Click here to view and print the 2007 Bartram Symposium Brochure.  Click here to view and print the 2007 Bartram Symposium Registration Form.

William Bartram, who was to become one of the best known naturalists, botanists, and explorers of his day, was born in 1739 to Quakers John and Ann Bartram of Philadelphia, the fifth of nine children. His father, John Bartram (1699-1777), so it is told, was plowing his fields one day when his attention was captured by the remarkable beauty of a common daisy. The elder Bartram was thenceforth inspired to study all plants, eventually gaining the appointment of Royal Botanist by King George III in 1765. His own dedication greatly encouraged his son William’s burgeoning interests in the natural world.

As an adult, William attempted business and farming with no great success, and so in the year 1773, he determined to set off alone through America’s southeast on a sojourn that was to last four years. As he traveled, Bartram wrote exact and vivid descriptions of the plants and animals he saw and the tribes of native American Indians he encountered. He published these writings under the title Travels of William Bartram in 1791.

Not only a classic work of American anthropology, geography, and natural history, Travels of William Bartram became known to such eminent writers as Emerson, Carlyle, and Wordsworth. It is possible that even the poet Coleridge drew upon Bartram’s natural descriptions for the imagery in several of his notable works, cornerstones of English literature for the period, such as “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

Moreover, William Bartram and his father John are credited with the identification of over two hundred native plants, and with the discovery of the Franklinia Alatamaha tree--named after friend Benjamin Franklin--which they found growing along a Georgia riverbank in 1765. Indeed, their attentiveness to this beautiful flowering tree ultimately saved the species from extinction.

Bartram’s homeplace has survived; the farm still stands a short distance from Independence Hall, and on its grounds the Franklinia grows in America’s oldest living botanical garden. George Washington--as well as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other prominent figures of the time--all visited Bartram’s home in Philadelphia, and today it is open to the public. The Bartram Trail offers a living history-in a breathtaking 117 mile stretch through some of the most beautiful terrain in the United States.

The North Carolina Bartram Trail Society

Agenda:

Thursday, May 31, 2007

8:00 a.m.  -  8:30 a.m.   Registration

8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Pre-Symposium Guided Bus Tour to the Bartram Trail in Macon County. Stops will include the Bartram exhibit created especially in honor of our Symposium at the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University, the Greenway on the Little Tennessee River, conserved by the City of Franklin with the help of many including Duke Power with lunch at the scenic Tassee Park, the FROG shop, Nikwasi Mound, a once thriving Cherokee town.

Cowee was once the principal and diplomatic center of the Cherokee Nation in the 17th and 18th century. The Cowee-West’s Mill National Register Historic District  is among the richest in the nation. In the mid-18th century Cowee and the Little Tennessee River Valley was the area that determined the future of two nations - Cherokee and American. 

Friday, June 1, 2007

8:00 a.m.  -  8:30 a.m. Registration

8:30 a.m.  -  Carpool to Highlands Biological Station

9:00 a.m.  -  Highlands Biological Station

               Dedication and tour new Bartram Garden

10:30 a.m.    Talk - Brad Sanders

11:30 a.m.    Depart Highlands for Cashiers

12:00 noon   Lunch High Hampton Pavillion

1:00 p.m.   -  4:30 p.m. Symposium

        (3 hrs with ½ hr break)

6:30 p.m.  (Optional) Welcome Dinner and Entertainment

Saturday, June 2, 2007

8:00 a.m.  -  9:00 a.m. Registration

9:00 a.m  .- 12:00 noon Symposium

         (2 ½  hrs with ½ hr break)

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Optional) Hike with Dan Pittillo to Rock Mountain and Chimney Top. Box lunches available.

Speakers Participating:

Click here to view and print the 2007 Bartram Symposium Brochure.  Click here to view and print the 2007 Bartram Symposium Registration Form.