Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws and the Demise of an American Dream

by Dennis Covington

The author of the critically acclaimed Salvation of Sand Mountain describes his sometimes dangerous odyssey to the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle to claim his inheritance, a parcel of two and half acres of an island Florida development called River Ranch Acres purchased by his father, in a study of the clash of values that is tearing apart much of rural America. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Adrienne Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book doesn't live up to Salvation on Sand Mountain, it remains a fascinating narrative.

Covington proves himself to be authentically insane, but the true situation is weird to the point of theatrical.

I've actually started looking at the property in question on Google Map's satellite view.

This real estate site offers a potential buyer's perspective of the Hunt Club. Scroll to the middle to see a black and white map of the River Ranch property (probably issued by GAC). And even links to a scenic photo gallery.

A St. Petersburg Times article from June 5, 2005 serves as a fascinating postscript: Off road, off limits.

And, last but not least, head directly into the mouth of madness: the River Ranch Property Owners Association website. Their history and photo galleries are not to be missed.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was interesting enough that I didn't quit and put it down before the end. Seriously, I drop lots of books after starting them, because I decide they are a waste of time.

The ending isn't all happy and lovely, it's just life. Usually that might bug me in a story (I like everything to wrap up in a happy ending), but this time it didn't. It was more like the journey and experience was the good part, not necessarily where it ended up at the end.

Basically, his dad had bought some worthless property in Florida in a land sale scheme, and left it to him when he died. The author became totally obsessed with claiming that worthless property, because it was his inheritance. Unfortunately, there were a ton of rednecks in the "Hunt Club" who had taken over the entire area, and he had to join them secretly and try to fight them off. I find rednecks fascinating. My brother in law is kind of one. Perhaps that's why I enjoyed this book, because it gave me insight into the redneck psyche. Also, the author is just a good writer. I like him. I recommend the book.

[Jessica~loves to hate a cliffy~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that this book is about the history of River Ranch.

[Michael Gorman]

The book “Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream” written by Dennis Covington, takes place in Birmingham, Alabama and then shifts to Polk County, Florida. After Dennis’ father’s death, he finds out that his father had bought property in Florida and he decides to take a road trip to examine the property. Once he investigated the property, he realized the property his father planned to retire on is unbuildable. After getting the county to help him plot this property, they find out its located in River Ranch Property Owners Hunting Association. Covington then continued to battle the association without any progress. “I saved the coordinates and named this place home. Then I walked inside.” This quote has a very big meaning to it because Covington tried so hard to try and find a way to use this land that was his fathers and his determination of being able to build a camp on the property.
This book written by Dennis Covington is one to read. This story is fit for a person who would want to learn about the history of Florida. It includes real life situations that could happen to anyone in the world that can make the feeling of the story a bit sad. Many people joke about land scams today, but it was real in the 60’s. I believe people should read this because they will have a better understanding on the history of Florida, and they will become more educated in life. This book is a true story on a son trying to inherit property from his Dad while lots of people prevented him from fulfilling his dream. All in all, this is a very serious story that has no comedy in it, and it could change the way some people think in life. There might be things that some people may not have a good understanding of, but that doesn’t affect them from reading about Covington’s life .

[Leonore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-fiction book was definitely an eye opener about many things besides land. It was a quick and funny read. I really enjoyed the author's writing style. He tells more than one story of his life and it didn't lose my interest. Who knew so many people bought "paper subdivisions" and can't even see the land. I hope there will come a day when it's all settled, but that may be a long while. Just a great book and I would recommend it to others.

[Michael Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with delightfully wry southern delivery, Covington relates the story of his inheritance of a landlocked piece of useless Florida real estate. His father had been the victim of one of those Florida swampland scams and he left the property to the author as a kind of adventurous bequest. The astonishing disregard for rule of law in this redneck world serves as a warning to anyone thinking of doing business there.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a good example of how environment agitators work in some at the turn of the 21 st century. Author Dennis Covington moves us from Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico to Idaho to tell stories of how he and his comrades worked hard to secure that land could be used for the world, not just a few people. At times, the time line and the context shifts quickly from chapter to chapter but the story line is solid.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice tribute to his father. What I really enjoyed was the River Ranch Hunt Club - the ultimate Florida swindle. How gun-toting, hog hunting rednecks could intimidate the State of Florida officials is beyond me. According to Google this land is still being sold by what looks like people who don't even own it!! The scam goes on.

