The
A NewsletterTraveller of the Bartram Trail Conference Fall, 2014
“superb terebenthine Pines” described by Remembering Bartram on Bartram refer to the fire-sculpted groves and savannas of longleaf pine that once grew extensively and anciently on the Fall Georgia’s Fall Line Line sand hills in this part of Georgia. The longleaf pines and associated flora and fauna are vanishing icons of our nat- ural heritage, increasingly recognized as worthy of conservation and restoration for their rare ecology, natural beauty, ben- efits to wildlife, and economic value—all things that William Bartram recognized and appreciated about this landscape, two and a half centuries ago. In recent years, an unlikely partnership of Army trainers, foresters, ecologists, and hunting enthusiasts have been collaborat- ing on a project that might just resurrect continued on page 5
An “airy grove” of longleaf pine on nearby Fort Benning, sustained by frequent low-intensity fire. According to biologists with The Nature Conservancy, this forest structure (with grassland openings) is similar to what Bartram would’ve seen frequently on his Fall Line journey of 1775.
By Wade Harrison Director of Land Protection, The Nature Con- an expansive green savanna, their banks servancy, Atlanta GA, [email protected] ornamented with coppices of blooming aromatic shrubs and plants perfuming the ARION COUNTY, GEORGIA. air.” In July 1775, on his horseback A motorist retracing Bartram’s path journeyM toward the Creek Indian towns today through Marion County, Geor- on the Chattahoochee River, William gia, might find refuge from uncomfort- Bartram was tormented by summer heat, able weather and biting flies, but would severe thunderstorms, and biting flies. have to search mightily to discover the Nevertheless, he described the natural airy groves of pine, the glittering rills and Monument to William Bartram on the new wonders of Georgia’s western frontier pellucid brooks, and the expansive green Chattahoochee Fall Line WMA in Marion with his typical eloquent passion, as the savannas that Bartram described so fre- County, GA. The other side is inscribed “Erected group paused at mid-day “on the acclivity quently and famously in Travels. Much of by the Bartram Trail Society, which was founded of a high swelling ridge planted with open that landscape has been lost to cattle pas- at Zion Episcopal Church Talbotton, Georgia on airy groves of the superb terebenthine ture, farm ponds, brushy second-growth 2 February 1970 in the morning and jour- Pines, glittering rills playing beneath, woods, industrial pine plantation, and the neyed here to hike this portion of the trail in the and pellucid brooks meandering through scattered sprawl of rural landowners. The afternoon.”
1/Fall 2014 130 near Lake Keowee. StreetView visual searching discovered this marker and its Searching for Bartram latitude and longitude were determined to be N34.80490, W82.90550. At this lo- cation the StreetView image date is May Historical Markers 2013, and guarantees that this marker was in place recently. In some cases, StreetView reveals only that some other technique is needed. A Historical Attractions web page dis- covered by an internet search showed a Bartram marker to be located near an intersection in Aiken County, SC. Street- View searching did not discover a marker anywhere in the vicinity. Fortunately, that Historical Attractions page also listed phone numbers for local historical orga- nizations. Phone contact lead to the dis- covery that this marker had been knocked over by a utility crew working after an ice storm. The marker had then been moved to the Silver Bluff Audubon Center. Its Bartram marker at the Silver Bluff Audubon Center location is too distant from the roadway to be observed in StreetView. During a Harry Gatzke vided information on an initial collection Christmas visit to the area, a side trip to of 50 Bartram markers. Since anyone with the marker permitted me to directly mea- he Bartram Trail Conference con- internet access can contribute additions sure the marker’s latitude and longitude. vened October 2011 on the Macon to these databases, they are revisited from The marker is now listed as one of the StateT College campus. On Saturday after- time to time to take advantage of any found markers. noon, near a spring where William Bar- newly added Bartram marker informa- The count of found Bartram mark- tram likely paused en route to the Gulf tion. Both database sites included latitude ers now stands at 77. Three of the mark- coast, we dedicated a new William Bar- and longitude for each marker. Knowing ers, all referring to John Bartram, are in tram Trail historical marker. The next day these coordinates was chosen as one crite- Pennsylvania. The remaining 74, which we reassembled at Ocmulgee National rion for declaring a marker to be “found.” include 45 BTC markers, are located in Monument. There, near the parking lot, Expanding the list of found mark- six of the eight states