Robert Hicks And The Real Widow Of The South

When I first read Robert Hicks' historical novel Widow of the South, I knew that I just had to visit the place that gave Hicks the inspiration for such a riveting book, Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).

Carnton Plantation and Confederate cemetery have no doubt gotten an onslaught of visitors due to Hicks' novel, however, on its own, Carnton is one of the most exciting plantation tours I've ever taken. After reading page after page about how heroine Carrie McGavock helped transform her beautiful home into a Civil War hospital, it was amazing to see her portraits on the walls, for it seemed as if she was still keeping house. The numerous blood stains and makeshift operating tables throughout the house brought to life that the Battle of Franklin, was in fact, the worst battle of the Civil War. The casualties top Gettysburg by leaps and bounds.

A few yards from the big house sits the McGavock and Confederate cemeteries. Unknown soldiers from every Southern state lay in even grids thanks to Mrs. Carrie who tended the cemetery until the day she died...including recovering the soldiers' bodies from mass graves and helping to locate names and relatives. It was a massive undertaking and one that Robert Hicks uses to make his novel come to life.