The

A NewsletterTraveller of the Bartram Trail Conference Spring 2011 The Road to Whatoga By Jim Kautz “Although Watauga Creek enters the riv- ticulously organized in his computer. His er from the east, the Indian town of that monitor, commanded by quick moves of mong William Bartram’s descriptions name (“Whatoga”) is shown on the west his mouse, flashes from Hunter’s 1731 of Cherokee towns is the pleasant side by some authorities (Hunter’s maps map to Benjamin Hawkins’s journal anecdoteA of his visit to Whatoga. He rode of 1730 and 1751; Swanton, 1922: pl. 7), (1796) to recent photos of deeply worn three miles from Nucasse (now Nikwasi, probably about opposite the creek. On the paths that lie on routes detailed by Bar- in the town of Franklin, NC) and found other hand, Mooney (1900: pl. 3) places it tram and other early travelers. himself beside Whatoga’s council house, on the east side. Perhaps this settlement, He shows me Gen. James Grant’s 1761 which was “situated on the top of an an- like Cowee, occupied both sides of the map and tells me that what Grant and cient artificial mount… .” river.” (389) others called the “Iona-Canara” road was He wrote: The Bartram Heritage Report cites the primary link from the Lower Settle- I was now at a stand how to proceed Harper and goes one step farther: “Nu- ments in South Carolina to Tomotla (near farther, when observing an Indian man casse was on the west side of the river, and Andrews, NC). His finger traces the route at the door of his habitation, three or if it had been necessary for Bartram to on the old map. “See,” he says. “It runs four hundred yards distance from me, cross, it seems likely that he would have along the ridge south of Watauga.” Then beckoning to come to him, I ventured to so indicated.” (Note 96) he shifts to a modern topographical map ride through their lots, being careful to do Watauga Creek does enter the east where he has superimposed Grant’s map no injury to the young plants, the rising bank of the Little Tennessee, but the dis- (he calls it “georeferencing”). Grant’s road hopes of their labour and industry, crossed tance is much less than three miles down- lies virtually beneath the road I drive to go a little grassy vale watered by a silver stream from Nikwasi. If there, Whatoga to the lumber yard and grocery—State 28, stream, which gently undulated through, would have been infringing on Nikwasi. the Bryson City Road. then ascended a green hill to the house, Further, I could see no large area for plan- continued on page 2 where I was cheerfully welcomed at the tations; nor was there much of a hill—the door and led in by the chief, giving the location of the chief ’s house. care of my horse to two handsome youths, Lamar Marshall has a more precise idea his sons. of the location of Whatoga. With years of 2011 Bartram Trail experience in engineering and armed with Within a half-hour’s time, Bartram en- wilderness skills, Lamar has taken on the Conference joyed “sodden venison, hot corn cakes, &c. project of locating the trails and towns of lease mark your calendars for the with a pleasant cooling liquor made of the Cherokees. Employed by Wild South, weekend of October 21–23, 2011. hommony well boiled, mixed afterwards in partnership with Mountain Stewards POur biannual meeting, generously hosted with milk,” ceremonial pipe smoking and and the Southeastern Anthropological by Macon State University and Mercer conversation about affairs in Charleston. Institute, Lamar works with funds pro- University, will feature the usual eclectic (Travels, 350f) vided by the Eastern Band of Cherokee blend of interesting presentations, fellow- In my own peregrinations, I tried to lo- Indians. ship and activity. Featured speakers will cate Whatoga. I felt a bit like Bartram: I A visit to Lamar’s second story office discuss the art of nature writing, the place was “at a stand how to proceed farther,” in his house in Cowee brings an inquir- of the Ocmulgee Mounds in southeastern hemmed in not by corn and beans but by er face to face with more than 700 old history, and the region’s role in garden his- the vague site locations in the literature. maps and journals from the colonial and tory. Check out our website soon, www. ❀ Harper speculates, with little evidence: Revolutionary period—digitized and me- bartramtrail.org, for more information.

