There was a time when thousands of plantations could be found scattered across the Carolinas. Today only a few hundred remain. In Rural Splendor: Plantation Houses of the Carolinas, historian Robin S. Lattimore, of Rutherfordton, N.C., offers a visual journey through sixty antebellum homes. These columned mansions and clapboard farmhouses illustrate the architectural diversity that survives across the coastal, piedmont and mountain regions of both states.

Lattimore will premiere his book locally at the meeting of the Polk County Historical Association, on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 2:30 p.m. at the Polk County History Museum in Columbus.

A dozen of the plantations showcased in Lattimores book are located in Polk, Rutherford and Cleveland counties in North Carolina, and in neighboring Spartanburg County, S.C. These antebellum estates include:

Green River Plantation

Seven Hearths Plantation

Mill-Screven Plantation

White Oak Plantation

Cleghorn Plantation

Fox Haven Plantation

Sidney Villa Plantation

Four Columns Plantation

Taking readers on a room-by-room tour, Lattimore comments on the architecture, symbolism and lore of each property. He places each property in its historical context and explains its design and decoration, as well as its transformation or preservation through the years. Lattimore also tells stories of the families who played significant roles in the building, maintenance or restoration of these architectural treasures.

The 200-page hardcover book is illustrated with dozens of vintage images gleaned from the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, and the South Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

Lattimore is an award-winning author of more than 15 books of local and regional history that record and celebrate the history and cultural heritage of the Carolinas. He was named the 2009-2010 North Carolina Historian of the Year by the N.C. Society of Historians (NCSH). He is a four-time recipient of the Willie Parker Peace N.C. History Book Award, and has also received the D.T. Smithwick Award for Historical Journalism, and the Ethel Twiford Award for Religious History, all presented by the NCSH.

Lattimore also received the 2007 First Place History Writing Award from the N.C. Baptist State Convention, earned five writing awards from the North Carolina Press Association and was honored by the North Carolina Main Street Program for the creation of two heritage exhibits in Rutherford County in 2009. &bsp;

Rural Splendor: Plantation Houses of the Carolinas is Lattimores 16th book. It is available at bookstores across both North and South Carolina. For more information, contact the publisher, Hilltop Publications, P.O. Box 1637, Rutherfordton, N.C. 28139, visit the authors website at www.robinlattimore.com, or call 828-447-1474.

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