The

A NewsletterTraveller of the Bartram Trail Conference Fall, 2012 The Moravians

andPaula Locklair the BartramsBethabara and Bethania records: Vice President, Education Oct. 2. A botanist from Philadelphia Old Salem Museums & Gardens stopped on his journey and inspected our medical garden, and certain other places. y October 1762 the Moravians had He said the slope below our God’s Acre been actively settling, building and [cemetery] was a great treasure-house.” generallyB establishing themselves in the North Carolina Piedmont for nine years. This botanist was John Bartram (1699- They had purchased a tract of nearly 1777) who was traveling in the south, and 100,000 acres, which they called Wacho- he recorded visiting the Moravians in two via, from John Carteret, the Earl of Gran- letters written in the autumn of 1762. He ville, a Proprietor of the Royal Province of seems to have been the first of a long list North Carolina. of notable American and European natu- As word spread that these reliable peo- ralists and botanists who found their way William visited the Moravians, and it ple were establishing towns in the wil- to the Moravian lands in North Carolina. is not known how much the Moravians derness, travelers regularly visited them His son, William, also made extensive stayed in contact with the Bartrams. But in their first two settlements, Bethabara travels through the southeast. The result by May 1792 Samuel Kramsch of Salem and Bethania. Four other communities of Williams’ travels was his book, Travels had ordered a copy of William Bartram’s followed, including the primary town for Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, new book for £15 through a prominent government and trade, Salem, in 1766. East & West Florida… published in Phila- Philadelphia merchant, Godfrey Haga, The Moravians kept voluminous writ- delphia by James and Johnson, 1791. also a Moravian. ten records, and the 1762 Diary for Unlike his father, it does not seem that continued on page 7

1 “On the banks of a winding canal rare and exotic shrubs flourished. In the midst of winter, evergreens were clothed in full verdure, with- out exposure to the open air; a glass Upton House door from the house gave entrance to a suite of hot and greenhouses, nearly 260 feet in extent, containing Dr. John Fothergill’s estate upwards of 3,400 species of exot- ics, whose foliage was a perpetual verdure, and in the open ground in summer nearly 3,000 distinct species of plants and shrubs vied with the natives of Asia and Africa. “That science should not suffer a loss when a plant he had cultivated should die, he liberally paid the best artists to draw the new ones as they came to perfection; and so numerous were they that he found it needful to employ three or four artists in order to keep pace with their increase. His garden was known all over Europe. Foreigners of all ranks asked permis- sion to see it.” View of old Upton House and the famed botanical gardens of Dr. John Fothergill. Fothergill died in 1780. From the time Originally produced for the John Cooke partwork publication The Modern Universal British of his death to 1786 the property was in Traveller, London: 1779. Copper line engraving on paper. Later hand colour. the hands of the executors of the estate and his sister, Anne, lived on in the house. illiam Bartram’s sponsor for his his medical practice, but it is not cer- James Sheppard bought the house in travels in the southern colonies tain that he spent all of his time at Up- 1787 and renamed it Ham House, pos- Wwas Dr. John Fothergill. Fothergill, was ton House for he was much in demand sibly because there was another Upton a well known physician, Quaker phi- as a physician. Possibly Upton House House nearby. After his death in 1812 lanthropist, botanist, campaigner for was a retreat that he used as often as he Sheppard’s son-in-law, Samuel Gurney, the abolition of slavery, and the owner could. A local legend says that Fother- purchased the estate and lived there un- of one of the best known gardens in gill had so little time to devote to his til he died in 1856. The house was de- England. Fothergill built a very suc- garden during daylight hours, because molished in 1872. In 1874 the Gurney cessful career as a doctor and in 1762 he of the demand of his patients, that he family offered the estate for sale to West was able to purchase a house and thir- would inspect the garden in the eve- Ham Corporation, at below value, for ty acres near West Ham, northeast of ning by lantern light. use as a park and the West Ham Park London. The estate, named Rooke Hall, Fothergill began adding acreage to opened on July 20, 1874. It is today the was previously owned by Admiral El- the estate and built hot houses attached largest park in the Newham Borough of liot and dates back to the late sixteenth to Upton House. He enlisted the help London at 77 acres. All that remains of century. Elliot had begun improving of sailors in searching for new and in- Upton House is a stone cairn that was the property, including the planting of teresting plants. He paid collectors to erected when the park was built. Cedars of Lebanon from seeds brought travel to Canada, the Alps, and Africa. Today West Ham park is one of east from the Near East. Fothergill began Fothergill employed fifteen men to London’s most popular parks. It has enlarging the estate, renamed the home work the gardens and artists to draw his seven acres of ornamental gardens and Upton House, and created a grander plants. He employed Daniel Solander is noted for its nursery that supplies 200 garden where he could feature plants to catalogue the plants, including those species of plants for surrounding parks. acquired from foreign lands. He trav- acquired from William Bartram. A con- The web site for West Ham Park is ❀ elled from Upton to London to attend temporary description of the estate says, http://bit.ly/T9Dj5v

