10 Facebook pages for people who love the South
By Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com AL.com
Love photos of historic Southern buildings or antebellum homes? Maybe you enjoy finding new recipes for Southern foods, or learning something new about the region's past.
If any of those describe you, we have some Facebook pages for you to check out.
Southern Historical Collection
The Southern Historical Collection Facebook page is where the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shares posts from its vast archives of photos and documents from across the South. The posts include everything from Civil War-era ambrotypes to high school homecoming parades to a collection of Depression-era tenant farmer photos. It also shares current photos from archaeological projects in the South.
Page description: "Long at the center of inquiry into the history and culture of the American South, the Southern Historical Collection (SHC) is a vast collection of distinct archival collections. These collections are comprised of unique primary documents, such as diaries, journals, letters, correspondence, photographs, maps, drawings, ledgers, oral histories, moving images, albums, scrapbooks, and literary manuscripts."
Southern Living
The Facebook page for Southern Living magazine, which covers lifestyle subjects from decorating to cooking.
Page description: "From Dallas to Delaware, Southern Living shares the fascinating places, people, homes, gardens, and foods that make the South unique. It truly is the heart of Southern life. And because of the broad appeal of the magazine's relaxed style and positive attitude, Southern Living now has readers all over the U.S. and is one of the largest lifestyle magazines in the country."
Christy Jordan's Southern Plate
This page is filled with personal posts and recipes from Alabama cookbook author Christy Jordan, who writes: "I like to feed people :). Mom, Wife, Cookbook Author, Magazine Editor, B.S. Home Economics, Homeschooler, and Queen of the laundry mountain!"
Page description: "This is where I share recipes and joy."
Blue Ridge Parkway
If you love Southern scenery and photos of wildlife, this is the place for you. This National Park Service site includes photos of bats in flight and mother bears with their cubs, as well as the natural beauty of the area.
Page description: "A Blue Ridge Parkway experience is unlike any other, a slow-paced and relaxing drive revealing stunning long-range vistas and close-up views of the rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands."
Oxford American
The official page for The Oxford American, a national magazine "dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South." It includes posts like this one, a quote from OA writer John O'Connor's investigation into the true story behind Matthiessen's novel "Shadow Country:" "I'm hunting the bones of the outlaw Leslie Cox. For a long time rumor was that Cox, a surly, dark-haired drifter from up around Fort White, Florida, was hiding out here in the Ten Thousand Islands, prowling its knotted creeks and salt marsh bogs, and just might turn up on your porch one evening to settle old scores."
Page description: "Billed as The Southern Magazine of Good Writing and The New Yorker of the South, it has won two National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. Its pages have featured original work by William Faulkner, Walker Percy, John Grisham, John Updike, Roy Blount, Susan Sontag, Steve Martin, Charles Portis and many other distinguished authors, while also discovering and launching the most promising writers in the region.
Visit Savannah
Sure, it's a tourism site meant to lure us to Savannah but who wouldn't want to be lured to Savannah, one of the South's most picturesque and history-filled cities?
Page description: "Whatever brings you to our city, you won't find a more beautiful place to visit than Savannah — or a friendlier one! www.VisitSavannah.com"
Picnooga
Picturesque and sometimes rare photos from Chattanooga, Tenn., make up Picnooga's page For instance, a Nov. 11, 2015, post includes a photo believed to be of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant atop Lookout Mountain.
Page description: "We started as a grassroots initiative to crowdsource vintage and historic photography of Chattanooga. Since, Picnooga's focus has evolved into a diligent hunt for a variety of historical items to catalog, conserve, connect and share. Our overall goal is to provide freely accessible resources that make the public better schooled in Chattanooga's history and its story."
Beautiful Places of the South
This is a community page for people to share interesting photos and articles on the South. Creator Angel M. Smith explains the rules, saying a post "needs to be a picture, article, or post about a location, structure, site, or building in the South ... There are to be no images or discussion of politics, religion or anything controversial. This is a place to enjoy pictures and light hearted discussion, not to argue about one another's opinions."
Page description: "This group is for people who have a passion for old buildings, structures, sites or just beautiful locations in the South."
Steel City Urbex
This group of seven intrepid explorers visits abandoned sites around Birmingham, Ala., and posts videos and photos of their trips on their page. NOTE: Some sites the group visits are marked "no trespassing" and anyone who decides to go should seek permission of the property owner.
Page description: "Know of any abandoned places that you would love to see photos of? Contact us & let us know! Follow us on IG: @xmattyx @jakegevans @justins_self."
Mississippi Blues Trail
Do you love the Blues? You'll love this page with trivia and photos from sites along the Mississippi Blues Trail, including historical pieces, news of festivals and concerts and unveiling of markers along the trail.
Page description: "Walk where they walked. Dance where they danced. Experience the blues where they were born."