Valerie Fraser Luesse | Top Five Places To Experience "Southern Noir"
GIVEAWAY: Win a special "Southern Gift"
January 19, 2018
Years ago, I had the opportunity to interview singer-songwriter Kate Campbell,
who remains one of my favorite artists. Kate talked about something she called
"Southern noir," which has nothing to do with crime novels and everything to do
with sense of place. At certain spots in the South, you get the feeling that
something is happening beneath the surface, something—maybe even something on
the dark side—that you can feel but can't see. Southern noir.
Once you're attuned to it, you can feel the undercurrents of our regional noir
in places all over the South. Our grande dame cities—Charleston, Savannah, and
New Orleans—are givens. (Savannah's on my bucket list, but I've rambled the
other two.) If you've never known Southern noir, here are five more great places
to experience it:
Rural Alabama
Back when we had a little more time on our hands, my husband and I used to break
out the map on a Saturday morning, pick a road, and strike out on an Alabama
ramble. We've roamed small towns like Wetumpka, Northport, and Mooresville, and
had lunch at "meat 'n threes"—down-home Southern cafes where you choose your
meat and three vegetables from a menu posted on the wall. We've seen old steel
bridges and little country churches, rolling pastures and cotton fields; we've
driven past old home places where nothing remains but the fireplace and maybe a
stand of daffodils where a garden used to be. There's a presence in places like
that—something you can feel in your bones even if you can't see it.
Outer Banks, North Carolina
The "OBX" are unlike any other stretch of coast I've ever seen. Bodie, Hatteras,
and Ocracoke Islands bow out from the mainland to brace against the Atlantic. A
single strip of pavement crosses all three islands (with help from a couple of
ferries). Wild horses—fiercely protected by locals—roam the sands and the surf.
So treacherous are the shallow shoals off the Outer Banks that old-time mariners
named them the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Many a shipwreck is buried beneath
the sand and the waves. Noir.
Florida Keys
I lied to my mother about my first trip to Key West. I told her I would be
traveling with another magazine writer. The truth was that I was flying to Fort
Lauderdale alone, renting a car alone, and driving the Overseas
Highway—including the breathtaking Seven-Mile Bridge over turquoise water that's
impossible to describe—alone. I just didn't think Mama was ready for that. I
can't name a place more otherworldly than Key West. On my first morning there, I
bought myself a bohemian sundress and a cool pair of shades. Then I roamed, up
and down the streets of "Old Town," where absolutely anything is normal. A man
walking into a restaurant with a parrot on his head? Normal. Chickens meandering
onto the pool decks of local inns? Normal. But the ultimate Southern noir is Key
West at night, when ocean breezes fan palm trees that cast moody shadows against
beautiful old Florida architecture. There are stories in those walls.
Mississippi Gulf Coast
Full Disclosure: My husband and I hope to retire here one day. I am in no way
objective about this place. We both love the massive live oak trees draped with
Spanish moss and the old Southern mansions rising up to peer out over the water.
The Biloxi lighthouse watches over the proceedings as it has since 1848.
Downtown Ocean Springs and Old Town Bay St. Louis are among my favorite spots in
the entire South. But really, I'm there for the noir—for the history and stories
and the eerie beauty of Mississippi Sound on a moonlit night.
Cajun Louisiana
"Cajun" is a truncated version of "Acadian"— French-speaking settlers in Canada
who were forcibly removed by the British in the 1700s. Many eventually came to
Louisiana, where their language, food, and music created an incredible cultural
enclave in Southwest Louisiana. A retired Cajun Cadillac salesman and his wife
once took photographer Art Meripol and me on an amazing boat ride across the
Atchafalaya. Ancient cypress trees rose out of the water, which was dotted with
lily pads. We watched the sun rise over it all. I've always been drawn to places
that feel ancient, places where you can see traces of those who came before you.
And I'm intrigued by places with secrets—you never know what might be swimming
beneath those lily pads or hiding in those cypress trees. That's why I'll never
turn down an opportunity to "pass a good time" in bayou country. It's got
serious noir. And gumbo.
When a black field hand disappears, a wealthy white boy he has befriended
sets out to find him. But Pete McLean discovers more than he bargained
for—including unexpected love and difficult truths about race and class in 1960s
Alabama.
There was another South in the 1960s, one far removed from the marches and
bombings and turmoil in the streets that were broadcast on the evening news. It
was a place of inner turmoil, where ordinary people struggled to right
themselves on a social landscape that was dramatically shifting beneath their
feet. This is the world of Valerie Fraser Luesse’s stunning debut, Missing
Isaac.
