South Carolina is a state of legend, some of it carefully crafted and burnished with time. Most surprising — even to those who call it home — is its diversity, in geography, language, food, customs. The Upstate, where Avery lives, includes foothills and parts of the Southern Appalachian Mountain chain. The folks who settled that part of the country went there for the same reason settlers went into those mountains as far up the chain as Maine: they wanted to be left alone.

South Carolina runs from the mountains to the sea. After the hills come the Piedmont, gently rolling, lots of industry and growing cities like Greenville and the I-85 corridor.

Downstate, the Midlands are sandy, with the state capitol of Columbia, complete with cannon pockmarks left when General Sherman visited.

Then come the Low Country, first sandy, then swampy, more like the traditional picture of the deep South.

And through it all, the elements of family, faith, love of land, good food, and quirkiness abound.