1 The Road to Whatoga, continued from page 1 William Bartram’s When I asked Lamar whether Whato- ga was on the west or east side of the river, he replied that the records of Gen. Grif- Georgia: Art and Sci- fith Rutherford’s campaign of 1776 in show that his army came down Watauga Creek from Cowee Mountain and lay on ence on the Southern a high hill overlooking “Watauga Town.” The Cherokees abandoned their town be- fore the army. In the morning, the army Frontier crossed the Little Tennessee River before entering and sacking the town. “The town proper was definitely on the West side of the river when Bartram came through only a few months earlier,” he concludes. We drive down the highway and turn on to Riverbend Road. Bartram’s pan- orama spreads before us. The mound (now reduced by two centuries of plows) where Bartram saw the council house rises near a barn, on a high hill. In the valley is Rocky Branch, a worthy candi- date for “a little grassy vale watered by a silver stream, which gently undulated….” Beyond the creek rises a steep hill where modern house looks out on the fields and the Little Tennessee—a likely spot for the home of Chief Will. Lamar Marshall’s work continues far beyond the “Vale of Cowe.” Already, he has walked about 100 miles of trail seg- Philip Juras discussed his landscape paintings in- ments, including the Indian Gap Trail spired by Bartram’s Travels. across the Smokies, driven along anoth- er 150 to 200 miles of trails that follow ifty Bartram enthusiasts from across in the post-Revolutionary period and Dr. primary or secondary modern roads, and the Southeast assembled in Savannah Drew Lanham bringing that discussion mapped about 150 miles of trails that Fat the Telfair Museum on March 4 for the forward into the 21st century. Landscape cross the Chattahoochee, Cherokee, and daylong conference “William Bartram’s painter Philip Juras, whose exhibition Pisgah Nantahala National Forests. The Georgia: Art and Science on the South- “The Southern Frontier: Landscapes In- project will eventually cover much of ern Frontier.” The conference was spon- spired by Bartram’s Travels” is currently western North Carolina as well as parts of sored by the Bartram Trail Conference, featured at the Telfair Museum, led the Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. la- the Georgia Sea Grant College Program, audience through his process of finding Lamar Marshall may be reached at and re-imaging the landscapes Bartram [email protected] for further infor- Mercer University Press, and College of ❀ Environment and Design at the Univer- wrote about. The afternoon closed with a mation on the Cherokee trails project. sity of Georgia, and organized by BTC reading by southern nature writers Doug board member Dorinda G. Dallmeyer. Davis, John Lane, Janisse Ray, and Thomas Philip Juras exhibition schedule: Speakers included Brad Sanders dis- Rain Crow. Following a reception, confer- Telfair Academy, Savannah, GA cussing William Bartram’s Savannah ex- ence participants enjoyed an after-hours January 28–May 8, 2011 periences, Joel Fry describing Bartram’s tour of the exhibit led by Philip Juras. April 14th, Artist Presentation at the botanical discoveries during his Georgia Telfair’s Jepson Center sojourn, and Dr. Marc Jolley examining The Juras exhibition will remain at the Bartram’s Travels and his other philo- Telfair Museum until May 8 and then Morris Museum, Augusta, GA sophical writing as truly revolutionary open on May 28 at the Morris Museum of May 28–August 14, 2011 Art in Augusta. For a list of other events, documents. The afternoon featured Dr. T. ❀ June 2nd, Opening Reception and Peter Bennett describing Bartram’s impact please see www.bartramproject.com. Artist Presentation on the development of American science

2 Ancient footpaths of a lost era By Lamar Marshall contoured down the mountain towards we negotiated more of the same on other Beech Flats. trails. One trail over the Snowbird Moun- t was a hot day even at 5,000 feet el- I am sure that the original and oldest tains crisscrossed a creek 18 times within evation when we parked the car at In- sections of the trail followed the drainage a couple of miles. I left Kevin at lunch Idian Gap on the crest of the Great Smoky up where it crosses modern U.S. 441. More one day to GPS a trail and was jogging Mountains and began mapping the route than one early record notes that Chero- back thinking how tough and in shape I of the ancient Indian Gap trail that con- kees rode and walked straight up and over was for an aging redneck. At that instant nected the Cherokee claims and hunting the mountains. The English complained I tripped on a branch, dove headlong and grounds of Kentucky with the Middle that they couldn’t follow the steep Chero- hit the rocky trail face first, GPS, pen, and Out Town Cherokee settlements. kee trails on horseback, so they switch- and trail book scattering in every direc- Armed with 10 years of research, 50 backed up the mountains to lessen the tion. I bruised both shins and every one years of cross-country experience, maps, grade. Some of the trails between deadly of the thousand rhododendron snags that GPS, food and water, the two-person mountain precipices were so narrow that my shins hung up on the rest of the day Wild South team (Duke intern Kevin terrified horses, on approaching from op- reminded me that “pride goeth before a Lloyd and myself ) started south toward posite directions and being forced to pass fall.” Qualla Boundary, home of the Eastern one another, rubbed each other’s hair off. I got stung over a dozen times by yel- Band of Cherokees, which lay about 14 As Cherokee trails were enlarged and up- low jackets on four different days, and was miles away. Of course, it would take many graded for pack horses and wagons, they near hypothermia from a blinding rain days to map the route across the rugged were sometimes lengthened to lessen the storm that took us by surprise on Chunky terrain we were about to encounter. steep grades. Gal Mountain. We never stepped on a We slid down the mountainside