re: Mid 19th century life in the American south, what do you think it was like?

My Paw Paw (born in 20s) grew up with his grandmother (born early 1850s) in St Martinville. He said the way she described things, it was an extremely tight-knit, community based society. They attended mass usually 3-4 times a week. Otherwise they worked the fields. Celebrations of all sorts were constant. Nearly every time a family was killing off a pig or cow, they would invite neighbors. For fun, they had little games I never heard of. They spoke only french at home, and broken English. She remembers distinctly as a young woman when freed slaves were allowed to leave the plantations, and what a change in society took place after the war.

Her favorite thing about the modern age wasn’t electricity so much (idk if it was even in St Martinville at that time), but medicine. She always looked forward to the dentist, or getting “healing pills” from a doctor.