange happenings in long ago times.