Botany, beauty and Bartram: The flower hunter's legacy
Naturalist William Bartram traveled extensively throughout North Georgia and Western North Carolina. Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy photo
More than two centuries after William Bartram explored the Southern Appalachian foothills, his words, like his footsteps, still echo through the ridgelines and river valleys he once traversed.
“How cheerful and gay all nature appears! Hark! The musical savanna cranes, ere the chirping sparrow flirts from his grassy couch, or the glorious sun gilds the tops of the pines, spread their expansive wings, leave their lofty roosts, and repair to the ample plains,” Bartram wrote in his landmark 1791 book, “Bartram’s Travels.”
True then as now, Bartram’s astute observations remain foundational to modern understandings of biodiversity and cultural heritage in the Southeast; a botanist, explorer and chronicler of both nature and Native American cultures, his legacy endures not only in libraries and botanical gardens but also in the once-remote places he once roamed — preserved and promoted by the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy, a group committed to ensuring that Bartram’s passion for the natural world continues.
“I tell people sometimes that he’s the only 18th century American that still has groupies,” said Brent Martin, executive director of the Conservancy. “He was not like most Americans of his day by any stretch. I think anyone who’s interested in the botanical world and what’s been lost — the type of wholesale clearing we’ve done, the bad ecological practices — anyone who’s drawn to art and nature and science, I think they’re just going to be intrigued by the guy.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1739 to Quaker botanist John Bartram, young William was surrounded by science from an early age. John, appointed Royal Botanist for North America by King George III, nurtured his son’s interest in nature.
After failed attempts at business, William devoted himself to exploration. Traveling mostly alone by foot, horseback and boat, his four-year expedition from 1773 to 1777 traced earlier routes he had taken with his father and documented plant and animal species — some previously unknown to Western science.
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Perhaps his most important contributions were his illustrations and the poetic context he wove around the wild places he walked.
“Dewy evening now came on; the animating breezes, which cooled and tempered the meridian hours of this sultry season, now gently ceased,” Bartram wrote. “The glorious sovereign of the day, calling in his bright beaming emanations, left us in his absence to the milder government and protection of the silver queen of night, attended by millions of brilliant luminaries.”
Bartram’s writings were later compiled into his 1791 book — a rare work of both beauty and brilliance that influenced Romantic thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his 1815 poem, “Ruth,” William Wordsworth even cited Bartram’s description of flowers that “cover a hundred leagues and seem to set the hills on fire.”
“I think Bartram was America’s first creative nonfiction writer,” Martin said. “His writings are really weird in the sense that he kind of goes between Linnaean scientific nomenclature and being very specific and scientific in how he describes things, and then the very next paragraph he would just kind of go totally rhapsodic on whatever it is he’s seeing.”
Together, John and William Bartram identified more than 200 native plant species, including Franklinia alatamaha, named after their friend Benjamin Franklin. The Bartram legacy lives on at his preserved Philadelphia homestead, home to America’s oldest botanical garden. Visited by such Colonial-era luminaries as Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, the site remains open to the public and continues to inspire appreciation for the natural world.
The Conservancy — originally called the North Carolina Bartram Trail Society — was established by a group of visionaries in 1977. Early contributors included J. Dan Pittillo, a Western Carolina University botanist.
“Dan introduced me to the Bartram Trail Society and the trail by taking me on some trail-building work days with him,” said Burt Kornegay, longtime Western North Carolina Resident and author of a monthly column in The Smoky Mountain News called “ Up Moses Creek.”
Kornegay would go on to serve as president of the Society for a total of 12 years over two stints. The organization’s primary achievement has been the creation and ongoing maintenance of a 112-mile trail tracing Bartram’s original route through North Georgia and Western North Carolina. The trail largely traverses the Nantahala National Forest.
Now with over 200 members, the Conservancy draws support from individuals across the U.S. and abroad. Governed by a volunteer board representing a wide array of professions, the group’s members share a commitment to sustaining the spirit of Bartram, whom the Seminole called “Puc Puggy,” meaning “flower hunter.”
Bartram also recorded detailed observations of Native American culture, offering a rare ethnographic account of the era.
