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Carolina Christmas: Archibald Rutledge's Enduring Holiday Stories
Carolina Christmas collects for the first time holiday stories of Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973), one of the most prolific outdoor and nature writers of the twentieth century and the first poet laureate of South Carolina. Some of Rutledge's finest writing revolves around his vivid memories of hunt, hearth, and holidays. These memories are celebrated in this keepsake collection of enduring stories and poems, further augmented with traditional recipes and food lore associated with the season.
Archibald Rutledge spent decades teaching at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. All the while he supplemented his income through his writings in order to support a growing family and restoration efforts at Hampton Plantation, his ancestral home in coastal South Carolina--now a state historic site. Each Christmas, Rutledge returned to his cherished Hampton Plantation for hunting, celebrations of the season, and renewal of his decidedly Southern soul. This annual migration home meant the opportunity to enjoy hunting and communion with nature--so vitally important to him--and to renew acquaintances with those living on neighboring plantations and with the African American community he immortalized in his book God's Children.
Rutledge wrote dozens of stories and poems revolving around the Hampton Hunt, fellowship with family and friends, the serenity of the winter woods, and his appetite for seasonal Southern foodways. Edited by Jim Casada, this collection highlights the very best of Rutledge's holiday tales in a vibrant tapestry through which Christmas runs as a bright, sparkling thread. In these tales of Christmas past--each representative of the author's sterling literary reputation and continuing popularity--Rutledge guides us once more into a world of traditions now largely lost. But to tread those forgotten trails once more, to sample and savor the foods he loved, and to experience vicariously the sport he so enjoyed is to experience the wonder of yesteryear.
Archibald Rutledge spent decades teaching at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. All the while he supplemented his income through his writings in order to support a growing family and restoration efforts at Hampton Plantation, his ancestral home in coastal South Carolina--now a state historic site. Each Christmas, Rutledge returned to his cherished Hampton Plantation for hunting, celebrations of the season, and renewal of his decidedly Southern soul. This annual migration home meant the opportunity to enjoy hunting and communion with nature--so vitally important to him--and to renew acquaintances with those living on neighboring plantations and with the African American community he immortalized in his book God's Children.
Rutledge wrote dozens of stories and poems revolving around the Hampton Hunt, fellowship with family and friends, the serenity of the winter woods, and his appetite for seasonal Southern foodways. Edited by Jim Casada, this collection highlights the very best of Rutledge's holiday tales in a vibrant tapestry through which Christmas runs as a bright, sparkling thread. In these tales of Christmas past--each representative of the author's sterling literary reputation and continuing popularity--Rutledge guides us once more into a world of traditions now largely lost. But to tread those forgotten trails once more, to sample and savor the foods he loved, and to experience vicariously the sport he so enjoyed is to experience the wonder of yesteryear.
246 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2010
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December 29, 2020
Archibald Rutledge was the poet laureate of South Carolina for decades. He was a well-known poet and author writing about nature and hunting during the first half of the 20th Century. Having read several of his works, I waited till a week before Christmas to read this collection of his “Christmas stories.” I was given this book as a going away present by my staff in Georgia.
While the book is filled with Rutledge stories, the collection was made by Jim Casada. Casada also provides insight into when the selection was written, the circumstances around the story, and where it had previously been published. Many of these stories have been published multiple times. First, in magazines (especially Field and Stream, Outlook, and Outdoor Life), and later in collections published by Rutledge.
The book is divided up into six parts. The first section all deals with Christmas stories at Hampton Plantation. Rutledge spent thirty years teaching at Mercerbury Academy in Pennsylvania. During these times, he would always come home for Christmas. In one story, he writes about catching a train during a blizzard up north and arriving on the Atlantic Coast Line early the next morning in the sunny south, where he was met at the Charleston train station and within two hours of arriving was in the forest, deer hunting. Such descriptions brought back memories of me, as a young seminary student, catching a train from Pittsburgh during a snowstorm, heading south to visit my sister the week before Christmas in Florida. When the train arrived in Savannah early in the morning, I was in shorts and taking a walk along the platform as the train was serviced.