It is 1965 when black field hand Isaac Reynolds goes missing from the tiny,
unassuming town of Glory, Alabama. The townspeople’s reactions range from
concern to indifference, but one boy will stop at nothing to find out what
happened to his unlikely friend. White, wealthy, and fatherless, young Pete
McLean has nothing to gain and everything to lose in his relentless search for
Isaac. In the process, he will discover much more than he bargained for.
Before it’s all over, Pete—and the people he loves most—will have to blur the
hard lines of race, class, and religion. And what they discover about
themselves may change some of them forever.
Valerie Fraser Luesse is an award-winning magazine writer best known for her
feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she is currently a senior
travel editor. Her work has been anthologized in the audio collection Southern
Voices and in A Glimpse of Heaven, an essay collection featuring works by C. S.
Lewis, Randy Alcorn, John Wesley, and others.
As a freelance writer and
editor, she was the lead writer for Southern Living 50 Years: A Celebration of
People, Places, and Culture. Specializing in stories about unique pockets of
Southern culture, Luesse has published major pieces on the Gulf Coast, the
Mississippi Delta, Louisiana’s Acadian Prairie, and the Outer Banks of North
Carolina. Her editorial section on Hurricane Katrina recovery in Mississippi and
Louisiana won the 2009 Writer of the Year award from the Southeast Tourism
Society.
Luesse earned her bachelor’s degree in English at Auburn
University in Auburn, Alabama, and her master’s degree in English at Baylor
University in Waco, Texas. She grew up in Harpersville, Alabama, a rural
community in Shelby County, and now lives in Birmingham.
Win a copy of MISSING ISAAC, a piece of Southern pottery and a copy of the Southern Living's recipe booklet Just tell us below your favorite Southern place or one you want to visit.
I love going to Hilton Head. It is such a relaxing place. We always make a day trip to Savannah from there. (Pam Howell 5:53am January 19, 2018)
St. Augustine is an amazing place full of history and quite possibly...spirits. Savannah is very nice too in the historical districts and down on River Street. I've also always wanted to see New Orleans. (Deidre Durance 8:53am January 19, 2018)
I have never visited the South but would love to see New Orleans! (G. Bisbjerg 10:12am January 19, 2018)
Visiting the South is wonderful. Historic cities which are captivating, beautiful beaches and lovely atmosphere. My favorite place is Charleston, S.C. (Sharon Berger 10:54am January 19, 2018)
I love the south, it has so much rich history, the people and the food.....the best! (Carletta Culp 10:58am January 20, 2018)
I've read for years about the south, both fiction and history. It's a fascinating section of the USA, one I'd love to visit. (Kathleen Bylsma 4:22pm January 20, 2018)
Randy Wayne White does a great job with the Keys. (Kathleen Bylsma 4:23pm January 20, 2018)
Outer Banks, especially Hattaras, and Savannah and Tybee Island (Linda Harrison 12:23pm January 21, 2018)
I want to visit Charleston and the Low Country -- have read many books that take place there and want to see if these places really exist! (Sandy Haber 4:46pm January 21, 2018)
I would love to visit the Outer Banks, but the nearest I've been to that kind of place and area of the country is Galveston, Texas! (Which is also very cool!) (John Smith 9:56pm January 21, 2018)
I love visiting Savannah Georgia (Jean Benedict 2:39pm January 22, 2018)
I'd love to visit Charlotte, South Carolina one day! (Maria Proctor 5:06pm January 22, 2018)
Like to visit South Carolina the only thin I know about it that has grat food (Orna Soref 6:50pm January 22, 2018)
I love South Carolina, we vacation and visit there every few years. (Nicole Bouchey 8:51am January 23, 2018)
There are many beautiful cities and towns in the South, but if I had a chance to visit one in the near future, I would select a place with plenty of southern charm near a mountain or near the Atlantic Ocean. (Anna Speed 7:23pm January 23, 2018)
We have been lucky enough to travel a bit to all of the noir places you mentioned. We haven't been able to do justice to most of them. We only skimmed Charleston, it was 115 with the heat index and humid when we were there so we hid in the museum. We will be going back. The same is true for Key West. Two or three days wasn't enough. We did enjoy it. Savannah and New Orleans are enjoyable. We have been to New Orleans 3 times and would go back again. (Patricia Barraclough 9:01pm January 24, 2018)