A Delicious Country - by Scott Huler (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In 1700, John Lawson, a young man from England looking to make a name for himself, left London and landed in Charleston, in what is now South Carolina. From there for reasons still unknown he took a two-month journey through the little-known Carolina backcountry. That journey in 1709 yielded A New Voyage to Carolina, one of the great books about the Southeast in the early colonial period. Lawson wrote about the flora, the fauna, the terrain, and the native populations he visited, leaving behind descriptions unparalleled in the historical record. Lawson founded North Carolina's two first cities, Bath and New Bern, became the colonial surveyor general, and contributed scientific specimens to what has become the British Museum. In 1711, traveling among the Indians he knew and documented, Lawson was killed as the first casualty of the Tuscarora War. Despite his great contributions and remarkable history, Lawson is little remembered even in the Carolinas he documented. In 2014-15, Scott Huler for the first time retraced Lawson's path, encountering descendants of the settlers and native populations Lawson visited and comparing what he encountered with the country Lawson visited three centuries before. That richly documented journey has yielded this book"--

Book Synopsis

In 1700, a young man named John Lawson left London and landed in Charleston, South Carolina, hoping to make a name for himself. For reasons unknown, he soon undertook a two-month journey through the still-mysterious Carolina backcountry. His travels yielded A New Voyage to Carolina in 1709, one of the most significant early American travel narratives, rich with observations about the region's environment and Indigenous people. Lawson later helped found North Carolina's first two cities, Bath and New Bern; became the colonial surveyor general; contributed specimens to what is now the British Museum; and was killed as the first casualty of the Tuscarora War. Yet despite his great contributions and remarkable history, Lawson is little remembered, even in the Carolinas he documented.

In 2014, Scott Huler made a surprising decision: to leave home and family for his own journey by foot and canoe, faithfully retracing Lawson's route through the Carolinas. This is the chronicle of that unlikely voyage, revealing what it's like to rediscover your own home. Combining a traveler's curiosity, a naturalist's keen observation, and a writer's wit, Huler draws our attention to people and places we might pass regularly but never really see. What he finds are surprising parallels between Lawson's time and our own, with the locals and their world poised along a knife-edge of change between a past they can't forget and a future they can't quite envision.

Review Quotes

"An engaging book that is of value to readers interested in John Lawson's expedition, early eighteenth-century natural history and Carolina history, and the landscape and communities along Lawson's trail. . . . [A]ppropriate for high school libraries and public and academic collections."--North Carolina Libraries

"An ethnographic journey backward and forward in time through the lens of a culture's pathways. . . . Like all 'road' books, the story here is about the journey, not the destination."--North Carolina Historical Review

"Huler's adventures and misadventures on the road entertain and inform. He is the best type of tour guide, one who is well-informed but not at all pompous. His wry, self-deprecating sense of humor helps his serious medicine go down smoothly."--D.G. Martin, One on One

"Huler's is a most delightful, thoughtful, and novel study--a delicious book to be sure--and one that will give A New Voyage more traction to be more widely read."--Environmental History