Smith was cited for the impact his novels have made on Floridians, both natives and newcomers to the state, and for the worldwide acclaim he has received. In May 2002 Smith was the recipient of the Florida Historical Society’s Fay Schweim Award as the “Greatest Living Floridian.” The one-time-only award was established to honor the one individual who has contributed the most to Florida in recent history. Patrick Smith is a 1999 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, the highest and most prestigious cultural honor that can be bestowed upon an individual by the State of Florida. They invest it in buying land, once free to all, now owned and fenced and increasingly populated, until it becomes just a land remembered. Sol and his family earn more and more gold doubloons from cattle sales, as well as dollars from their orange groves. In Volume 2, with the birth of Zech and Glenda's son, Solomon, a new generation of MacIveys learns to ride horses, drive cattle, and teach rustlers a thing or two. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp.

The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel.

A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith