Review by Jack Smith
When my wife and I moved to Florida two years ago, we knew extraordinarily little of the state. So my brother-in-law did some research on our behalf and sent us the perfect historical novel, A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith. The book looks at Florida’s history, from the Civil War through to the modern era, in an entertaining and captivating way.
The novel tells the story of the MacIvey family, who leave the hard-red clay of Georgia to find a better life in the untamed bush of Florida. They arrived, Father Tobias, wife and young son, in a covered wagon with a frying pan and little else. Their salvation came when they befriended a family of desperate Seminole Indians who were being pursued by a band of Crackers (named for the bull whips they carried). Their encounter sets the stage for a lifetime friendship between the two families and two cultures.
The Seminoles provide the MacIvey family with herding dogs and teach them to chorale and drive the wild ‘Yellow- Hammer’ cattle to market. The family goes on to frugally make a fortune herding and driving cattle near Ft. Myers. Realizing the value of land, Tobias begins purchasing land from Tallahassee to Miami, for the princely sum of 15 cents per acre. Over time the land is converted into orange groves and real estate developments, making the MacIveys one of the wealthiest families in the state.
Along the way, readers will meet a crusty cast of Crackers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation and hurricanes. But the most formidable adversary turns out to be greed, including, finally, the Maclvey’s own. Action, love and passion are here too; along with friendships with freed slaves, Indians and respect for the land and the animals that roam on it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Indeed, I had a hard time putting it down and did not want it to end. I would recommend A Land Remembered to everyone, especially those who make Florida their home.
A Land Remembered was winner of the Florida Historical Society’s Tebeau Prize for Most Outstanding Florida Historical Novel.