represented on the a second Bartram marker stood. Encoun- ers using all available resources has been original BTC Board of Managers. Most tering two such markers in as many days an on-going effort. Most references to a of the Bartram markers are in Georgia provoked my curiosity. At the first op- Bartram marker (excluding the two da- and Florida, 28 and 25, respectively. Less- portunity, I googled “Bartram Historical tabases) describe at best its approximate er numbers are in Alabama, South Caro- Marker” and began a search. Target of the location, such as the county, the city, or lina, North Carolina and Mississippi, 11, search is any historical marker with “Bar- sometimes a nearby intersection. Exten- 6, 3 and 1, respectively. The search to date tram” in its title or inscription, referring to sive travel is not a part of this project. found no Bartram marker in Louisiana or either William or John. Historical mark- Consequently, a technique to determine a Tennessee. Evidence exists that Louisiana ers erected with assistance of the Bartram marker’s latitude and longitude remotely once had a marker, but it has not been lo- Trail Conference (hereafter referred to as was needed. Google’s StreetView is a use- cated by this search. The Bartram marker BTC markers) are of particular interest, ful tool to achieve this end. StreetView status for Louisiana should change in the but markers emplaced independently of digital images are captured along many future. LSU Hilltop Arboretum’s web site the BTC are also included in the search highways. The images are accessible details their plan to erect four new mark- findings. through Google Maps. Using StreetView ers in cooperation with the BTC. There The initial Google search yielded fifty one can virtually travel along a highway is no hard evidence that Bartram traveled thousand web site hits. Fortunately, near looking for a roadside marker. If a mark- in what is now the state of Tennessee. An the top of the list were two database sites: er is observed, its latitude and longitude online dataset of 2337 Tennessee histori- Historical Marker Database (Hmdb.org) can then be determined by interrogating cal marker inscriptions was located during and waymarking.com. Each of these data- Google Maps. For example, the map on this effort. A search in that dataset turned bases includes a sub collection specifically page 180 of Brad Sanders’ Guide to Wil- up no occurrence of “Bartram.” This result designated to contain William Bartram liam Bartram’s Travels, shows a BTC suggests that it is unlikely a Bartram his- historical markers. These two sources pro- marker along South Carolina State Route torical marker is located in Tennessee.
2/Fall 2014 The list of found Bartram markers is available on a Google site titled “Bartram The Bethesda Academy Marker Marker Search”
3/Fall 2014 his Florida travels and the site of the In- Bartram Trail in Putnam County to Host dian frolic; Mount Royal where he and his father were so taken by the ancient the 2015 Bartram Trail Conference earthworks; Rollestown where he rested; By Sam Carr The theme of the conference will be The Palatka’s waterfront site of the watermelon Art and Science of William Bartram and feast and snake killing; and Murphy Island he 2015 meeting of the Bartram Trail celebrates John and William’s 250th anni- where he stowed away his valuable belong- Conference will be held on the shores versary of their trip to the St. Johns River. ings. There are even plans for a “Bartram ofT William Bartram’s beloved St. Johns Four topics will be covered during the Triathlon” featuring a paddling, hiking, and River in Palatka, Florida. John and Wil- conference: (1) The art of William Bartram biking tour for active Bartram aficionados. liam Bartram first paddled up the St. Johns featuring the prints held by the Natural The City of Palatka plans to host the River in December of 1765 and we will History Museum in London and other lo- Conference with a Bartram Frolic on the convene there almost on the exact date. cations and his literary art, (2) the science riverfront on Saturday afternoon featuring The dates for the conference are October of William Bartram featuring the natural William Bartram, his Indian friends, and 16–18, 2015. The conference will be held history of the St. Johns River, (3) William a six-foot long ‘trout’ sculpture. They will in the Ravine Gardens State Park and Pal- Bartram and the Indians and slaves on the showcase the St. Johns River Education atka’s riverfront park. This promises to be a St. Johns River, and, (4) the travels of John Center that features Bartram displays and very exciting conference. and William Bartram on the St. Johns wetlands education. The Bartram Trail in The keynote speaker will be Judith Ma- River featuring the current sites. Putnam County can be visited on the web gee, the Rare Books Curator of the Natu- There will be opportunities to visit many at http://bartram.putnam-fl.com/. ral History Museum in London. She is of the sites of Bartram’s travels through Details will be available on the BTC web a premier authority and author on John the area by boating, kayaking, bicycling, site in March of 2015. Plan on signing up and William Bartram’s travels on the St. and hiking. The Putnam County Bartram early, there will be a limit to attendees. You Johns River and throughout the north- committee is organizing trips throughout may contact Sam Carr at 386-937-3901 or ❀ eastern corridor. She has assisted Putnam the county that will include the site of [email protected] with questions. County in developing their Bartram Trail. Spalding’s Lower Store where he based
