Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Bartram's Discoveries - TPR's In Focus - Feb 24, 2026

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Bartram's Discoveries - TPR's In Focus - Feb 24, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  >> Speaker A: Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy
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  University's Dothan Campus, identifying and
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  preserving historical documents and photographs
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  for research related to the wiregrass region. More
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  information at Troy.edu slash Wiregrassarchives
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: from Troy Public Radio. This is In Focus. And I'm
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  Carolyn Hutcheson. Joining our Back to nature
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  series is Dr. Kathryn Braund, a well known
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  historian and author who has served as president
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  of the Alabama Historical association and
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  president for a decade of the Bartram Trail
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  Conference. At the time of the American
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  Revolution, a young Quaker naturalist was
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  traveling the south collecting plant species that
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  we still enjoy today. The Alabama State Parks are
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  hosting the the William Bartram and Alabama
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  exhibit that features his travels and his
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  discoveries. Dr. Kathryn Braun, it is an honor to
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  welcome you to Troy Public Radio's In Focus.
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: Well, thank you for having me, Carolyn.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Kathryn, who was William Bartram?
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: William bartram was an 18th century botanist from
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  Philadelphia, and in March 1773, he had money from
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  a wealthy English patron to come south to look for
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  plants that would be suitable for English gardens.
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  So he set out on what became a 2,400mile trek
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  through what is now eight southern states, South
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  Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi,
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  Louisiana, and maybe Tennessee, North Carolina.
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  Those states weren't really prominent.
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  Particularly Alabama didn't even exist. He was
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  traveling through the territories of the Cherokee
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  Indians, the Creek Indians, the Seminole
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  settlements, and also the Choctaw Nations.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Is there any modern road to tell his route?
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: Yes and no. He was traveling on at that point what
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  was the leading trade path coming out of Augusta,
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  Georgia, which connected the Creek Nation to the
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  large mercantile centers in Georgia and South
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  Carolina. There was an incredible export economy
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  that the Creeks were involved with. And he was on
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  that trading path. That trading path eventually
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  becomes, or parts of it, what many people would
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  call the old federal road that was just the Creek
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  trading path.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Are there places you can go to today and see
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  traces of that trading path, that old federal
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  road?
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: You can go to places where Bartram was and you can
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  see things he actually saw in the Tuskegee
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  National Forest. We know he was walking pretty
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  close to that area between Auburn and Tuskegee.
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  And there is a Bartram hiking trail, but you can
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  walk there. And it's pretty much like that. He
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  went to a number of the Creek Indian towns. Most
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  of those are no longer visible on private
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  property. But he did visit the old Fort Toulouse
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  and Fort Jackson park you can visit. And one thing
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  he does describe that he saw at Fort Toulouse is a
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  cannon. And if you go over to the Alabama archives
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  in the museum, you too can see the Cannon, the old
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  French cannon that was left there that Bartram
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  writes about in the wonderful book he wrote in
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  which he describes his travels through the South.
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  So you can see the canon.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: You're talking about his book, Travels of William
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  Bartram. Yeah.
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: It took him four years, this long journey, and he
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  was traveling on the eve of the American
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  Revolution. He didn't get his book published until
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  1791. It is an incredible artifact from the late
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  18th century and it describes this south before
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  the Revolution when it was still largely Indian
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  country and British colonial world. It is a
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  wonderful book and a real treasure for Americans.
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  One literary scholar described Travels as one of
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  the most delightful books anybody ever read. It is
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  a confusing book. He breaks into prayer at
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  occasions. He has lists of birds. And then all of
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  a sudden he'll take two pages to describe a plant
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  and then he'll say, and then I got on my horse and
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  we journeyed here and we did this and I saw that.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: And he fought off alligators.
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: He did.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: He talked red wolves on Katoma Creek. What is
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  Katoma Creek today?
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: He did.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: You mentioned. He talked about plants. What plants
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  caught your attention in his travels?
