Stories of the Rich and Famous: Aiken's Winter Colony in the Gilded Age

by David M. Tavernier

South Carolina’s Winter Playground for the Rich and PowerfulAiken was a small, relatively obscure southern town until the arrival of an aristocratic New Orleans family with strong societal ties. And it didn’t take long before there was a seasonal flood of winter visitors—with names like Hitchcock, Vanderbilt, Whitney, and Astor. This South Carolina town was drawing the country’s wealthiest and most powerful families, beginning in the 19th century and continuing on past World War II. Every fall they came by private railcar to play polo and golf, race thoroughbreds, and hunt fox. They held high tea, musicales, balls, and dinners, and every spring the “Winter Colony” migrated north again, leaving behind mansions and traditions that still resonate in Aiken 100 years later.Author David M. Tavernier has woven a fascinating collection of stories around the people and places of this era. Based on fact, fiction, and years of historical research, the stories of “the Newport of the South” are masterfully and vividly brought to life.

126 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 23, 2012

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Tavernier states at the outset that portions of these stories are fabricated based on real people and events. While that makes for an engaging story, it makes it difficult to understand the truth, which could have been equally engaging.