4 Into the Cowee Valley with Bartram Book Philip Lee Williams mer. (Brent is also a first-rate poet.) The group of those taking the class in Announcement ur small group sat in Rickman’s early June was small. But they were in- Matthew Jennings, ed. The Flower Hunter Store, a museum of a roadside shop telligent and massively motivated. And inO the beautiful Cowee Valley just a few so I spoke about The Flower Seekerand and the People: William Bartram in the Na- miles north of Franklin, N.C. I was teach- Bartram for well more than an hour be- tive American Southeast. Macon: Mercer ing one session of a summer course on fore we packed up and headed to visit the University Press, 2014 the literature of western North Carolina, Cowee Mound. Matthew Jennings is a Fothergill re- sponsored by the Highlands Biological This Indian mound was built in antiq- cipient. Station. We were looking at the influence uity but used by the Cherokees as a tem- illiam Bartram has rightly been of 19th century American botanist and ple mound during their occupation of the hailed as an astute, perceptive explorer William Bartram on that area of valley. There was a substantial Cherokee the country. village there that served as capital of the chroniclerW of Native American societies. I have been fascinated with Bartram so-called Middle Towns of the Cherokee In some ways he was able to see beyond since I was a boy. From the time Bartram nation. It was in private hands for cen- the dominant ideologies of his day, some died on July 22, 1823, while walking in his turies, and the public was not allowed to of which divided the world’s peoples into garden in Philadelphia, readers have been visit it. categories based on perceived savagism fascinated with the book he wrote about Then, several years ago, the owners sold and civility. This was a noble effort, and his four-year trip around the American the mound and the land around it to the worthy of praise more than two centuries South between 1773 and 1777. Though it Eastern Band of the Cherokees. Since later. Bartram could also use Native Amer- has an endless typically early nineteenth Brent had been involved with helping ican civilization as a foil for an emerging century title, the volume has been known smooth the transaction, he was able to get white American society he saw as crass for two centuries simply as Bartram’s our small group permission to walk across and grasping. Writing in this romantic Travels. a wide field beside the Little Tennes- mode, he was capable of downplaying the I first read the Travels when I was a boy see River and up the steep slopes of the of about 13 or so, and I loved it passion- mound. Bartram’s last night among the extent to which Native communities were ately. It led to my writing of The Flower Cherokees before he tried to head further fully part of the modern world that they Seeker: An Epic Poem of William Bartram into the mountains was at the large struc- and European invaders created together. that Mercer University Press published in ture on this mound. The Flower Hunter and the People tries to 2010. A steady wind on a gorgeous blue day capture both of these aspects of Bartram’s During his trip into the Cherokee wrote its memoirs in the chest-high grass works. Its main purpose is to introduce country on his travels, Bartram made it that now covers the area. The sight was Bartram’s writings on Southeastern Na- as far north as the gorgeous Cowee Val- breathtaking, the feeling that we all had, tive Americans, and to let Bartram and his ley in southwestern North Carolina. I’ve overwhelming. indigenous consultants tell their stories in been going to this area since I was a child, Mercer University Press also published their own words. Along the way, read- taken there by my parents to mine for ru- a new edition of Bartram’s Travels at the ers should also consider this underlying bies and sapphires. My new friend Brent same time they published The Flower fact, which rarely strayed from the Flower Martin, head of the Southeast office of Seeker. If you love the natural world of the the Wilderness Society, invited me to visit American South and the history of its na- Hunter’s mind. William Bartram was a ❀ this class that he teaches here every sum- tive peoples, look up our books. guest in the Native Southeast. He trav- eled on paths