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BLAIRSVILLE: BYRON HERBERT REECE

From chips and shards, in idle times,
I made these stories, shaped these rhymes...
Byron Herbert Reece

Byron Herbert Reece was a hill and bottomland farmer who cultivated words and harvested poetry. From his labor on a farm in northern Georgia, the poet and novelist became the voice of a region known as Appalachia. For readers of 20th Century Southern Literature, Reece is Appalachia's soul.

The Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center was dedicated on June 2, 2012, after years of preparation by the Byron Herbert Reece Society. The Farm consists of 9.3 acres of original Reece family property near Blairsville. The Farm and Heritage Center enhances both the public's knowledge of Reece and honors his way of life on a Southern working farm. A visitor will experience the writer's love of nature and his attachment to the land through unique and interactive exhibits.

The writer, known locally as "Hub" Reece, helped to build the house that now serves as the Welcome Center and Museum. The Main Barn, known as a Double Crib Barn in the Appalachian region, features interpretative exhibits on farming tools and the challenges of feeding a rural family. A simple and small structure on the Farm called Mulberry Hall became a retreat where Reece wrote and read hundreds of books, often sent to him by admirers of his writing.

	Main Barn		Barn Loft at the Heritage Center		Wolf Creek

Poetry islands between the Welcome Center and the Main Barn present moving verses by Reece inscribed upon rock tablets from Georgia's mountains. In a short life, ravaged by tuberculosis that prompted his suicide at age 40, Byron Herbert Reece produced four volumes of poetry and two novels that endure and captivate readers today.

	Studio		Welcome Center & Poetry Marker		Visitors Center

For more information on Byron Herbert Reece, visit Byron Herbert Reece Society's website or link here to his listing in the New Georgia Encyclopedia supported by the Georgia Humanities Council. > Byron Herbert Reece

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