on What had begun as a fairly open road timber rattler, though old timers warned slick, rocky talus, grabbing hold of tree af- soon vanished in chest high stinging us religiously to beware, the mountains ter tree to prevent us from falling. Even- nettle and treacherous, hidden, wet rocks. were full of them and that a strike from tually our descending compass course We inched our way along, sliding our a large rattler could knock a full grown intersected the bed of the Oconaluftee boots over the slick rocks and taking GPS man to the ground. After seeing a road- Turnpike, a road that was built along por- waypoints every few hundred yards, our killed rattler that looked like the leg of a tions of the Indian trail in the early 1800s. legs burning like fire. The quarter mile of hog, I dug through my many boxes of old, We attempted to walk along the center- nettles yielded to a hundred years of en- outdoor gear and found my camouflaged line of the long-abandoned roadbed that croaching rhododendron and mountain snake leggings. Being a flat-land Alabama laurel thickets that obviously only rabbits, refugee, I didn’t think I would need those short bears or the Cherokee Little People up here in the mountains. I was wrong. could negotiate. We climbed over, de- Those were some of the harder days, but Note: In April 2009, the non-profit orga- toured around and eventually found that the many sunny days of immersion in the nization Wild South was notified by the the best way to move ahead and make wild Appalachian mountains overshad- Cherokee Preservation Foundation of the progress was on our bellies. Our backpacks owed them. I leaned up and became much Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians that hung up on the lowest limbs and we de- stronger with the intense climbing up and it and partner organizations Mountain toured around steaming piles of bear scat. down mountains and tangles of laurel and Stewards and the Southeastern Anthropo- The black bears, it seems, regularly used rhododendron. This is not easy work. Re- logical Institute had been awarded a grant the old turnpike as a main travel-way. searching and documenting Indian trails to complete a project called the Trails of This didn’t make us feel overly safe as we requires an extensive knowledge of cross the Middle, Valley and Out Town Chero- would certainly be eaten before we could country navigation, surveying skills, his- kee Settlements. What began as a project extract ourselves from the impenetrable toric map collections, and state and fed- to reconstruct the trail and road system of thickets. True, the bear would probably eral archives and physical ability. the Cherokee Nation in Western North only have gotten one of us, but as I was It took many years of studying rare his- Carolina and surrounding states became 61, I’m not sure that I could have outrun a toric maps, records and documents to lay a journey of geographical time travel. The 20-year-old intern. He attempted to scare the groundwork that would enable us to many thousands of rare archives scattered any rambling bears whom we might run produce a master map whereby we could across the eastern United States that into by yelling “Heyyyyyy Bear.” I won- overlay a network of old Indian trails on proved “who, what, why, when and where” dered if the numerous raw garlic cloves on top of modern roadmaps. What is begin- also revealed new information as to what my sandwiches would repel large omni- ning to unfold is clear evidence that the transpired on and around these Cherokee vores or just make their mouth water for a main arteries of our 20th century road trails that we were mapping. human condiment. system were built directly on Cherokee The weeks of fieldwork went by and trails and corridors. The evolution of our

3 modern highway system originated from the route between there and Oklahoma. To nect this generation with the history of a continent-wide, aboriginal trail system the Cherokees who were forced west, the the land. that connected Native America before De trail became known as “The Trail Where The history, like the rugged mountains, Soto, Columbus, the Vikings and all oth- They Cried.” is rough, challenging and not always easy er uninvited visitors who used the words The same trails that had been here for to revisit. Most people living in WNC “first discovered” even though these words millennia were used by migrating settlers know little of the story of its painful were misnomers. It is obvious that Indi- before and after the time of Indian Re- settlement and the events that transpired ans discovered America several thousand moval in 1838. By then, most foot and across the 17th, 18th and 19th centu- years before Europeans invented the sail horse trails had been improved for wag- ries. Few people are aware that the most and recruited sailors to transport their il- ons. A number of them were “cut out” by powerful army in the world invaded what legal immigrants. American armies during the Cherokee would become Macon and Jackson coun- With the mapping of these trails, we War of 1776 to 1786. Many of the roads ties in 1761 and burned 50 or more towns can now begin to add a missing dimen- that were here in 1838 were used in the of the Cherokee Nation in order to make sion to the emerging story of Cherokee Civil War, and those used in the Civil War them subservient to the King of England. geography and hopefully come up with were still in use when the U.S. Geological Or that in 1776 those British-Americans a snapshot of the cultural and ancestral Survey began its systematic topographic who were rebelling against the King landscape. This mechanical beginning mapping in the 1880s, providing us with would send three armies comprised of will not be complete without the help of a snapshot of the 19th century road sys- militia from three colonies and the help of the older generation of Cherokee people tem. Georgia to burn 36 more Cherokee towns and the collective memory that recalls Next, these same roads were graded, to destroy the Cherokee-British alliance the trails