smoothed, figuratively and literally, by Native Americans. He stayed Fall Line, continued from page 1 Chattahoochee Fall Line WMA includes in Muskogees’ houses, ate Cherokees’ some of the wonders that Bartram de- many types of forestland, and many lega- food, and was, at times of their choosing, scribed, for all to witness, remember, and cies of natural and human history, some permitted glimpses of his hosts’ world- even emulate. The Chattahoochee Fall ancient, others more recent. views and life ways. It would be too much Line Conservation Partnership is protect- One such legacy stands in an obscure of a stretch to say that Native people co- ing land and natural resources, demon- patch of unplowed ground that has at- authored the passages concerning their strating longleaf pine restoration, recov- tracted little attention for a generation. It societies in Bartram, but the things they ering rare species, and promoting sustain- is not a 300-year-old “terebenthine pine” allowed Bartram to record bore cultural able forestry. Most recently the partners (though savvy explorers may still find and political weight in their own times, have created a new Wildlife Management such a thing, not too far away). It is in- ❀ Area (WMA) that covers over 10,000 stead a beautiful granite monument, likely and they can speak to us in ours as well. acres in Talbot and Marion Counties. erected in the 1970s, by some of the first Opened to the public this year, this new continued on page 7
5/Fall 2014 A Word from the President Fothergill Report indistinguishable from the European”). Dorinda Dallmeyer Thomas Bullington Michaux’s question mark here, along with hope you have had the opportunity to am honored that the Bartram Trail his use of the Latin interrogative “An,” be out on the trail of William Bartram Conference awarded me the Fother- signals his confusion as to whether this Ithis summer. In June I paddled 110 miles Igill Research Award. I first read Wil- oxalis species originated from America, on one of his rivers, the Chattahoochee, liam Bartram’s Travels on 22 April 2012, or from Europe; indeed, any gardener fa- along with 400 other people participat- which appropriately was Earth Day miliar with this oxalis would recognize it ing in Paddle Georgia 2014, the largest that year. I read Bartram’s work at first as a common weed. Similarly, Michaux’s organized paddle in America. This is the to write a seminar paper, but little did I Flora entry for Prunus chicasa (possibly fifth year I have participated. And so has know that Bartram would spark my in- Prunus angustifolia L., the Chickasaw William—at least a laminated copy of terest in eighteenth century botanists. plum) suggests that this shrub was “Ab the Peale portrait has. Some of the riv- Since then, I have been working on my indis introducta” (“introduced by the In- ers we have been on were familiar to him: dissertation in British literature under dians”). Michaux’s suggested origin for the Broad River and its “goldfish,” the the direction of Karen Raber and Jason this Prunus species complicates what Savannah near Augusta, and certainly Solinger at the University of Mississippi. William Bartram observes in the “ancient the lower reaches of the “peaceful Alata- My project examines the intersections of cultivated fields” of the lower Creek ter- maha, gentle by nature.” I’ve taken him Enlightenment botanical texts and eigh- ritories near Wrightsborough, Georgia: paddling down some of the rivers he only teenth century British literature through here Bartram notes that “The Chickasaw had time to cross: the Oconee, the Flint, the ecocritical lens of invasive species. By plum I think must be…certainly a native and the Chattahoochee. Every year I get recovering the stories eighteenth century of America, yet I never saw it wild in the the question “Why do you have a pic- literature tells about exotic plants, and forests, but always in old deserted Indian ture of Thomas Jefferson strapped to your the ways these stories interact with the plantations.” If we ought to believe Mich- kayak?”—a perfect opportunity to tell observations of botanists, I recover a way aux’s entry, where would this Chickasaw people a little bit about someone who ap- of understanding the natural world that plum have been introduced from? Or, if preciated exploring the Southeast nearly predates ecological imperialism, as well as Bartram’s claim holds true instead, is this 250 years ago as much as they do today. the ideological, imaginary roots of what plum indeed a native species? Whether BTC board member Sam Carr and his has become a very real ecological problem an invasive oxalis from the old world, or organizing committee want you to join for us in the twenty-first century. a native plum from the new, these plant William on another of his rivers: the St. My research on Bartram and his con- species suggest that for both botanists the Johns. Palatka, Florida, will host our 2015 temporary, André Michaux, indicates that