2 Location of Upton House (renamed Ham House) in the early nineteenth Location of West Ham Park in modern day London (from Google century. From the Ordnance Survey First Series, Sheet 1. Maps).

N W E S

020406080100 metres

We st Ham Park 104 Bus stop/request 238 stop Ornamental Garden 1 Flag Pole Lawn No Public Access (hosting national collection of Nursery Liquidambar) (No Public Access) 2 Iris Garden Tarmac Path 3 Rose Garden

4 Terrace Area AILEEN Block Paving Path 5 Bridge View

6 Liquidambar Bed

W Information point 7 New Zealand Bed ALK Public telephone 8 Heather Bed 9 Rockery with Alpines Public Convenience 10 Fothergill Bed Facilities for the 11 Pond disabled 12 Walled Garden Steps (all other paths are easy 13 Jubilee Food Garden Superintendent’s access routes) Office 14 14 Wildlife Education Garden 13 Playground 15 Orchard Paddling Pool First Aid Post Notice board 2 km (1.6mile) 15 Walking/Jogging Route View to the Olympic Fitness Equipment Park ʻOrbitʼ Refreshment Kiosk

Please note that for safety reasons, unauthorised vehicles are not permitted in the park

Park opening – The Park is open from 7.30am every day until dusk. If you would like to tell us your ideas for how the park could be The Toilets are open from 7.45am until 15 minutes before closing. improved, contact us by emailing parks.gardens@ cityoflondon.gov.uk. Children's Playground – The playground is open from 9.30am every day Want to get involved? To find out more about helping to shape future until 30 minutes before park closing time (8pm in the summer months). plans for the park and volunteering opportunities please contact the Park Catering – An ice-cream van is available in the summer providing Office on 020 8472 3584 or parks.gardens@ cityoflondon.gov.uk or refreshments. Picnics are welcome and benches are provided in the Park. see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/westhampark

Map of West Ham Park. The Cairn marks the site of Upton House, later Ham House, Dr. John Fothergill’s country home. Map reproduced with the permission of West Ham Park, City of London

3 Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps Contemporary Botanical Artists Exhibition Schedule For more information, contact Explore the Bartrams’ Legacy Bartram’s Garden Gallery Carol Woodin, Director of Exhibitions 54th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard American Society of Botanical Artists A Traveling Exhibition of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The New York Botanical Garden American Society of Botanical April 26–May 24, 2013 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 10458-5126 South Florida Museum Artists 866.691.9080 201 10th Street West [email protected] Bradenton, Florida ohn Bartram and his family influenced www.asba-art.org generations of artists and explorers, by September–December, 2013 Jmodeling passionate observation and dis- Cherokee Garden Library/Atlanta covery of nature. The American Society History Center of Botanical Artists, in collaboration with 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, PA, is Atlanta, Georgia curating an exhibition of original con- March 17–June 17, 2014 temporary botanical artworks depicting plants discovered and introduced by the Bartrams, American pioneers in botany and horticulture. Artists from ASBA’s international membership will submit artworks for consideration, and a team of four jurors will select approximately 40 works for inclusion. Focusing on the native plant discoveries made by John and William in their travels throughout the east- ern wilderness between the 1730’s and 1790’s, the exhibition allows a fresh look at their seminal body of knowledge and art. An illustrated, full-color booklet will be published to elucidate the exhibition’s artworks and their links to John and Wil- liam Bartram.