and roads that their parents and graveled, widened and paved for automo- and punish the Cherokees for attacking grandparents used. biles. Some major Cherokee trails remain illegal settlements and encroachments on After a year and a half, trails have been deeply entrenched on National Forests Indian lands. mapped across the Great Smoky, Nan- and private lands. Before the era of blast- In 1820 there were Cherokee citizens, tahala, Cowee, Snowbird and Blue Ridge ing away mountains and arbitrarily laying in Macon and Jackson counties who had Mountains. A subtotal shows that there interstates from points A to B, people fol- their family farms stolen out from under are about 148 miles of known Indian trails lowed the natural, flowing geography of them by locals who defied federal law and and corridors on the Pisgah, Nantahala the land through valley corridors, moun- trampled the Constitution. When these and Cherokee national forests. U.S. For- tain gaps and shallow fords. Therefore, U.S. citizens got an attorney and defended est Service Archaeologist Rodney Snede- Indian trails represent original America, their private property rights through legal ker has assisted Wild South in the trails long before the era of strip malls and life- recourse, the North Carolina Supreme research and plans to incorporate the final less ribbons of asphalt. Court upheld the illegal sales and confis- maps and reports into forest planning as By walking these ancient trails, we are cation. The citizens were paid a pittance required by the National Historic Preser- traveling through corridors of time. To- and kicked off their land. They were forced vation Act. Though many trail-beds have day, people can stand in the deeply worn to moved away and after that, forced to been erased by agriculture and develop- recesses of these travel ways and look at move away again. If this happened today, ment, some trails were simply abandoned the surrounding mountains with the as- the public outcry would ring from coast in the forests or survived as unpaved forest surance that they are seeing from exactly to coast. It would be illegal, unthinkable service roads. Others became our modern the same viewpoint, the shapes, colors, and no doubt the U.S. Supreme Court paved roads and major highways. ridge tops, balds and wooded slopes that would overturn such an insidious viola- Success is measured by the identifica- were seen by the Cherokee a thousand tion of constitutional rights. tion, interpretation and designation of a years ago as he or she walked in this same Yet it happened to Cherokee citizens, historic trail. Wild South began historic spot. I once rode by horseback down a re- and because they were a non-white mi- trail mapping in north Alabama where 200 mote and high mountain trail deep in the nority, they were stripped of the very miles of Cherokee Indian trails were re- Smoky Mountains behind three Chero- rights that were guaranteed to them by searched, identified and field mapped. Sev- kees at dusk. There was a distinct feeling the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. eral hundred yards of the original Chero- that this moment could have been in the The white minority and missionaries who kee wagon road from Gunter’s Landing to year 1700, and we would soon smell the tried to fight for Indian rights were over- Fort Payne was discovered in the woods of smoke of a hundred fires as it hung sus- whelmed by the public tide of greed and ❀ Guntersville State Park. Working with the pended over an Indian village in a valley racism. Alabama Chapter of the Trail of Tears As- below. Reprinted with permission of Smoky sociation, the findings were incorporated Along these trails are the blood, sweat Mountain News into a 300-page report that documented and tears of those who lived, laughed and the removal of 1,100 Cherokee Indians in died here. Their bare feet, moccasins and http://www.smokymountainnews.com/ 1838 from Fort Payne, Ala., to the Ten- horse hooves touched the earth that yet index.php/component/k2/item/2117- nessee state line. Other state Trail of Tears remains. The trails were the travel arteries ancient-footpaths-of-a-lost-era groups are mapping additional sections of of the land and they are fibers that con-

4 Bartram Scenic Book Review Highway Bartram denied their he Wmilliam Bartram Scenic High- way management team in St. Johns County,T Florida ( Jacksonville metropoli- existence; history buried tan area) recently won two prestigious awards from the American Planning As- sociation, Florida Chapter. their stories Specifically, The William Bartram Scenic and Historic Highway group was “Reading this book is like opening a settlements abounds in archives in the recognized with awards for its Master time capsule in Bartram’s life—it paints United Kingdom and in the family pa- Plan and its website, www.BartramSce- a far more complete picture of what the pers of the descendants of British East nicHighway.com. The website also re- explorer-naturalist saw during his second Florida settlers and absentee landown- ceived the Public Education Award from journey up the St. Johns.”—Bill Belle­ ers. So why did Bartram erase them the American Planning Association. ville, author of River of Lakes: A Journey from history? Was his insistence on a The Bartram Scenic Highway group is on Florida’s St. Johns River. pristine paradise in Travels based on an working to protect and preserve the sce- University Press of Florida early expedition that he and his father, nic, historic and intrinsic resources of the www.upf.com the botanist John Bartram, conducted magnificent William Bartram Scenic and ISBN 978–0–8130–3527–7 in 1764–65? Was his distaste for devel- Historic Highway Corridor in St. Johns $24.95 opment a result of bitterness and shame County, Florida. over his own failed settlement? Congratulations to the Bartram Scenic n his famous and influential book Daniel L. Schafer explores all of and Historic Highway Corridor Manage- Travels, the naturalist William Bar- these questions in this intriguing book, ment team on winning these