As a storied region, celebrated in history and romance, the South has never lacked inspiration or material for storytelling. Ever since the first voyagers
touched on its shores, the Eden-land of the South has been an Eden-land of the imagination, rich not only in heroic saga and memorabilia but in folk tale and anecdote. Those who came seeking wonders – explorers, colonists, and travelers – found even more than they had dreamed of, and what they did not discover they invented.
As the back country was opened up and the settlers pushed west, the wonders and beauties added to the hyperbole that was to become the stock in trade of guide books and promotional literature, rivaling the tall talk and expansive eloquence of the backwoods.
This virgin “Land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey,” was also the “dark and bloody ground” of a race of giants and supermen, led by Boone and Crockett and their wild sports and sprees, escapes and scrapes, brags and hoaxes were the subjects or models of endless yarns and tall tales.