The Traveller is published by the Bartram Trail Conference Chuck Spornick, President Dorinda Dallmeyer, Vice President Anne Hurst Weeks, Treasurer Marc Jolley, Editor Brad Sanders, Publisher ©Karen Kluglein, Franklinia alatamaha, watercolor on vellum

4 “The traveler and poet”: Niemcewicz visits William Bartram Kathryn Braund and it is clear from his own writing that try; not a leaf had opened, but in spite Niemcewicz found Bartram’s writing as of the winds, or rather the hurricanes, n March 1798, Julian Ursyn Niemce- appealing as his botanizing. Like Samuel which were blowing for many days wicz journeyed to the Kingsessing home Taylor Coleridge, he appears to have been the roads were terribly muddy and our ofI another traveler, William Bartram, who particularly impressed with Bartram’s East horses were sunk to their girths. We was then 59 years old. The Polish traveler Florida adventures. Niemcewicz settled crossed at Grays ferry, which is skirted seemingly had little in common with the for a time in the United States and mar- on the other side of the Skulkill [River] American botanist. Born in 1757 (some ried an American. He returned to Poland by a picturesque and wild cliff. We ar- sources say 1758), the younger man’s pas- in 1807 and later published an account of rived at the farmhouse. It is built of sion was literature, not plants. And as Bar- his American travels in Polish: Podróże po great stones with a few rustic columns tram returned to his garden, Niemcewicz Ameryce 1797–1807. The work, translated of the same material. The garden ex- became embroiled in Polish politics, serv- by Metchie J. E. Budka, was published in tends as far as the Skulkill. It was not ing as a deputy in the Polish parliament. 1965 by the New Jersey Historical Society the moment to see it. There was not While Bartram’s Travels was advertised at Newark with the title: Under their Vine yet a green leaf. Straightway I came in 1790, Niemcewicz was publishing a and Fig Tree: Travels through America in upon Bartram, the traveler and poet. scathing political comedy, Powrót posla 1797-1799, 1805, with Some Further Ac- He is a man between 50 and 60, small, (The Deputy’s Return). Like Travels, Niem- count of Life in New Jersey. spare, with a quick-tempered air. In a cewicz’s work proved popular. The writer- The excerpt below describes his visit to red vest and leather breeches, he was politician turned soldier in 1794 when the Bartram house in March, 1798, and digging up the ground. Is this the gi- he joined the Polish insurrection against provides interesting observations on Bar- ant, I said to myself, who engaged in Russia, serving as Tadeusz Kościuszko’s tram and the family’s business, as well as such frightful battles with alligators aide-de-camp. Bartram’s brother, John Bartram Jr., who and bears? He seemed to me gentle and Americans revered Kościuszko for his had inherited his father’s house and hor- upright. A little further on his brother earlier efforts in the American Revolution. ticulture business and was perhaps a little was squatting on the bank of a sort of He helped erect fortifications in the Hud- annoyed that yet another visitor had ar- a stream, his hands completely buried son River theater, thereby contributing to rived to distract him and his famous broth- in the mud; he was planting something. the defeat of General John Burgoyne at er from their work. Niemcewicz mentions His manner was not affable; he im- Saratoga in October 1777. He later served Franklinia alatamaha, a beautiful flowering proved later; he showed us a few trees with distinction in the southern campaign, tree that is the Bartrams’ most famous dis- and bushes, brought for the most part and was hailed as a hero for his role in the covery and Gaultheria procumbens, a small from Georgia and the Carolinas, and American victory at Ninety-Six in South shrub with a wintergreen scent and bright the remainder from the Continent. His Carolina. He ended the war as a brigadier red fruit, best known today as teaberry or interest in botany, added to the profits general in the Continental Army and was a creeping wintergreen, which was includ- he has made from it, has led him to life-long friend of leading American com- ed on the family’s 1783 plant catalog. As undertake, at times, journeys of 100 manders, including George Washington. Niemcewicz observed, the leaves are used miles solely to go into a forest to collect Kościuszko did not achieve the same to brew an herbal tea that the Americans there a plant or a bush. Franklinia is a success against the armies of Catherine II substituted for imported tea during the pe- tree from Georgia, with a superb flower; of Russia, who smashed the Polish insur- riod of the American Revolution. He also Gotheria procumbens from Jersey with its gence. Kościuszko and Niemcewicz were notes the efforts of the Bartrams to pro- little leaves of deep green speckled with both imprisoned in Russia for two years. duce oriental teas. red; they taste like honey; during the While in prison, Niemcewicz passed the This excerpt comes from page 52 of wars it was served instead of tea. The time by translating major works of Eng- Budka’s translation. Budka’s footnotes have hothouse is neither big nor luxuriant. I lish literature into Polish. Following their been omitted and some text supplied in have seen there green tea from China release from prison, Niemcewicz and brackets for clarity. and Boh[e]a. Its leaves are a deep green, Kościuszkoto headed to America, where an inch and a half in length when they the pair visited George Washington as I was acquainted with Bartram through are allowed to grow; but for drinking well as Thomas Jefferson and other leading his voyage into the Floridas. Having they are picked very young, especially Americans. How Bartram’s work came to learned that he was settled with his those of Imperial Tea. Bartram deals his attention remains a mystery, but both brother five miles from Phil[adelphia], I and plants, flowers, bushes, etc.; he sells Jefferson and Washington were custom- went to see him. It was 24th of March. much to Europe. He is the best botanist ❀ ers of the Bartram horticultural business The season was very late for this coun- in this country.