prestigious ❀ Itram described the St. Johns riverfront reconstructing the sights and colorful awards. in east Florida as an idyllic, untouched stories of the St. Johns riverfront that paradise and eloquently praised the Bartram rejected in favor of an illusory pristine wilderness conditions that ex- wilderness. His reveries on Florida’s isted along the St. Johns before settlers wild nature would later echo in the and slaves felled trees, cleared brush, and pages of the romantic poets Samuel created farms and plantations. Bartram’s Coleridge and William Wordsworth, account was based on a journey he took and provide “nature” inspiration for down the river in 1774. Or was it? works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Historians have relied upon the in- Henry David Thoreau. At last, the full tegrity of the information in Travels story of William Bartram’s famous for centuries, often concluding from journey and the histories of the planta- it that the British (the colonial power tions he “ghosted” are uncovered in this from 1763 to 1783) had not engaged in eminently readable, highly informative, large-scale land development in Florida. and extremely entertaining volume. However, the well-documented truth is that the St. Johns riverfront was not in Schafer, professor emeritus of history at a state of unspoiled nature in 1774; it the University of North Florida, is the was instead the scene of drained wet- author of Governor James Grant’s Villa: lands and ambitious agricultural devel- A British East Florida Indigo Plantation, opments including numerous successful St. Augustine’s British Years: 1763–1784, farms and plantations. Unsuccessful Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African do we need a caption here? settlements could also be found, Wil- Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Sla- liam Bartram’s own foundered venture veowner, and Thunder on the River: The ❀ among them. Civil War in Northeast Florida. Evidence for the existence of these

5 Book Review The editors have organized their col- lection into two parts. Thomas Hallock serves as the primary editor of part one, a detailed and meticulously annotated ex- ploration of the vast majority of Bartram’s William Bartram’s correspondence as well as important let- ters written about him. This section is neatly compartmentalized into seven Letters and Writings chapters, each with a brief introduction, William Bartram: The Search for Nature’s preferred a stable occupation for their and covers the breadth of Bartram’s life, Design, Selected Art, Letters, & Unpub- son, young William could not pry himself from the doting John Bartram describing lished Writings, edited by Thomas Hal- from the study of botany. Having failed his precocious and inquisitive fourteen- lock and Nancy E. Hoffmann. (Athens: as a businessman, Bartram embarked on year-old son’s “first essay and [map] draw- University of Georgia Press, 2010. Pp. his famous tour of the southern colonies ing” to a touching letter informing former 608. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-8203-2877-5). in March 1773. The exhaustively detailed first Lady, Dolley Madison, of Bartram’s records from his journey became, nearly death. his stunning volume replete with two decades later, his signature work, Part one is filled with eminently inter- William Bartram’s illustrations en- Travels, and provide keen insight into the esting correspondence. One particularly compassesT not only his extraordinary life, fratricidal conflict then brewing in the delectable morsel lies in the exchange, but also explores a full quarter-century Carolina backcountry. via intermediaries, between Bartram and of posthumous memorials written about Following his tour, Bartram initi- George Washington. On June 11, 1790, one of the eighteenth-century’s most Samuel Powel inquired of the president: significant naturalists. Thomas Hallock “The extreme Bashfulness of [Bartram] and Nancy E. Hoffmann have exceeded and his little Intercourse with the World, even the loftiest of expectations with this may, possibly have made him choose thoroughly remarkable contribution. In rather to solicit the Honor of dedicating The Search for Nature’s Design, Bartram it to you thro’ the Intervention of a Friend emerges as not only an engaging and so- than by direct Application” (154). Nine phisticated scientist, but also an indelibly days later, Robert Parrish informed Bar- human character with engaging character tram that Washington had politely de- assets and defects and a surprisingly large clined Bartram’s offer because he wanted cadre of friends. Moreover, emanating to avoid showing favoritism. from these glossy pages is a fresh por- Part two, primarily edited by Nancy trait of the intellectual world of Bartram’s Hoffmann, is an assortment of carefully time. selected Bartram manuscripts. Nine lively Few Americans of any generation have chapters comprise this section, each also traveled as widely or promoted scientific with a thoughtful introduction. These endeavors as much as William Bartram. tantalizing writings reveal a broad array In spite of his renowned career, Bartram of Bartram’s thoughts concerning slav- was a perplexing character whom biogra- ery, Native Americans, and gardening, to phers have described as a loner: shy and name but a few. Lastly, four appendices reclusive. He is, perhaps, best known for ated a wide and varied correspondence conclude this impressive volume, most his 1791 classic Travels Through North and with other botanical enthusiasts. He also notably a “Preliminary List of Illustra- South Carolina, East & West Florida, the worked on drafts of Travels and other tions by William Bartram,” which will Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories lesser publications. By the 1790s, Bartram be especially useful for further historical of the Muscolgulges or Creek Confederacy, had become a sought after philosopher enquiry. and the Country of the Choctaws, but the and began a lengthy dialogue with the Bartram’s previously unpublished trea- dazzling