Our Fathers' Fields: A Southern Story

by James Everett Kibler

The remarkable saga of a southern family in pusuit of the agrarian ideal

When James Everett Kibler purchased a dilapidated South Carolina plantation in 1989, he had no idea that his rehabilitation of the distinguished but deteriorated property would include the unearthing of an incredible tale of the land and the people who had lived on it. But as he refurbished the Great House and restored its nineteenth-century garden, he felt the pull of the place to uncover and record its past. Kibler faithfully took part in an act of cultural reclamation, piecing together the story of the Hardy family, who purchased the tract along the Tyger River in 1786 and farmed it for two centuries. Part epic, part history, part memoir, the resulting tale is a comprehensive, ambitious, and eminently readable chronicle that spans six generations of a family.

Compared by critics to the writings of Wendell Berry and James Agee, this richly detailed narrative brings to life such unforgettable characters as Squire William and his wife Catherine, the plantation's master and mistress during the turbulent Civil War era; their son Captain Dick, a Confederate soldier who served five terms in the state legislature; and their irascible grandson Frank, who labored desperately to keep the farm operating in the new century. Our Fathers' Fields offers an especially vivid portrayal of the antebellum South, a compelling collection of Civil War letters, and a poignant account of life after the war.

Interwoven with these absorbing life stories is the close examination of a plantation that grew from 204 to 2,035 acres and became one of the most valuable farms in the South. Kibler explores the natural history of the place, including its sophisticated formal gardens and its once staggering array of animals and native plants-many of which have all but vanished from Southern soil. Recounting his own efforts to recapture the plantation's former glory and the rewards of a life lived close to the land, Kibler concludes that only by knowing a place truly well―its past and its present―can we guard against its abuse.

Genres: Southern

444 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

James Everett Kibler is a novelist, poet, and professor of English at the University of Georgia, where he teaches popular courses in Southern literature, examining such figures as William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Wendell Berry, and Larry Brown. Born and raised in upcountry South Carolina, Kibler spends much of his spare time tending to the renovation of an 1804 plantation home and the reforestation of the surrounding acreage. This home served as the subject of his first book, Our Fathers' Fields: A Southern Story, for which he was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of Southern Writers Award for Nonfiction in 1999 and the Southern Heritage Society's Award for Literary Achievement.

Kibler received his doctorate from the University of South Carolina, and his poetry has been honored by the Poetry Society of South Carolina and has appeared in publications throughout the country. In October 2004, the League of the South bestowed on him the Jefferson Davis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kibler enjoys gardening, organic farming, and research into Southern history and culture. An avid preservationist, he prescribes to Allen Tate's comment that "the task of the civilized intelligence is perpetual salvage." He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Southern Garden History Society, the League of the South, and the William Gilmore Simms Society. He is listed in Contemporary Writers', "Who's Who in America," and "Who's Who in the World." He divides his time between Whitmire, South Carolina, and Athens, Georgia.

Reviews

[Ian Frye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lovely mix of history, poetry and polemic in which the author expressed his deeply held affection for the land and culture belonging to his forbears who inhabited Newberry County, South Carolina. The book tells the story of the aristocratic Hardy family, beginning with the original Hardy ancestor who rode beside William the Conqueror during the invasion of England in 1066, through their arrival in the new world, the American war for independence, the antebellum period and construction and maintenance of the plantation home, the War Between the States, Reconstruction, and the deterioration of the plantation during the New South period. The reader experiences the rise and fall of a plantation home in the Old South through the eyes of its inhabitants, witnessing the glory days of “king cotton,” the disaster of the War, and the eventual decline of a once-great aristocratic family.

Kibler does not hold back his opinions. He conveys a romantic (but still realistic) view of life on a plantation in the Old South while lamenting the rise of industrialism and the modern notion of Progress. This contrasts strongly with the author’s view of a more natural rural life which is in tune with nature and changes with the seasons. This point of view may be offensive to some whose sense of antebellum plantation life is mostly informed by Hollywood movies, but Kibler backs up his interpretation with many quotes from letters and interviews of both the Hardy family and the slaves who worked the plantation as well as other family members, friends and acquaintances. Kibler’s research appears quite thorough and his prose is a joy to read. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in plantation life in the Old South, especially to those who are looking for a different interpretation of the Old South than the one that dominates today.

[Matthew Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently, I finished reading a very interesting book written by University of Georgia professor James E. Kibler entitled, Our Fathers' Fields: A Southern Story. Kibler, a professor of English at UGA, wrote this particular work back in the late 1990's and it is one very well-written work. Its' two stories being told within the context of Hardy Plantation, which Dr. Kibler purchased and renovated over the past decade. One story within is Kibler's telling of how his rehabilitation of this once proud but decaying plantation brought forth a treasure trove of information on the people who lived there, concluding that by only truly knowing a place very well, we can guard against its' abuse in the future. The second story is that of the Hardy family and the six generations who owned the plantation itself, from its' earliest days in revolutionary America, through the antebellum period prior to the Southern War for Independence and Reconstruction, and onward to the early 1980's, when the last descendents of Sq. William Hardy eventually moved away from the slowly-decaying plantation. The last chapter, "Choices: A Rare and Bearing Vine", is Kibler's chance to talk to the reader of the choices one must make in this life, reminding us of the great Athenian motto, "Know Thyself"; it is only by knowing who we are as individuals that we can appreciate the world around us. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.

[Mark Lacy]

Discontinued reading after first 20 pages and skimming random places through rest of book. I had expected more. I thought the book would explain how the author went about his research, but instead, it just presented the results. And it wasn't the results I was interested in as much as his process.

[Annette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Would have been better without the author's sermonizing.