Southern Travels: Journal of John H. B. Latrobe 1834

Fortunately, for today's reader, John H. B. Latrobe was a journal-keeper. "Southern Travels" reveals Latrobe at his best: a writer whose descriptive powers bring a two-month period in late 1834 into sharp focus. Latrobe records the events of his journey from New York to Natchez, where Mrs. Latrobe planned to stay the winter with her family, and of his return trip by stagecoach to their home in Baltimore. Latrobe's eye for detail is unsurpassed. Life on shipboard, the Creole city of New Orleans, the river town of Natchez, and the hazards of stagecoach travel all come to life under his pen- and his brush. An accomplished artist, he produced watercolors of sights encountered along the way and adorned his journal with marginal drawings. Latrobe, son of Benjamin H. B. Labtrobe, architect and designer of the nation's capitol, chose law as his profession. That he was accomplished in other fields as well is evident by perusing his journal. Here is an agreeable companion to guide the reader through the nineteeth-century South.