botanical account of the Ameri- Lutheran minister and botanist Gotthilf tise on slavery is an exceptionally engross- can southeast is but one in a varied and Henry Ernest Muhlenberg. The next de- ing and prescient work. Bartram cautions valuable literary collection. cade, still writing, Bartram found himself Americans that failure to exhibit common Born in 1739 in Kingsessing, Pennsyl- mentoring a new generation of young human decency to all persons, “Black vania, to the famous naturalist John Bar- scientists at the “Botanical Academy of White Red & Yellow” will lead to “calam- tram, William developed a lifelong in- Pennsylvania.” Although this relatively ity & destruction” because “[t]he Day will terest in medicine, botany, literature, and settled profession occupied his last years, arrive when those afflicted people will not art and often accompanied his father on Bartram never stopped exploring and only have full satisfaction for their oppres- exploratory expeditions into the Ameri- documenting his findings in his “Garden sions, but dreadfull irrevocable irresistible can backcountry. Although his parents Diary” and “Calendar.” continued on page 8

6 Book Review of Georgia, Atlanta, GA, USA @ 7pm. I came rather by accident to write this book and once again the Bartrams were an inspiration. When I researched The Brother Gardeners (in which John Bartram The Founding Gardeners is one of the main protagonists) I first Group biography of the Founding Fa- the forgotten father of America’s environ- realized a remarkable connection to the thers, exploring how their passion for mentalism. Andrea Wulf shows us that it founding fathers. Reading John Bartram’s gardens, plants, nature & farming influ- is impossible to understand these vision- letters, I quickly realized that Benjamin enced the birth of the American nation.* ary men and the American nation with- Franklin was a good friend. I learned that The Founding Gardeners: How the Revo- out considering their love of gardening. Thomas Jefferson and George Washing- lutionary Generation created an American A follow-up to Wulf ’s award-winning ton had both ordered many plants from Eden, by Andrea Wulf. Published in and critically acclaimed history of how John Bartram and that they visited the hardback by William Heinemann on 3rd gardening became an English obsession, garden when they were in Philadelphia. February 2011 at £20 The Founding Gardeners shows us plants, James Madison had been to Bartram’s politics and personalities intertwined as garden together with several other del- anhattan, July 1776. General never before, in a unique retelling of the egates of the Constitutional Convention George Washington faces 32,000 creation of America. just before the Great Compromise in BritishM troops and over 100 warships. As Andrea Wulf trained as a design his- the summer of 1787. William Bartram the city braces itself for the first and largest torian at the Royal College of Art and is showed the delegates who had come to a battle of the War of Independence, Wash- the co-author (with Emma Gieben-Ga- deadlock in their negotiations his garden ington retires to his study, clears away his mal) of This Other Eden and author of The in which the trees and shrubs of each of maps, and ponders the voluptuous blos- the thirteen states thrived together - their som of rhododendron, the sculptural flow- branches intertwined in a flourishing ers of kalmia, and the perfect pink of crab horticultural union. This was arguably the apple.While we tend to think of them as most important garden visit in the history iconic nation builders, the first four presi- of the United States (but you will have to dents of the United States saw themselves read to book for that). first and foremost as farmers and garden- Through Bartram I discovered that ers. In the aftermath of the Declaration of the founding fathers were all passionate Independence and the revolutionary war, about nature and plants. The result is a they turned to America’s towering trees book about the founding fathers and how and flowering shrubs, and their own gar- their attitude to plants, gardens, nature dens, to make the republic truly indepen- and agriculture shaped the American na- dent. The self-sufficient farmer became tion. For them gardening, agriculture and the embodiment of the republican dream. botany were elemental passions, as deeply The sweeping vistas of the west and the ingrained in their characters as their belief sublime grandeur of the natural landscape in liberty for the nation they were creat- were a unifying force, giving the original ing. In the aftermath of the Declaration of thirteen states a national identity that still Independence and the revolutionary war, resonates today. And the Founding Fa- they turned to America’s towering trees thers’ shared passion for flowers, plants and and flowering shrubs, and their own gar- agriculture brought them together even dens, to make the republic truly indepen- when political rivalries began to splinter dent. The self-sufficient farmer became them.We see the impetuous John Adams Brother Gardeners, which was longlisted the embodiment of the republican dream. diving into a pile of manure in London’s for the Samuel Johnson Award. She has The sweeping vistas of the west and the Edgware Road, emerging only to declare, written for The Sunday Times, the Fi- sublime grandeur of the natural landscape with delight, that it is inferior to his own; nancial Times, The Garden, The Architects’ were a unifying force, giving the original Thomas Jefferson, the visionary polymath, Journal, and regularly reviews for several thirteen states a national identity that still using not arms and ships but botanical newspapers, including the Guardian and resonates today. I think it’s impossible to weapons to prove the strength and vi- the TLS. understand these visionary men and the brancy of the new nation; the victorious Editor Note: I emailed Andrea Wulf American nation without considering George Washington returning home and and asked her to give the BTC a special their lives as farmers and gardeners – and liberating his garden from the rigid corset word regarding her new work. Below is therefore the Founding Gardeners is a book of geometry just as he had freed his na- her response. in which plants, politics, and personalities ❀ tion from the shackles of tyranny; and the From her website: >: 21 April 2011 The Garden Club

