Posted on 07/06/2006 7:01:52 AM PDT by SquirrelKing
It appears that the Northern invasion of the South is complete -- at least it is on a patch of land known as Delta Plantation in Jasper County.
There, a diehard rebel named Henry E. Ingram Jr. made his last stand against the onslaught of Yankees, only to be thwarted by a man from Long Island, N.Y., and now -- gasp -- a French Canadian.
Ingram promised to keep Yankees out of Delta Plantation in Jasper County when he bought 1,700 acres there in 1998. His resolve to keep them out still is strong, but the covenants he put on the land don't seem to have any teeth.
Those covenants did, however, scare Canadian-raised Bluffton resident Louise Legare a bit as she was close to signing a contract to buy a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on the land from Bluffton Home Builders.
The list of rules she got from the builders was missing the first pages, so she went to the Jasper County Courthouse to get the missing ones. There, she found the covenants, or rules, that Ingram demanded of buyers:
1. They could not be Yankees.
2. They could not have the last name Sherman (an obvious reference to Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman).
3. And the land could not be sold or leased to those whose last names could be rearranged to spell Sherman.
Clearly, Ingram doesn't like Northern folk.
Now, however, Legare and Bluffton Home Builders are working with Ingram's son, Ashley Ingram, to remove the covenants. The former Delta Plantation is on both sides of U.S. 17, just north of the Georgia state line.
"When (Legare) brought it to us, we all kind of had a good laugh," said Jim Hobbs, a partner in the home-building firm.
In fact, Legare is buying the land and home from Bill Cook, another partner in the company, who happens to be a native of Long Island, N.Y. No one at Bluffton Home Builders had seen the covenants before Legare found the missing pages, and no one has ever tried to enforce them, Hobbs said.
If Henry Ingram had his way, he still would keep Yankees off of the 1,700 acres he once owned. His holdings on the plantation have dwindled to 10 acres.
Ingram, now a resident of Corpus Christi, Texas, said his son and attorney, who are both local, should be looking out for his anti-northerner wishes now.
"Yankees destroy everything they have up North, then they come down here," Ingram said. "When they destroy everything (in the South), where are they going to move next? Another country?"
Legare, who grew up north of Montreal, figures her far-northern upbringing must be especially abhorrent to Ingram.
"I must be more of a Yankee," she said. "I'm the person he really doesn't want to live there."
Amazingly, Legare is a much better choice to own Southern land than a New Yorker, according to Ingram.
"French people are much better and more desirable than a Yankee," said Ingram, who once owned video-poker casinos in Jasper County. "They don't stick their noses in other people's business."
The same feature drew Legare and Ingram to the land -- nature. Ingram said he's seen Carolina panthers, bald eagles and fox squirrels on the land. It is that quiet beauty Legare is after.
"I was raised in a very nature-like environment," Legare said. "I think the nature is beautiful in South Carolina."
Ingram, who says he is leaving Texas for Costa Rica soon, cites the boorish manners of Yankees as one of his prime dislikes for them.
"They look down their little pointy noses at the people in the South because we are polite and nice to them," Ingram said. "They think people who are polite and nice are dumb."
Contact Jim Faber at 706-8137 or jfaber@islandpacket.com. To comment on this story, please go to islandpacket.com.
Please tell me you're not serious.
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit."
is definitely not an expression I would use if visiting San Fransicko.
"Maybe so, but the covenants against Sherman may be legitimate. He was, after all, the first American terrorist."
Don't you mean Quantrill and his murderous band of Confederate guerillas ?
You're observations about the "church question" are spot on. I see that as taboo and way too personal a question to pop in the first few minutes of meeting someone.
....just my opinion though.
"Ingram, who says he is leaving Texas for Costa Rica"
I wonder if there is a Southern American expat movement
towards Costa Rica ? Very interesting...
Even more famously, Scott married one of the Alabama girls--Zelda!--and together they ushered in The Jazz Age--but that's a looooooooooong story!
I was in Costa Rica last year, but the only Americans I met were hippie types that needed "SpeedStick", starry-eyed college kids and the odd naturalist or adventurer.
I have since met a number of Baby Boomers who are quitting the "North 48" and heading that way. Is Costa Rica the next Vero or St. Pete?
Everything I know about the south I learned on that National Geographic show COPS.
EXACTLY the reason I returned to Tennessee, even though I am a 'Yankee' by birth. I have NOTHING in common with the people of New England, so I returned to the South for the reasons cited above. I wouldn't DREAM of telling Southerners how to improve things...if I didn't like it; I would be obligated to move on. I like Tennessee just the way it is...life is good.
>>>>>"Yankees destroy everything they have up North, then they come down here," Ingram said. "When they destroy everything (in the South), where are they going to move next? Another country?" <<<<<<
And
City People .........Move to the country.
Liberals............ Move to Anywhere.
Or even worst!
Liberal City People.
True words.
If you don't like the smell of cow pooo stay in the city!
It's the 2nd New York not the 10th you bloody noob!
bump
This guy a relative of yours?
At first, I thought he could be MY KIND OF GUY! Then I see that he doesn't mean those fags in pinstripes, but folks from the "nawth."
Personally, I wouldn't mind swindling some Bronx Bombers out of their money...
You're wrong about Koreans being "southerners." More like they're the new Jews (meant as the highest compliment). ;-)
So I guess asking what church you attend would be an out and out insult. :-)
People don't read about the savagery with which Sherman tore through South Carolina. Back in the '30s, Nazi propoganda commented on it as an example of what Germans would NOT do in wartime. The Federals blamed South Carolina for the war.
This was after the great "reconciliation" that began with the Spanish-American War, when northern troops were commanded by former Confederate officers.
No. That's a southerner thinking he's being nice and polite.
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