5 Spalding’s Lower Store Tour And the beat By Sam Carr bricks identified the location of fireplaces. he Putnam Blueways and Trails Citi- He pointed out the location of the Trad- goes on… zen Support Organization are dedi- ing Post and the McLatchie residence Larry and Debbie Quick catedT to the use of the trails in this small where William Bartram stayed during Florida county. On their paddling trip his 1774 tour. The group was fascinated artram would be proud—approxi- from Hermits Cove Marina on the Seven at the detail and amount of information Bmately 50 intrepid naturalists, schol- Sisters Paddling Trail in October a small he recalled. ars, historians, and adventurers all, follow- group passed the site of Spalding’s Lower As the group departed Mr. Wilson ing in his footsteps with the same keen Store at Stokes Landing near Palatka, FL. asked “Do you want to see the treasure eyes, inquisitive minds and love of life! The Putnam County Waterways Com- map?” which brought them to a halt. He In 2007, a group of Bartram Trail Con- mittee has formed a Bartram Trail Com- explained that a treasure hunter he chased ference attendees traveled to the Tensaw mittee. Its chair, Sam Carr, was leading out of his yard had given him an old map Delta in lower Alabama for a post confer- the paddle. Mr. William Wilson spotted of Stokes Landing. He didn’t know where ence tour to launch canoes and explore the paddlers and invited them to land and the map came from but it sure looks au- portions of the newly dedicated Bartram join him on a guided tour of the site of thentic and old. It has a lot of the Bartram Canoe Trail. The group included among the Lower Store. He has lived here for all characteristics—complete with drawings others, Rosa & John Hall, Kathryn 80 of his years and had a fantastic knowl- of a battoe and schooner—both used by Braund, Joel Fry, and the late Davida Has- edge of Bartram’s hangout. He even has a Bartram in and out of Stokes Landing. tie (founding member of the BTC and a Spanish Land Grant survey marker in his The elements are numbered for illustra- visionary for the Bartram Canoe Trail). yard. His homestead is the location of part tion like Bartram’s detailed maps and Having just attended the inspiring con- of the Lower Store site. His barn built in drawings. The map excited the group. It ference held at Alabama’s new Delta Re- the 1920s is still standing. He pointed and is below. source Center, the group was primed for said, “I was born between those two oak For Bartram aficionados, it was a de- exploring the landscape—perhaps even trees.” light. The Bartram Trail Committee seeing bits and pieces of what William Wilson witnessed the University of is discussing with Mr. Wilson and his Bartram had seen for himself over 225 Florida’s excavation of the site years ago neighbors how to use part of the property years ago. and remembers where the stockade post- for a memorial and kiosk. This would be a While shuttling people to the canoe ❀ holes were found and where charcoal and major win for the group. launch, Rosa Hall spotted a splash of yel- low, lighting up a ditch on the side of the road. Could it be? Yesterday’s speakers had just addressed several of William Bar- tram’s “finds” as he traveled and botanized through this area. Rosa’s keen eyes had indeed spotted what Bartram had described as “a new species of Oenothera …perhaps the most pompous and brilliant plant yet known to exist.” For confirmation, Rosa asked Joel Fry, curator at Bartram’s Garden to look at the plant—indeed it was Oenothera grand- continued on page 7

