Forever Dixie: A Field Guide to Southern Cemeteries & Their Residents

When author/photographer Douglas Keister's book Stories in Stone came out in 2004, Sunset magazine stated, "Keister has done for cemetery exploration what Audubon did for birding." Since then, cemetery fans have been clamoring for more. Keister has answered them with Forever Dixie, an exploration of thirteen of the South's best cemeteries and forty notable southerners who have chosen to call the South their permanent home. Forever Dixie gives cemetery explorers GPS directions to the graves of famous southerners such as Martin Luther King Jr., Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Colonel Sanders, Casey Jones, Johnny Mercer, and dozens more. Also featured are interesting and unique graves of ordinary citizens like Thelma Holford of Jonesboro, Arkansas, who commissioned an Italian marble statue of herself and her beloved dog, Bunnie. Forever Dixie is a great gift for all those who call America's southern states home and for those who may have moved but whose hearts, souls, and roots still live in the South.
Photographer/writer Douglas Keister has authored thirty-six critically acclaimed books, including the highly praised book on cemetery exploration, Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography, and Going Out in Style, a book about cemetery art and architecture. His twenty-five books on residential architecture include Inside the Bungalow, Storybook Style, Red Tile Style, Classic Cottages, and Cottages. Keister also writes and illustrates magazine articles and contributes photographs and essays to dozens of magazines, newspapers, books, calendars, posters, and greeting cards worldwide. He lives in Chico, California.