The Latta House in Prairie Grove, Arkansas

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The Latta House, a witness of the Battle of Prairie Grove in 1862 - on December 7th it will be the 150th anniversary.

For Blake Whitley, it reminds of his great-great grandfather, who lost his arm to a canon ball in that fierce struggle. For Donna Head Martin, the view of this house calls sweet memories: time ago, a youngster got down on one knee on the front porch and asked her to marry him. They have been husband and wife since then, for better and for worse, for all these years. And I think the gesture of that youngster spoke volumes of his love for Donna, also of the spirit of the place, the special feeling of Southerners for their history. It was that place, charged with a special spirit, making a strong sense to him, raising all his senses to the absolute.

I have lived for seven years in a place where the South begins, and I think I observed that special feeling. It's impossible to name it. It's subtle. You can be there and not get it. You need a peculiar sense, to get the view of a monument here, an inscription in a church or in a graveyard there, to understand that fluid thing. It's the spirit of the South. Not far from the building I was living, there was a rock, on the sidestreet. An inscription on the rock, mentioning the first Confederate soldier who had been wounded in the Civil War, in that place.

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