Copy of Mr. Wilson’s ‘treasure map’. Notice old English writing on left side. Mr. Spalding also owned Stokes Island.

6 2013 Biennial Conference Highlands, North Carolina he BTC will hold its 2013 biennial advice. Jim, Lamar Marshall, and Wal- Looking forward to the mountains of conference in western North Caroli- ter Wingfield from the NCBTS will be western North Carolina in 2013! naT at The Mountain Retreat and Learning working with us in developing the pro- Chuck Spornick Center (aka The Mountain). The Moun- gram for the meeting. tain, a few miles west of Highlands, NC, was used at the site of a joint BTC/ North Carolina Bartram Trail Society (NCBTS) meeting in 1999; and has been used sev- eral times by the NCBTS for meetings. The dates for our meeting are: Friday October 11, 2013 through Sunday October 13, 2013. The registration fee for the conference has not been set. For more information about The Mountain: http://mountaincenters.org/pages/ home.php Special thanks to members of the con- ference planning committee, Kathryn Braund, Dorinda Dallmeyer, Tom Hal- lock, and Brad Sanders. The group looked at various sites and scenarios and selected The Mountain for its location, amenities, and price. Also thanks to Jim Kautz and the NCBTS for their suggestions and On the North Carolina Bartram Trail at Scaly Mountain the beat goes on, continued from page 6 bama and gave an excellent talk on Wil- The Moravians and the Bartrams, con- flora—the Large Flowered Evening Prim- liam Bartram. Kathryn Holland Braund tinued from page 1 rose! Joel immediately rescued one of the shared seed with me that had been collect- It is reasonable that Samuel Kramsch plants from the closely mowed ditch and ed by the late Davida Hastie. I promptly (1756–1824) wanted this new book be- carried the Alabama native back home sowed the seed and planted out several of cause he was a Moravian minister and with him to Bartram’s Garden in Phila- the plants that came up in our wildflower teacher with an active interest in botany. delphia. garden where they thrived. Over the last He corresponded with many botanists Although not a particularly rare plant, few years I have grown the Primrose and and often accompanied those who visited it is unusual to find Evening Primrose been able to share seed and plants through Wachovia on plant collecting trips. offered in the horticulture trade. Now, our family nursery and now as a hobby. A copy of Bartram’s book is in the col- thanks to several people, particularly Da- Although not quite on the scale of the lection of the Moravian Archives, South- vida Hastie who returned to the area to “Bartram boxes”, full of botanical treasures ern Province, Winston-Salem, North collect seed in the fall of 2007, members of destined for Europe, the aforementioned Carolina. Because it does not have an The Bartram Trail conference can request people continue on in the same vein as owner’s signature, it is not known if this is seed and grow their own “pompous and William Bartram—“Puc Puggy” —The the copy ordered by Samuel Kramsch. But brilliant plants” at home. Flower Hunter. The beat does go on. nonetheless, it is a certain example of the As a newcomer to the Bartram Trail If you would like to request a small Moravians’ abiding interests in new infor- Conference in 2008 and Director of Al- number of Oenothera grandiflora seed mation and specifically in their world of ❀ dridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL, please send a self-addressed, stamped en- the American South. I was excited to bring “all things Bartram” velope to Larry & Debbie Quick, 7901 Photographs courtesy of the Moravian Ar- to our garden, our members and our visi- Lee Road 390, Opelika, AL 36804. Grow- chives, Winston-Salem, NC. ❀ tors. John Hall came over from West Ala- ing instructions will be included.

7

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