Tales of Edisto - First Edition, Revised

A classic! Includes an epilogue describing Edisto Island and the fables and lore of bygone days.
Retells the tales, handed down from generation to generation, of that fabulous, romantic era: of the "First Mistress of Bleak Hall," and how she was brought as a baby to Edisto in a rowboat paddled through stormy seas by two faithful slaves: of the "Galloping Horseman of Pine Baron," who returned a hundred years after his death to reassure a worried guest at one of the Island's homes: of a plantation mistress who, with the aid of a palmleaf cross, cast off a conjure spell which had one of her slaves at death's door.
The book accounts Island customs and activities, past and present. Mrs. Graydon tells of the social life of the old days, Christmas festivities, summer days on the beach at Edingsville', the fighting of duels on "the Sands." She takes the reader on a bird-watching tour of the Island and on a night hunt for sea turtle eggs. She tells of the development of modern Edisto and its growth as a favorite vacation spot--a development in which "Edisto changes, but somehow remains the same."

Nell Saunders Graydon was born in Pineville, North Carolina, about ten miles south of Charlotte, where she lived for many years. She married Sterling Graydon and moved to Greenwood, South Carolina. She lived in the upcountry, but spent many summers on Edisto Island and developed a love for the low country and for its land, its people and the unique way of life there. Her active and energetic mind uncovered stories of the long ago and she began sending some of these tales to newspapers and magazines. They were accepted for publication and a writer was born. She wrote her first book on Edisto, the coastal island where she spent many summers. Tales of Edisto was an immediate success, and then followed Another Jezebel, a novel about a Yankee spy in South Carolina. Next she published Tales of Beaufort and then Tales of Columbia. Other titles include, Eliza of Wappoo, South Carolina Ghosts Tales, South Carolina Gardens, and Nell Graydon's Cookbook, From My House to Your House.