Note: This interview is from April. I had the pleasure of seeing Bernard Herman speak not long before we all began isolating. I really enjoyed reading his book but had a hard time writing anything expository to go with this interview. The book makes a beautiful gift so I did my best to get this together for the holiday season. Please support independent booksellers.
Photographs care of The University of North Carolina Press
Summer is behind us, but thinking of the Eastern Shore puts me in a “late-July” mindset. Like many people who live on the “other side” of the bay, my experience of much of the Delmarva peninsula is a relatively narrow one. I was fortunate enough to grow up spending much of my summers in Chincoteague, where my grandfather was accepted among the fishermen.
In his little trailer, my extended family enjoyed lots of fish, tomatoes, corn, and so much more of what the region had to offer. My appreciation of these tastes and the associated memories left a lasting impression. The sound of tree-frogs at night still lulls me into a peaceful and safe state of mind.
More recently I began venturing out on long drives down through Virginia’s Eastern Shore. I found it to be a mesmerizing place. Route 13 runs along old railroad tracks. Rows of magenta crape myrtles sometimes line the road. Monoculture seems omnipresent – soy and sorghum dominate the land. Beyond the fields are roads leading to a diversity of landscapes. Some overgrown byways reveal faint traces of a different past – farmhouses and churches being digested by the marshy earth. The occasional grand manor still stands.
In one direction the ocean roars, in the other the bay can sometimes have an almost eerie calmness. And yet life is buzzing all around – the smells and sounds plants and animals living and dying.
To a wannabe writer like me, it feels like “a place you write about.”
To a scholar and a folklorist like Bernard Herman, it is a place full of history and stories that deserve to be heard and preserved. I eagerly anticipated his book, entitled “A South You Never Ate: Savoring the Flavors and Stories from the Eastern Shore of Virginia.”
Continue reading “Interview: Bernard L. Herman, “A South You Never Ate””