“He did not see the Cherokee, for instance, as being subhuman or savage. He admired them, in many ways, more than the Whites. He thought they were more upright and more moral and treated each other better and treated the White man better than they were getting treated,” Kornegay said. “This is one way he was odd — he thought the Indians of the southeast were human.”
This week, a slew of events will give visitors the chance to learn more about Bartram, whether they’ve been lifelong fans or are just getting to know Bartram and his work.
The Bartram 250th anniversary celebration kicks off June 4 with a commemorative beer release and trivia night at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin. The following days offer a blend of outdoor exploration and scientific inquiry, including stream biomonitoring on Tellico Creek, birding along the Little Tennessee River Greenway and multiple guided hikes across historically significant routes like the Chattooga and Warwoman Dell.
Afternoon programs such as botany walks on Wayah Bald and happy hour socials at Lazy Hiker provide a relaxed setting to connect with fellow enthusiasts.
As the events continue through June 7, attendees can expect a deepening engagement with Bartram’s legacy through interdisciplinary activities including garden tours and boat trips on the Little Tennessee River.
A salute to Bartram’s artistic talents takes center stage on the final day, with watercolor botanical workshops, a literary panel exploring nature’s role in 21st-century art and a screening of Garrett Martin’s “Paradise,” a documentary about a man who lived off the grid for five decades. The celebration concludes with a community luncheon at the historic Cowee School and one last toast at the Bartram Base Camp happy hour.
Financial support for the Conservancy comes through memberships and occasional board-authored grants, with all donations tax-deductible. Members often share interests in camping, hiking and studying the native biodiversity of the region.
By fostering an appreciation for the intricate natural and cultural landscape Bartram once explored, they all seek to inspire environmental stewardship and ensure the preservation of these resources so future generations will still be able to experience the feelings — and follow in the footsteps — of Bartram.
“That takes us out of our little tiny lives, which tend to make us kind of mouse-like — our little tiny focus is on getting and spending, and when you go out into the big world of nature, it opens us up to a wider world and to a kind of a wildness in us,” Kornegay said. “We are more than just those things — getting and spending.”
Want to go?
The Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy will host a variety of events commemorating the 250th anniversary of artist, naturalist and writer William Bartram’s journey through the area in 1775. Most events are free, but a few have varying costs. For more information or to RSVP, visit blueridgebartram.org/bartram250.
• June 4
6:30 p.m. Bartram 250 beer release and Bartram Trivia, Lazy Hiker Brewing, Franklin
• June 5
8 a.m. Stream biomonitoring on Tellico Creek
8 a.m. Birding the Little Tennessee River Greenway
9 a.m. Chattooga to Foothills Trail hike
9 a.m. Warwoman Dell to Courthouse Gap hike
1 p.m. Wayah Bald botany
4 p.m. Bartram Base Camp happy hour, Lazy Hiker Brewing, Franklin
7 p.m. Mander Meander, Wallace Branch
• June 6
7:30 a.m. Birding Alarka Laurel
9 a.m. Interpreting local wildlife through tracking and signs
9 a.m. Standing Indian: Park Ridge and Park Creek Trail
10 a.m. Jones Gap to Whiterock Mountain on the Bartram Trail
10 a.m. Scaly Mountain botany
1 p.m. Magnolia, Franklinia and Stewartia garden tour
1 p.m. Little Tennessee River trip with Alarka Expeditions
4 p.m. Bartram Base Camp happy hour with Grizzly Mammoth and WoolyBooger, Lazy Hiker, Franklin
• June 7
9 a.m. Watercolor botanical studies with Carol Conti
9 a.m. Tellico Valley — Ramsey Trail hike
10 a.m. Nature as kin: deepening our relationship with the natural world
Noon Bartram 250 luncheon, Cowee School
1 p.m. Art and nature symposium — artist panel — nature and art in the 21st century
2:30 p.m. Art and Nature symposium — literary panel — nature writing in the 21st century
3:30 p.m. “Paradise” screening dir. by Garrett Martin
5:30 p.m. Bartram Base Camp happy hour, Lazy Hiker, Franklin