native-ness of American wilderness was Bartram Trail Conference where the river both botanists saw species introduced not a certainty. will be the centerpiece of our visit Octo- into the American landscape from abroad, These minor details suggest that the ber 16–18. Check out the details on page even in landscapes they considered wil- American landscape these botanists 4. We are grateful for Sam’s hard work derness. Through my Fothergill funding, chronicled already bore witness to the bo- and the enthusiastic support of the peo- I went to Charleston, South Carolina, tanical effects of European colonization. ple, civic organizations, and the local gov- where I visited the archives of the Col- Indeed, the very flora themselves, intro- ernment in Putnam County. Mark your lege of Charleston and the South Caro- duced from abroad, hint that the wilder- calendar and come get your feet wet with lina Historical Society. These archives ness Bartram travels bears the traces of ❀ William and me. contain not only the original Latin of colonization. Thus, while both naturalists Andre Michaux’s Flora Boreali-Americana claimed it as their mission to discover, in (1803) but also a complete French tran- John Fothergill’s words, “rare and use- scription of the Journal of André Michaux ful productions of nature, chiefly in the 1787-1796 by the American Philosophi- vegetable kingdom”, both naturalists list cal Society. Both of these documents re- among those productions non-native spe- vealed Michaux’s awareness that some cies. The presence of these naturalized, of the exotic flora he witnessed in the introduced species in the American wil- American landscape did not originate derness as early as the eighteenth century there. Michaux’s Flora entry for the Ox- suggests that the very wilderness these alis corniculata L. (creeping woodsorrel) naturalists explored already betrayed signs puzzles over whether this humble wood of European influence, signs that perplex sorrel is its own distinct new species, or the botanists’ attempts to assign which “An inde indistincta ab Europæa species?” flora count as authentically “American.” (“A species possibly from that place [but] Interrogating the awareness of these early
6/Fall 2014 naturalists to the environmental impact of Fall Line, continued from page 5 invasive species demonstrates the imme- latter-day advocates for Bartram’s legacy, diacy these early scientific accounts of the who travelled here from nearby Talbotton American landscape hold for scholars in to retrace a portion of Bartram’s journey. the twenty-first century: the human foot- The inscription suggests that Bartram print of our anthropocene era dates much passed “very near this spot in a virgin for- further back than our popular aware- est now unknown and unimaginable to ness of it. Likewise, that human impact us.” It further records their motivation, “in manifests on the landscape in ways that an effort to preserve our vanishing natu- can appear just as natural as a wood sorrel ral heritage, this monument is erected by springing in a field. the Bartram Trail Society and dedicated Thanks to the Bartram Trail Confer- to the memory of all men who come to ence’s support of my investigation, I aim nature with a sense of awe and wonder.” to continue my research of these eigh- Perhaps a more fitting monument to teenth century botanists, further enrich- Bartram will surround this marker some- ing my understanding of what a native (or day, a monument represented by the res- a non-native) plant means to these early urrection of the natural wonders Bartram flower hunters. These investigations not enjoyed, no longer unknown nor unimag- only figure in my broader project to un- ined, but real and functional, biting flies cover ecocritical ways of understanding and all. And visitors might once again An ancient longleaf pine found elsewhere Enlightenment thinkers in the eighteenth travel, as Bartram did, ”over a delightful on the new Chattahoochee Fall Line WMA, century, but also illustrate William Bar- territory, presenting to view variable syl- estimated by ring count to exceed 300 years tram’s enduring importance to the twen- van scenes, consisting of chains of low in age, according to foresters with The Nature ty-first century as we try to make sense hills affording high forests, with expan- Conservancy. It would’ve appeared to be a of our impact on the environment, both sive savannas, Cane meadows and lawns mature pine tree to William Bartram in 1775. now and in the past, both on the physical between, watered with rivulets and glit- landscape, and in the landscapes created tering brooks…” by texts. Thank you for this award, and for For more information contact LuAnn the opportunity to pursue my interests in Craighton, The Nature Conservancy, Co- ❀ ❀ the world William Bartram observed. lumbus GA. [email protected]
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7/Fall 2014 The Traveller c/o Brad Sanders 189 Hidden Hills Lane Athens, GA 30605