Archibald Rutledge: 6 books

Unseen by readers for a century, Archibald Rutledge's story "Claws" is a fast-paced adventure tale of a young boy, Paul, lost in the foreboding terrain of Spencer's Swamp, the domain of the mighty bobcat Claws, which is deftly evading hounds and hunters alike. When Paul and Claws encounter...

One of the more underappreciated aspects of Archibald Rutledge’s varied and prolific literary efforts focuses on the way he could weave stories involving danger in the wilds. What he frequently described as chimeras—great sharks, alligators, rattlesnakes, and cottonmouths of incredible and often...

Archibald Rutledge’s suspenseful story “The Egret’s Plumes” is a cautionary tale exalting the virtues of good sportsmanship, conservation of the natural world, and the universality of parental instincts. Fleeing the relentless plume hunters of their native Florida, a pair of exquisite snowy...

Archibald Rutledge’s story “The Doom of Ravenswood” is a harrowing account of the power of the natural world and of the dangers for humans and animals alike to be found in the ominous swamps of the South Carolina lowcountry. As the narrator of this cautionary tale is riding home astride his...

In 1937, after decades in the North, Archibald Rutledge returned to the �hyacinth days and camellia nights� of his native Carolina Lowcountry to restore his family home, Hampton Plantation. Originally published in 1947, these pages describe, in intimate and compelling detail, the plantation life...

“TO have been able, during a matter of nearly thirty years, to follow the game trails of the great plantation region of the delta of the Santee—this has been my privilege. I have seen my homeland undergo great transformations during those years: the plantations have for the most part become waste...