The backdrop for this trilogy is North Florida, specifically a county in the often-overlooked Forgotten Coast region. Locals also call it the Big Bend, and we’ve sometimes joked that it’s Florida’s armpit—where nothing ever happens. But that changed in the past two years when hurricanes Idalia and Debby paid us a visit.
However, that’s not the entire story, as I’ve detailed in my book series. As Florida struggled to gain statehood, Jefferson County flourished and became home to the descendants of some of our nation’s founding fathers and Revolutionary War heroes. Even an exiled crowned prince, Achille Murat, found his home here with his wife, the grandniece of George Washington. Murat, the grandnephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, eventually became the County Judge.
I explore these fascinating beginnings in the first book of the series, but by the time the Civil War erupted in 1861, most of these early figures had either passed away or moved on.
Despite this, the county continued to prosper—until everything changed. I delve into this in the second book, From Harmony to Hostility.
During the boom years leading up to the Civil War, Monticello’s wealthier residents constructed many of the homes and businesses that still stand today.
The third book in the series, Yankees in the Courthouse, examines how this community weathered the storm of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Due to the high percentage of freedmen in Jefferson County, federal forces occupied the area, giving rise to the book’s title.
The setting for all three books is this county as it develops—growing and shrinking, as families come together and fall apart, and as the local economy experiences booms and busts.
Book Awards
A few months after self-publishing my first book, The Migrants, a reader suggested I enter it into the Florida Book Awards. I hadn’t heard of these awards before, but when I looked them up, I discovered my book had already missed the deadline.
However, there were other award programs, both statewide and national. Although some were out of reach because I write nonfiction and am self-published, I found a few I could enter. I was told that winning an award could help with marketing.
Last May, Palmetto Pioneers: The Migrants won a national IPPY bronze medal for nonfiction in the Southeastern region. Then, in August, the Florida Authors and Publishers Association awarded the same book a gold medal for history, a gold medal for biography, and a silver medal for cover design.
Suppose you’re interested in Florida’s prior history. In that case, particularly the period between its territorial days and statehood, spanning the time it was under Spanish rule until it seceded from the Union—this series offers a rich, detailed portrait of life during those years. It follows a family from the time they leave South Carolina in 1829 until their oldest daughter reaches her senior years in 1871. The series captures what they encountered upon arrival, the challenges they faced while homesteading and the life of a cattleman providing for his family during the nation’s most expensive Indian War. It also tells the story of his daughter’s marriage to a stranger from Washington, DC.
The second book delves into her life and explores what it was like for women to thrive in such challenging times. It also traces her husband’s journey as he becomes a politician, lawman, and soldier in the Civil War.
The third book, still in the editing phase and set for publication by 2026, will continue their story through the Civil War and into the Reconstruction years. This series, grounded in historical fact, provides a vivid, true-to-life account of Florida’s past.