[Rob Blackwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice little memoir and love letter to a departed father. A great bit of the folklore that often crops up when working folks get taken advantage of for dreaming. I really appreciated Covington's desire for a quick buck and total willingness to make a terrible decision, like buying worthless land in Idaho, to try to achieve it.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

I opened this, at a restaurant with a library, as a joke because I thought the title was funny but I ended up really enjoying the story - set in Alabama and Florida, about family and justice and corruption and the American west.

[Mike Dobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strategic choice coming off the back of two 600+ pages. Plenty of amusing anecdotes and vivid descriptions of rural landscapes across North America. A quick, easy read and some shameless stat padding as we head towards the final chapters of 2024.

[Elizabeth Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strangely disjointed story, but still very enjoyable.

[Teo smite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and engaging. It wandered a bit far afield for me as the book progressed. I am going to read his short story collection.

[Jill Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covington is a good writer, but to me the stories were just ‘meh’.

[Rebecca Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Such good descriptions. I think I knew half the characters and am related to the other half.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covington's dad left him a piece of worthless property in Florida. He goes down to check it out and rednecks try to run him off what is legally his. He doesn't give up though, even setting up a trailer on his worthless property and running off the rednecks. My favorite scene in this book is when Covington's daughter wants to take an armadillo back to Birmingham. They try to get on a plane, but the ticket agent won't let the armadillo on the plane, saying they don't allow reptiles. "But ma'am, it's a mammal," they say, but she's not buying it. "All I know is it is not a cat or a dog," she responds. I nearly died laughing. They ended up taking a car.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent my morning with Dennis Covington when there were many things on my to-do list. There is no regret!
The story is poignant, not pointed though dealing with real injustice - real estate fraud, his dad really did buy that mythic land in Florida, and true and present danger - said land is overrun by illegal squatters who have established a 'Hunt Club' whose first resort is intimidation and violence. He weaves insights of selfhood and relationship through three generations of people and events. He has given us the 'good part' of the story with this book.

[Meen]

I learned about this book when we read Salvation on Sand Mountain Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia for a Soc of Religion class. Fascinating subject and fascinating people, and Covington writes us very well.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked Lizard and Salvation on Sand Mountain by this author, but I was disappointed in this. Somehow I didn't understand the resolution of the property in Florida, then in Idaho, other than his bankruptcy. The whole book was a lot of ramblings about the past and the distant past with connections sometimes clear and sometimes clear only to him. Maybe he should have titled this A Writer's Midlife Crisis.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book...brilliantly written.
The last half of the book...ran out of steam.

BUT
(The famous, trite disclaimer to follow...)
I really want to see an armadillo someday, I'll pass on any land deals in Florida (especially if they have Western sounding names), and I most certainly will be looking for this author's other works.

(Turns out, he's a professor of creative writing at Texas Tech; I KNEW there was something special about the guy! Go Red Raiders!)

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the type of 'Southern' writing that I like! It is not dark and dismal. Far, far from it - Covington tells the tale of a father's legacy to his son. The American Dream, to own land of your own, is the main point in this one, but it isn't obvious until the end.

Lots of laughs along the way.

[Ellen Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't like it as much as his mother's story as a mill worker and especially not as much as snakes and salvation on Sand Mountain. The meat of it was a really good story about land scams and squatters in Florida, but that part should have been filled out more and the parts that didn't go along with it left out.

[Dawn Mackey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was good, okay good, not freak-me-out-good. I thought it was more about the author's relationship with his father than with the property, although it IS a crazy story. What is up with the whole Gun Club thing?

[Michael]

This one really jumped around. Enough so that it didn't make a lot of sense sometimes. The writer's dad left him a piece of worthless land in Florida. And when he goes to look at it he finds that it has been taken over by a group of white trash locals who defend their squat vigorously.

[Gabe Labovitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what to make of it. It was not what I expected. Odd, but Covington puts together some decent phrases, and so not unpleasant. I only selected this book because another book by Covington I wanted to read was not on the shelves at the library.

[Annemarlene Risch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. Covington being Covington.

[Savanna Lackey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about a road trip and being on a gun range.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. You see the author as he matures in accepting life's injustice.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting to me, mostly because we own property in River Ranch, also. We're also in the Gulf area of Alabama and Florida, which is where this story starts.
I can attest to the Redneck Riviera attitude in this area of Florida!
Others might not be so interested in this story, for a variety of reasons . . .