The North, the South, and the Rosemary

Taylor Adams

(The North, the South, and the Rosemary)

I was born and raised on a beautiful Summerville rice plantation next to the Ashley River with Spanish moss hanging from towering oak trees and herons lining the river. You can just look out and an outstanding and changing view will be laid out before your eyes.  It winter the Camellias are in bloom, the spring the Azaleas. There is always an array of color.  We don’t farm rice anymore as when my 2 times great grandmother was living on it.

My great great grandmother Taylor was originally from the North. When she was 16 years old she moved here because her father had to come this way for his work on the railroads. Her mother had died of heart failure when she was 13 and her father was so overcome by grief that he shut himself out of Taylor’s life and she took care of herself by herself and dealt with anything life threw at her.  Before her mother died she said, “Taylor, please take care of my rosemary bush forever in memory of me. I love you.”  And with those last words she died.

When Taylor was 18 she met a rich southern man by the name of Edmund, they fell in love and when she was 19 she married him and moved to his plantation instead of going home with her father. She picked the pot up that contained her mama’s rosemary bush and planted it in the field. The land was so different from where she grew up, and the rosemary reminded her of home. They had slaves but she hated having them there to help her. She was a very independent woman. She took care of her rosemary bush and herself without much help. Her husband always offered to have slaves help her but over and over again she would say no. she felt like she would be dishonest to her mama if she just sat at home not caring for the rosemary and having other people doing that for her She also didn’t like the thought of unfair labor, and she felt like it would be dishonest to her mama’s do it yourself memory and it was curl to the people.

A year later she had twins, a boy and a girl. She named them Anne and Stephen. she loved her children very much. When the war came in the year of 1861 Taylor’s husband went to war on the confederate side. Taylor was very worried about her husband but she relied on her faith and taking care of herself (she relieved all the slaves. They still stayed at her house but they didn’t work). The next year was the hardest for her, her son died of an incurable disease. Then later in the year a solider came to her to tell her, her husband was killed. The next 3 years were hard because she had to raise a baby all on her own. Finally the war ended the North won. It had caused so much pain for everyone. Taylor’s child grew up and that’s what started my family living there. The rosemary bush died but rosemary still is very important to my family. We have rosemary with almost every meal. My grandmamma always tells me to believe in myself and be like the Taylor I was named after. So I always try and be brave like she did.