7 are we afraid of, he asks, “that the Spirits From the of animals will rise up in judgment for ... Williams Receives eating them?” Award for President Sounds pretty vegan to me. But the thought process was typical for him. The Flower Seeker ow did William Bartram learn? We I like to think of Bartram’s “habit of typically think of our favorite natu- mind,” if you will, as a kind of triangle. he national magazine Books & Cul- ralistH as the intrepid explorer. Astute social On one side, reading; the second, direct ture has named as its 2010 Book of commentator. Artist. Wordsmith. Gar- observation; and the third, writing, illus- theT Year The Flower Seeker by Philip Lee dener. We think of William Bartram as tration and reflection. Williams. The Flower Seeker is an epic a one-book wonder, the guy who penned So what does this have to do with us? poem that follows the young William his famous Travels in 1791 and probably I also like to think that followers of Bartram on his journey in the American crossed paths with some place near where William Bartram’s trail continue this South and during his old age in his fa- you live today. But what about William practice today. Our meetings and gath- ther’s gardens. It is truly a southern Odys- Bartram as learner? erings combine pilgrimages, field expe- sey, using techniques of fiction and poetry Billy was born in 1739, died in 1823, rience, and casual conversation between to get deeply inside one of the most re- and in the course of that long life, came to smart folks who like to ground what they markable men ever to strap on a pair of know a lot about a lot of different things. know. In the eighteenth century, they boots in America. Philip Lee Williams is In an age of polymaths, he served as the called this “curiosity.” Today it’s cause to the author of 14 published books and has sourcebook on plant taxonomy and distri- come together. written about the natural world most of bution, the archeology and current culture Please mark your calendar for the next his career and taught nature writing at the of Native Americans, ornithology, garden- gathering of the “curious” on October University of Georgia. ing, medicine – the list goes on. 21-23, 2011. We will convene in Ma- John Wilson, editor of Books & Cul- Biographers often note that William con, Georgia, where you can expect good ture, described Williams’ award-winner Bartram received an exceptional education company, food for the belly and brain, this way: under the colonial savant Charles Thom- plus excursions into natural settings—the Extracts from Bartram’s Travels, re- son. Given that early schooling, enviable kinds of hands-on learning that Bartram worked by Williams (as Ezra Pound training from his father, and visits from himself valued. We will follow our panel reworked the sources for his Cantos), leading intellectuals of his day, William discussion of historic gardens with a walk are the underlying strata of this work, Bartram seemed born to be a naturalist. around the Barnes Botanic Garden at which pays homage to the epic tradition But a review of the letters throughout Macon State; a talk on native archaeology in a distinctively American way. Cu- Bartram’s life shows an extended, even will accompany a visit to nearby Ocmul- riosity and delight, beauty and sadness, deep engagement with the ideas of his gee Mounds. Maybe we can workshop our loss and yearning, and all the “fragrant time. Where we sometimes regard him as own writings and reflections about nature disorder of this world” are mingled here an isolated figure, William Bartram held with people who do this for a living. More in a narrative that suggests the gratu- consort in his mind with leading En- details to follow, as plans for the confer- itous abundance of Creation itself. And lightenment thinkers – he pored over the ence continue to materialize. Until then, the physical book has been crafted with works of the great giver of order, Carolus I cannot wait for one more opportunity an expansive generosity that catches the Linnaeus, read the influential treatises of to learn, laugh and join together. See you ❀ spirit of the poem. Carve out time for it Comte de Buffon, found kinship in Gil- next October! if you can. bert White, and was aware of naturalists Thomas Hallock lesser-known to us today such as Thomas President, Bartram Trail Conference To listen to a half-hour podcast on The Pennant and Mathurin Jacques Brisson. Flower Seeker, please go to http://www. [email protected] ❀ William Bartram was no mere aca- booksandculture.com/ demic. In one of my favorite letters, from Bartram’s Letters and Writings, continued December 1792, Bartram offers a long from page6 meditation on some books he received. wrath, When they will be Masters” (380). He applies observations from his reading The editors have performed Herculean The Traveller is published by the to the wild pigeons and redheaded wood- duties in producing this volume. From Bartram Trail Conference pecker then arriving in his garden. “Inge- painstaking transcriptions, judicious edit- Tom Hallock, nious little Philosophers,” he calls them, ing, and intelligent manuscript selection President “and my esteemed associates.” From that to the more than one hundred brilliant il- Marc Jolley, Editor ornithological note, Bartram launches into lustrations, The Search For Nature’s Design Brad Sanders, Publisher a staggering meditation on human virtue is a welcome addition to any liberal arts Anne Hurst, Treasurer & Membership and the places of animals in all Creation, bookshelf and will also prove quite useful wondering what prevents us from treat- for graduate courses in science, literature, Chair ❀ ing animals and humans as equals. What and history.