The second part of the book, titled “A Natural Christmas,” has selections of Rutledge’s prose as he describes walking in the forest and fields of coastal South Carolina during the Christmas break. While Rutledge was known as a hunter, in this section we get a glimpse of his vast knowledge of wildlife, especially birds. While most of these stories are about watching birds, he mentions dove hunting and about how, in 1896, he shot a bird flying with doves that was twice the size of the others. It turned out to be a passenger pigeon. Before Rutledge’s time, these birds flew in vast numbers that would darken the sky. But even by the time Rutledge came along, they were rarely seen. This story was published in 1911, just three years before the last of passenger pigeon died in a Cincinnati zoo. However, the world in which Rutledge wrote had not yet been impacted by chemicals like DDT which did so much destruction to birdlife.
Deer hunting is the focus of the third part of the book. Deer hunting on the coastal plain is done with shotguns (as I hunted when I was in high school and college). In telling the dangers of using rifles in such flat terrain, he draws on a familiar form of transportation of his day, reminding his reader that “express bulletins don’t make no local stops.” Around Hamilton, deer hunting was also done with dogs who would chase the deer out of the bays and swamps. While I never hunted with dogs, I did go a few times with my father before I was old enough to carry a gun. We’d be stationed along a remote road waiting and listening for the dogs to drive the deer out way. While my dad did shoot several deer, he never did when he had my brother and I in tow. Again, these stories are filled with wisdom and insight into hunting. My favorite of his deer hunting stories was the last, which was about him preparing to take his son hunting when he returned from Europe after World War Two.
There is a small section of stories about hunting other wild game, especially turkey and quail. He mentions squirrel, rabbit and ‘coon hunting, but his stories are mainly limited to deer, quail and turkey. There is also a very short selection of seasonal poems. Casada feels his poetry hasn’t “aged” as well as his prose. One of the three poems, “Christmas Eve on the Rapidan (1863)” was set om the Civil War. Rutledge’s father was one of the youngest colonel’s in the Confederate army. The last section of the book has a number of recipes.
Rutledge is a master at describing the land in which he’s hunting and the “chase” of the deer. His stories often contain humor, and the hunter doesn’t always come away with dinner. On one occasion he notes that after a week, they were still eating pork. In another story, he writes about a turkey hunter who followed a bird into a tree. Slowly moving closer on Christmas Eve, as the light was draining from the sky, he saw two dark figures in a tree. Not able to determine which was the bird and which was a clump of mistletoe, he fired and guessed wrong. The bird flew and a chunk of mistletoe fell to the ground, which he picked up to carry home for decoration. I also remember shooting mistletoe from a tree, an easy way to harvest the seasonal green, however the white berries often don’t survive the fall.
One of the things that dates these stories is how Rutledge refers to the African Americans who lived and worked on the plantation. While they were no longer slaves, and often Rutledge praises their knowledge in the woods, they were still bound to the land and held a subservient role. During deer hunts, the white hunters would be standing around a swamp or bay, while African American men would lead the dogs to where they’d chase the deer, hopefully toward those with guns. One has to remember that Rutledge is writing from another age. While he often speaks highly of African Americans as a race, especially his childhood friend Prince, there is a separation. He lived in the big house and they lived in the shacks around the plantation. These stories were all written in the first half of the last century. At the time, long before the Civil Rights Movement, Rutledge saw no problems using words like Negroes to refer to the race. Anyone reading this book will need to be open in their interpretation and the realization that Rutledge was blind to such injustices.
While the book is filled with Rutledge stories, the collection was made by Jim Casada. Casada also provides insight into when the selection was written, the circumstances around the story, and where it had previously been published. Many of these stories have been published multiple times. First, in magazines (especially Field and Stream, Outlook, and Outdoor Life), and later in collections published by Rutledge.