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: Well, as an Alabamian, you have to mention the
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  oatleaf hydrangea. Bartram is given credit for the
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  first scientific description of that plant, which
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  just about anybody with a garden in Alabama will
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  recognize as our state wildflower. And he
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  described magnolias, he described pitcher plants.
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  But my favorite Bartram plant is a little known
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  plant that grows in the wild in only one area in
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  the world, and that is around Stockton, Alabama.
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  And it's a plant that Bartram called the large
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  flower evening primrose. He described it as the
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  most pompous and brilliant herbaceous plant yet
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  known to exist. He was a botanist. He preys on
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  this little plant that's native to Alabama. It has
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  flowers he described as the richest, golden
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  yellow. It's a night bloomer. It attracts night
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  pollinators. It has a lovely scent. But he did
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  discover this plant when he was on a canoe in the
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  Tensaw Delta and through a long series of
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  circumstances. This little plant that he described
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  and he collected specimens. If you go to London
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  today, you can see the pressed flower that he
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  collected in the British Natural History Museum.
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  But that thing naturalized in Europe because after
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  the Revolution, he and his family's seed business
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  sent these seeds to France and they were in
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  gardens and they naturalized. But that little
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  plant became a. A fundamental part of the early
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  work into modern genetic theory and theories on
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  mutation. Eventually, when the work on these
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  primroses in Europe became known in America. 1904,
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  the New York Botanical Gardens sent a botanist
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  from Biloxi down to South Alabama and said, see if
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  you can find this plant. And it did become a very
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  central little plant in experiments on genetic
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  theory. When William Bartram eventually died, his
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  family's business continued, but that plant was
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  lost in their garden. And in 2007, the Bartram
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  Trail Conference met at the newly opened Five
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  Rivers Delta Center State Lands Facility. And Joel
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  Fry, who was a leading scholar at the Bartram's
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  garden in Philadelphia, had actually done research
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  and he presented a paper on the primrose. And. And
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  the next day we all got on buses to go on the
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  Bartram Canoe Trail, which the state has
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  established down there. And as we were in the van,
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  we looked out the window and they're growing in
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  ditches. This was in October were evening
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  primroses. And so we stopped, dug up some plants
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  and Joel took them back to Philadelphia and re
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  established the primroses in Bartram's garden in
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  Philadelphia.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Did he leave any other writings besides the
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  travels?
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: He wrote a position paper for the George
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  Washington administration because he was viewed as
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  an expert on the Creek Indians. He wrote in that
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  he said, I was among them. When the Declaration
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  was announced, he was traveling through the Creek
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  Nation and into Mobile. He visited Pensacola at a
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  time when tensions were really high and war was
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  about to break out. And it was a dangerous time
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  for a man to be going around paddling in the
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  Tensaw Delta or anywhere else by himself. But he
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  during that very tense time in 1775, and he
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  finally got back to his home in Philadelphia in
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  early 1777.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: You know, in his travels book, he never mentions
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  the American Revolution.
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: He was a Quaker. He was a very devout man. He
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  looked at nature as the entire holistic creation
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  of God. And he was very interested in the
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  relationship of plants and animals and people in
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  it. He was very open minded and generous in his
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  assessment of Native peoples. He viewed the them
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  as equal in the eyes of God, which many of his
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  contemporaries of course, did not. However, he did
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  align himself with the American cause, but he
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  certainly was cognizant of the troubles, as
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  everyone at that time called them.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Kathryn, this has been fascinating and I hope we
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  can talk again. Thank you so much.
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  >> Dr. Kathryn Braund: Thank you, Carol. And thank you for helping spread
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  the word about William Bartram and his wonderful
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  book and the fantastic places he visited and what
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  is now Alabama.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Joining our Back to nature series was Dr. Kathryn
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  Braund, author, historian and Bartram scholar.
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  More information about the William Bartram in
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  Alabama Traveling exhibit at the Alabama State
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  Parks can be found at the State Parks website. The
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  exhibit is part of the America's 250th
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  celebration. Thanks for joining us for In Focus.
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  It's a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I'm
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  Carolyn Hutcheson. This is listener supported Troy
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  Public Radio.