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TheTraveller "The aftentionof a traveller,should be particularlyathrned, in the first place,to the Variousworks of Nature ...." FollowingBartram's Alabama Trail As he traveledtoward the gulf coast,Bartram exploredthe forestsalong the Alabamariver conidor earFriends: In lateJune 1775, William and encountered"a very remarkablegrove of Dog Bartramleft the Georgiafrontier with a wood trees(Cornus Florida), which continuednine "companyof adventurers,"bound for or ten milesunalterable." There were magnolias, Mobile. The parly reachedthe banksof the Chatta- oakleafliydrangeas, wild plums, "a perfectyellow" hoocheeRiver a few weekslater and were met by primrose,and numerousother wonders. CreekIndians from the Yuchi town. who assisted And therewere adventuresgalore. Bartram their passageacross the river. Bartrammarveled at swamthe AlabamaRiver at flood stage,witnessed theirtown, declaringit "the largest,most compact, the solemnblack drink ceremonyat the Creektown and best situatedIndian town I ever saw; the of Otasseand was regaledby deerskintraders with habitationsare largeand neatlybuilt." The town was talesof the Creek-ChoctawWar then raging along "populousand thriving." the lower Tensawwatershed. Bartram'sfirst experiencewest of the Chafta- This fall, the BartramTrail Conferencewill hoocheeRiver at the "beautiful"town of the Yuchi revisit Bartram'sAlabama journey. The 2003 was only the first of many incredibleexperiences in BartramTrail ConferenceBiennial meetingwill be the land we now call Alabama.He visitedthe towns held October24-26,2003, in Montgomery,Alabama. of the Tallapoosaand Alabama Creeks and explored Come and meet old friends,make new ones,feast on the abandonedsite of the FrenchFort Toulouse, great southernfoods, float down the Tallapoosa recordingthe locationwas "perhaps,one of the most River, seehistoric sitesand hearthe latestscholar- eligiblesituations for a city in the world; a levelplain ship on William Bartram.Our hostsfor the meeting betrveenthe conflux of two maiesticrivers." will be the AlabamaDepartment of Archivesand History and the AlabamaHistorical Commission. The registrationform and conferenceschedule are includedrvith your newsletter.I hopeto seeyou in Montgomery. KathrynH. Braund,President Bartram Trail Conference We sadly note the passingof Dr. Ralph Palmerof TenantsHarbor, Maine, on July 21,2003.Dr. Palmerwas a notedornithologist and naturalist and a long-timesupporter of the BartramTrail Conference.He is bestknown as the author/ editor of five volumesof the Handbookof North American Birds (Yale U P). Dr. Palmerwas 89. 2 Newsletterof the BartramTrail Conference Summer2003 BartramCrossing the NantahalaRiver point of crossingwas probably in the vicinityof and Meeting with Atakullakulla,May Aquonenear the mouthof ChogaCreek." [a]. This areais now underNantahala Lake. He goeson to r775 say: "Beyondthe Nantahalathe probableroute was up the valleyof ChogaCreek and across the divide We haverecently published a detailedtrail (at Old RoadGap) to JunaluskaCreek (Wayah Bald guidefor (22 the ChunkyGal Trail mi.) andFires quadrangle)"[4]. CreekRim (25 mi.) [1]. To orientthe reader:the This would havebeen around May 24,7775. Chunky Gal Trail peelsoff the AppalachianTrail Harperthen discussesBartram's accidental and dra- westof StandingIndian Mountain, fifteen miles west maticmeeting with Atakullakulla,the grandchief of of Franklin,NC. It travelsnorthwest along Chunky the Cherokeeswho had beento Englandand dined Gal Mountain and other unnamedhigh ridgesto Bob with the King. Shortly thereafter,towards the end of Allison Campground,whichis betweenand eastof May 1775,in the vicinity of Andrews,NC, Barlram Hayesville,NC andAndrews, NC. It thenclimbs and turnedback south,ending his explorationof North terminatesat its northernend on the FiresCreek Rim Carolina,probably because of fearsfor his safety. Trail on TusquiteeBald. The FiresCreek Rim Trail The Britishwere stirring up theNative Americans is a closedpath that circlesaround the Fires Creek for the AmericanRevolution, which had starteda Basin,a basinclosed on threesides by high ridges. few weeksbefore. Possibly Atakullakulla warned TusquiteeBald (5240ft.) is on the highnortheast rim Bartramat their meetinga day or so before. and the basin openson the southwestwhere Fires Thereare other descriptions of Bartram's Creek,which drainsthe basinof 14,000acres, flows route [5] that take him furthernorth crossingthe out. While we were doing the fieldwork for the NantahalaRiver near the intersectionof H*y. 19ll29 guide,we had occasionaiviews of McDonaldRidge, and SR 1310,Wayah Rd., in theNantahala Gorge at which runs from the Nantahalaridge spinewest to Beechertownand the NantahalaLaunch Site.The NantahalaLake. The NC BartramTrail [2] follows