Strawberry Plains Audubon Center: Four Centuries of a Mississippi Landscape, written by Hubert H. McAlexander, Josiah Meigs Professor of English, documents the unique and complex history of the land encompassed by the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Marshall County, Miss.
With a large cast of characters from many generations, this book delineates life on a tract of land in north Mississippi. It tells a fascinating story involving famous historical figures like Hernando de Soto and William Tecumseh Sherman, but concentrates on those who owned and worked this land and their changing fortunes.
Through their individual stories, the author conveys the larger sweep of history in the South and tells an uplifting saga of stewards of the land, conservators whose vision led to the creation of a lasting legacy for people and wildlife.
Two sisters, Ruth Finley and Margaret Finley Shackelford, bequeathed 2,500 acres and two antebellum houses to the National Audubon Society for the center in memory of their parents.