8 In Memory In Memory Carolyn Huelsbeck Whitmer Pedrick Stall arolyn Huelsbeck Whitmer, whose Lowrey service to the Bartram Trail Con- Cference spanned decades, died on Feb- ruary 26, 2011 after a short illness. Car- olyn was the Bartram Trail Chairman of the Deep South Region of National Garden Clubs and, as Marker Chair for the BTC, she organized, researched and approved placement of Bartram Trail Markers across the South. Her enthu- siasm and promotion of the BTC was instrumental in educating the general public about William Bartram. Carolyn was also the unofficial historian of the BTC and her knowledge of the early activities of the BTC was based on her own many years of dedicated service. A native of Pensacola, Carolyn grad- uated from Pensacola Catholic High School in 1953 and received a degree in nursing in 1956 from Sacred Heart dener and corresponding secretary for School of Nursing. She was married to the FFGC board. James A. Whitmer, a marine pilot, who As a military wife, the garden club preceded her in death, as did her son, objective she was most dedicated to was he Bartram Trail Conference lost a James P. Whitmer. She is survived by establishing memorials to veterans of the friend on December 21, 2010, when two sons ( John and Peter Whitmer), United States armed forces. She led the TPedrick Stall Lowrey passed away at the and a daughter (Meg Whitmer) as well creation of the Desert Storm Memorial age of 56 after a seven year battle with as several grandchildren. Garden on Naval Air Station Pensacola, cancer. Those who were privileged to meet Carolyn’s life, outside her professional and petitioned the state legislature to Pedrick at the BTC meetings in Augusta and family life, was dedicated to mak- designate a section of highway as a seg- or Five Rivers will remember a charming ing the world a more beautiful place. ment of the Blue Star Memorial High- photographer with a passion for garden- Her love of nature and commitment way. On Veterans Day 2010, she spoke ing. An active volunteer for her commu- to beautification, conservation and en- at the dedication ceremony for the Blue nity in her native Greenville, South Caro- vironmental stewardship are evident Star Memorial marker placed at Pensa- lina, Pedrick was instrumental in preserv- throughout her native state of Florida. cola Veteran’s Park, and helped design ing the Reedy River Falls Park and took She was instrumental in the establish- the landscaping around the marker. a lead in fundraising for the project. Pe- ment of the Perdido Pitcher Plant Prai- Beyond these leadership roles, Car- drick began her professional career as a rie, which protects over 4000 acres of olyn studied and educated others in chemist, working for Coca-Cola in Atlanta for fifteen years before returning to school endangered plants west of Pensacola. As horticulture, botany, floral design, envi- and obtaining a degree in landscape de- a Life Member of the Florida Federa- ronmental stewardship, and civic beau- sign and setting out on a new career path. tion of Garden Clubs, she continually tification. Several summers she volun- Pedrick’s enthusiasm for life and garden- promoted its mission at the local, state teered at Wekiva Youth Camp, a resi- ing as well as her ability to capture nature’s and regional level. She was a member dential environmental education camp beauty with her camera—whether a blos- of Sweet Bay and Oleander Garden in Apopka, Florida for 3rd through 8th som or a butterfly—delighted and inspired Clubs, served as president of the Ole- grade youngsters. those who knew her. She is survived by her ander Garden Club, president of the She published a book entitled Memo- husband and BTC member Jacob Lowrey Pensacola Federation of Garden Clubs, ries of Grandmother’s Garden that was as well as her mother and brothers and District One director, editor of FFGC’s mentioned in several publications, in- ❀ ❀ their families. quarterly magazine, The Florida Gar- cluding Southern Living magazine.

9 The Traveller c/o Anne Hurst 138 N Chaparral Dt Hull, GA 30646 Hull, GA 30646 138 N. Chaparral Ct. Anne Hurst Weeks Please send payment to: ______and whether or not you like to hike, read, garden, etc. Use back if necessary) (try to be specific about geographic locations and activities, i.e., Bartram sites, Primary Areas of Interest in the Bartram Trail Date: ______E-Mail address: ______Address: ______Name: ______Phone:( )______Patron--$500 ____Sponsor--$250 ____Sustainer $100 ____Contributor--$50 ____Student--$10 ____Family--$30 ____Individual--$ 25 _____RENEWAL Bartram Trail Conference

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