The book is divided up into six parts. The first section all deals with Christmas stories at Hampton Plantation. Rutledge spent thirty years teaching at Mercerbury Academy in Pennsylvania. During these times, he would always come home for Christmas. In one story, he writes about catching a train during a blizzard up north and arriving on the Atlantic Coast Line early the next morning in the sunny south, where he was met at the Charleston train station and within two hours of arriving was in the forest, deer hunting. Such descriptions brought back memories of me, as a young seminary student, catching a train from Pittsburgh during a snowstorm, heading south to visit my sister the week before Christmas in Florida. When the train arrived in Savannah early in the morning, I was in shorts and taking a walk along the platform as the train was serviced.
The second part of the book, titled “A Natural Christmas,” has selections of Rutledge’s prose as he describes walking in the forest and fields of coastal South Carolina during the Christmas break. While Rutledge was known as a hunter, in this section we get a glimpse of his vast knowledge of wildlife, especially birds. While most of these stories are about watching birds, he mentions dove hunting and about how, in 1896, he shot a bird flying with doves that was twice the size of the others. It turned out to be a passenger pigeon. Before Rutledge’s time, these birds flew in vast numbers that would darken the sky. But even by the time Rutledge came along, they were rarely seen. This story was published in 1911, just three years before the last of passenger pigeon died in a Cincinnati zoo. However, the world in which Rutledge wrote had not yet been impacted by chemicals like DDT which did so much destruction to birdlife.
Deer hunting is the focus of the third part of the book. Deer hunting on the coastal plain is done with shotguns (as I hunted when I was in high school and college). In telling the dangers of using rifles in such flat terrain, he draws on a familiar form of transportation of his day, reminding his reader that “express bulletins don’t make no local stops.” Around Hamilton, deer hunting was also done with dogs who would chase the deer out of the bays and swamps. While I never hunted with dogs, I did go a few times with my father before I was old enough to carry a gun. We’d be stationed along a remote road waiting and listening for the dogs to drive the deer out way. While my dad did shoot several deer, he never did when he had my brother and I in tow. Again, these stories are filled with wisdom and insight into hunting. My favorite of his deer hunting stories was the last, which was about him preparing to take his son hunting when he returned from Europe after World War Two.
There is a small section of stories about hunting other wild game, especially turkey and quail. He mentions squirrel, rabbit and ‘coon hunting, but his stories are mainly limited to deer, quail and turkey. There is also a very short selection of seasonal poems. Casada feels his poetry hasn’t “aged” as well as his prose. One of the three poems, “Christmas Eve on the Rapidan (1863)” was set om the Civil War. Rutledge’s father was one of the youngest colonel’s in the Confederate army. The last section of the book has a number of recipes.
Rutledge is a master at describing the land in which he’s hunting and the “chase” of the deer. His stories often contain humor, and the hunter doesn’t always come away with dinner. On one occasion he notes that after a week, they were still eating pork. In another story, he writes about a turkey hunter who followed a bird into a tree. Slowly moving closer on Christmas Eve, as the light was draining from the sky, he saw two dark figures in a tree. Not able to determine which was the bird and which was a clump of mistletoe, he fired and guessed wrong. The bird flew and a chunk of mistletoe fell to the ground, which he picked up to carry home for decoration. I also remember shooting mistletoe from a tree, an easy way to harvest the seasonal green, however the white berries often don’t survive the fall.
One of the things that dates these stories is how Rutledge refers to the African Americans who lived and worked on the plantation. While they were no longer slaves, and often Rutledge praises their knowledge in the woods, they were still bound to the land and held a subservient role. During deer hunts, the white hunters would be standing around a swamp or bay, while African American men would lead the dogs to where they’d chase the deer, hopefully toward those with guns. One has to remember that Rutledge is writing from another age. While he often speaks highly of African Americans as a race, especially his childhood friend Prince, there is a separation. He lived in the big house and they lived in the shacks around the plantation. These stories were all written in the first half of the last century. At the time, long before the Civil Rights Movement, Rutledge saw no problems using words like Negroes to refer to the race. Anyone reading this book will need to be open in their interpretation and the realization that Rutledge was blind to such injustices.
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