Forever Dixie: A Field Guide to Southern Cemeteries & Their Residents

by Douglas Keister (Photographer)

When author/photographer Douglas Keister's book Stories in Stone came out in 2004, Sunset magazine stated, "Keister has done for cemetery exploration what Audubon did for birding." Since then, cemetery fans have been clamoring for more. Keister has answered them with Forever Dixie, an exploration of thirteen of the South's best cemeteries and forty notable southerners who have chosen to call the South their permanent home. Forever Dixie gives cemetery explorers GPS directions to the graves of famous southerners such as Martin Luther King Jr., Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Colonel Sanders, Casey Jones, Johnny Mercer, and dozens more. Also featured are interesting and unique graves of ordinary citizens like Thelma Holford of Jonesboro, Arkansas, who commissioned an Italian marble statue of herself and her beloved dog, Bunnie. Forever Dixie is a great gift for all those who call America's southern states home and for those who may have moved but whose hearts, souls, and roots still live in the South. Photographer/writer Douglas Keister has authored thirty-six critically acclaimed books, including the highly praised book on cemetery exploration, Stories in A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography, and Going Out in Style, a book about cemetery art and architecture. His twenty-five books on residential architecture include Inside the Bungalow, Storybook Style, Red Tile Style, Classic Cottages, and Cottages. Keister also writes and illustrates magazine articles and contributes photographs and essays to dozens of magazines, newspapers, books, calendars, posters, and greeting cards worldwide. He lives in Chico, California.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Photographer-writer Douglas Keister, has authored and co-authored thirty-six critically acclaimed books. He also writes and illustrates magazine articles and contributes photographs and essays to dozens of magazines, newspapers, books, calendars, posters and greeting cards worldwide.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting subject. Good writing. I feel that it takes an unfortunate turn about midway when the author begins to repeat what he’s already said and even the photos are used again. There is also an overly long section towards the end where the author discusses secret societies and their symbols in cemeteries. I’d rather have seen more examples of cemeteries in the South—there are plenty of them.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange little book this is. Carefully illustrated with Douglas Keister's lovely photos, half the book is taken up with cemetery listings spread across the American South from Alabama through Virginia. The strange part is that it doesn't include all of the "Dixie" states, leaving out Florida, Mississippi, and Texas.

Also, I can't figure out why the cemeteries are arranged the way they are. The cemetery section opens with the lovely Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans and ends with the intriguing and unusual Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In between, the book visits two cemeteries in Georgia, but these don't follow each other in the text, just as the two Alabama cemeteries are not back to back. The cemeteries are not in order of their foundations or geographical order and they're not entirely alphabetical. I can't figure out the pattern.

A good third of the book is comprised of an encyclopedia of gravestone symbolism. While the illustrations are taken from the cemeteries in the South visited by this book, the text seems to come word for word from Keister's Stories in Stone -- a book I truly love. It's useful to have the analysis of the symbolism here, but it takes up a lot of valuable pages that could've focused on more than the 13 cemeteries included. Also I was disappointed not to find information on identifying Klan graves or more explanation of how to decipher Confederate military headstones. Maybe Keister didn't want to call them out for being controversial? I agree that there is the potential for vandalism, but now my curiosity is aroused and I don't know how to find the answers I seek so I can understand what I'm looking at.

The last section of the book visits some individual gravesites, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Elvis Presley. It's an idiosyncratic list, including JonBenet Ramsey but not George Washington Carver. I wish this section had been larger and merged with the cemetery listings instead of tucked in the back of the book behind the symbolism section.

Because the book was published in 2008, it predates the conversation on monuments glorifying the Confederacy. Perhaps it's time for an update? There is so much history to unpack.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought "Forever Dixie: A Field Guide to Southern Cemeteries & Their Residents" from Amazon in 2010. I didn't get around to reading it until May 2012, four months later I've finished this fascinating book. Forever Dixie chronicles thirteen of the most well known cemeteries south of the Mason-Dixon line, and their more well-known permanent residents. Beginning with Metairie Cemetery, in New Orleans, Louisiana and ending with Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

As you read Forever Dixie you will read concise biographical narratives on forty notable sons and daughters who called the south their forever home. Also included with each narrative, and cemetery data, are GPS coordinates, for easy tracking.

Forever Dixie, is an interesting book, and should be in the cemetery or grave hunting book collection of anyone who's into cemeteries, grave hunting, and things of that sort. One of the things I really enjoyed about the book were the beautiful full color photographs of various notable, obscure, or interesting gravesites. Needless to say I highly recommend it.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stuff about cemeteries I'm not likely to visit, and boring stuff about them too.

[Tamara Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

fascinating book. so much history can be learned from cemetaries & gravestones. many historical figures & places included. loved it!

[Tina Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for Southern cemetery lovers