Strawberry Plains Audubon Center
McAlexander, Hubert H.
Strawberry Plains Audubon Center: Four Centuries of a Mississippi Landscape.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008.
181 pp. $18.00 (paperback)
This outstanding monograph describes the history of the area in Mississippi where Strawberry Plains Audubon Center originated. An explanation of how the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center became a part of Holly Springs, Mississippi, is detailed in the last chapter. The interesting interior includes Contents, Foreword, Acknowledgments, 1. The Deep Past, 2. The Finleys, 3. The Davises, 4. Woodland and Strawberry Plains, 5. The Slaves, 6. War, 7. The Two Armies, 8. Devastation, 9. Hard Times, 10. The Freedmen and Strawberry Plains Baptist Church, 11. The Next Generation, 12. A New Century, 13. Sharecropping in the Depression, 14. A Family’s Values, 15. Audubon Center, Appendix A. Genealogical Charts, Appendix B. The Cemeteries, Notes, and an accurate index.
The backgrounds of Marshall County and Holly Springs are discussed, including settlers such as the Finley and the Greenlee families. The Davis were a tremendous money-making cotton family. The Davis House, the largest in Holly Springs, was called Strawberry Plains by Martha Greenlee Davis. Thomas Finley bought Strawberry Plains in 1927 when the Davis family hit hard times.
Thomas Finley’s daughters, Ruth Finley and Margaret Finley Shackelford, sold Strawberry Plains to the Audubon Center in 1998. The Audubon Center maintains the land, history, and house of Strawberry Plains in honor of Ruth Finley and Margaret Finley Shackelford. The Center is used for the Mississippi Ornithological Society, the Mississippi Bluebird Society, and garden clubs. An Enchanted Forest Fall Festival delights students. The annual Hummingbird Migration Celebration held there is the biggest Audubon festival in the United States.
The book is a wonderful addition to all academic and public libraries. This excellent publication is a priceless asset with its superb details of the background of Holly Springs and the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center, a fabulous place to visit because of its beauty and abundance of lovely birds, gorgeous nature, and captivating history.
Melinda F. Matthews
Interlibrary Loan/Reference Librarian
University of Louisiana at Monroe Library
Entry Filed under: Book Reviews
Posted on: June 29th, 2009