NC BartramTrail passeswithin a few hundredfeet McDonald Ridge from WinespringBald to Nantahala of this intersectionon its way to begin the climb to Lake. The NC BartramTrail meetsthe lake nearthe CheoahBald, its presentnorthern termination point. small settlementof Aquone,NC at the northernend It is aboutfive miles from wherethe Old Road Gap of the lake. route intersectsthe NC BartramTrail, at Appletree On the Rim Trail, we noticeda seldom-used Group Campground,to this point. There is a his- trail startingat County Corners(where Macon, Clay toricalsign,0.3 mi. alongHvry.19ll29, northeast of and CherokeeCounties have a commonboundary the inter-sectionbeside the NantahalaRiver, at a point) that travelsnorth down to Old Road Gap and pull-off, that commemoratesBartram's meeting with then eastto an improvedForest Service road. From Atakullakullain this vicinity. this ForestService road it is a hike of 2.8 milesto Regardlessof the actuallocation of Bartram's JunaluskaGap. There one finds a nefworkof trails crossingof the NantahalaRiver and meetingwith associatedwith AppletreeGroup Campgroundthat Atakullakulla,if onehikes this new trail connection can be usedto travel northeastfive miles or so to the onewill be closeto oneof the placesthought to be NC BartramTrail nearAppletree Group Camp- where Bartramcrossed the NantahalaRiver and met ground.Appletree Group Campgroundis a few miles Atakullakulla.The Old RoadGap route shownin our west of Aquone,NC. We have improvedand marked guide connectsthe Chunky Gal Trail and FiresCreek the Old Road Gap Trail (ForestTrail #25) and have Rim Trail to the NC BartramTrail and,therefore, to addedthis connectionto the NC BartramTrail to the the AppalachianTrail. This opensup a multitudeof recentprinting ofour traiI guide[1]. It is interesting new long distanceloop hikesthat allow us to enjoy that when you hike down McDonald Ridge on the this areaand scenerywhere Baftram traveledtowards NC BartramTrail, the prominentmountain to the the endof May 1775. west is TusquiteeBald. Later, while readingFrancis Harper's com- JohnR. Rqy([email protected]) mentaryin Travels [3], we were amazedthat Harper MqlcolmJ. Skove had given Bartram'sroute, after crossingthe Nan- tahalaRiver, as going throughOld RoadGap: "The 3 Newsletter of the Bartram Trail Conference Summer2003 Notes the genrethat is definedby this "ecologicalway of 0] Ray,J. R., M. J. Skove,and B. Kenyon.Chunlg,Gal seeing"and writing is mostcommonly referred to as Trail and Fires Creek Rim Trail, Detailed Trail Gttide with "naturewriting." In AmericanNature Writers,Philip Maps of the Trails in the Nantahala J{ational Forest In G. Tenie suggeststhat "Americannature writing as a Clay CountyNorth Carolina,2nd edition. Winter 2002 distinctgenre began with William Bartram." (availablefrom the authors). On an ecologicallevel, early American [2] Ray and Skove.Bartram Trail, Detailed Guidewith naturewriting recordsa naturalworld of abundance Mapsfor the Trail in the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina, lst edition.2001 (availablefrom the anddiversity that is now difficult to imagine, authors). revealinga lost momentin the history of the [3] Bartram, William. The Travels of ll/illiam Bartram formation of the United States.Bartram's Travels, 1791,Naturalist Edition, editedby FrancisHarper. Athens: for example,reveals the storiesof exploration, U of GeorgiaP, 1998. colonization,and settlement, as well as accountsof [4] Bartram,391-392. forced relocationof Native Americanpeoples and the [5] SeeBartram Heritage Report at the BarframTrail dramaticalteration of the North American landscape Conferenceweb site (www.barframtrail.org). and its wild inhabitants.On a literary level, early American naturewriting offers a curiousmix of The LiteraryEcology of Bartram's scientific cataloging,rhapsodic observation, and Travels narrativesof personalexperience. At its mosttragic, Bartram's Travelsoffers a WhenWilliam Bartramfound himself compellingrecord of habitatdestruction, species ex- "greatlysurprised at the suddenappearance ofa tinction, and the devastationof wildland commu- remarkablylarge spider on a leaf," he "drew closer" nities, including swamps,forests, and mountains. andobserved the spiderprey upon a bumblebee; the Facedwith numeroustypes of "loss"- from a loss spider.in turn.watched Bartram. Bartram then rvon- for rvordsbefore a sublimelandscape or the lossof deredif the spidermight becomethe "deliciouseve- influential familial relationships- the dedicationto ning repastof a bird or lizard." observationand the pursuitof knowledgeinherent in Although such literal observationof the earlyAmerican nature writing is accompanied cyclical patternsof natureis characteristicof Bar- throughthe dark woods,down free-flowing rivers, tram's Travels,there are also momentsin Travels