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WILLIAM BARTRAM
(1739-1823)
The first native-born American naturalist to achieve international acclaim, William Bartram was born in Philadelphia in 1739 and raised in an atmosphere conducive to scientific study. His father, John Bartram, had founded the first botanical garden in America in 1728, and was later appointed Royal Botanist to King George III.
After accompanying his father on a botanical expedition	to Florida in 1765,	William	became	so
fascinated	with	natural history	and the	American
Southeast,	that	he determined	to spend	the rest
of his life	in its	study.
It has been said	that no single	American	naturalist
pioneered in so many fields of scientific discovery as William Bartram. In botany, ornithology, herpetology, mammalogy, and ichthyology, his early record is unmatched. His careful records of the American Indian, like those of the natural sciences, are still	read	and used by	scholars today.
For all of his scientific expertise, however, William Bartram	was	a humanist as	well. He	was widely
acclaimed in	Europe for the	published	account	of
his travels through the Southeast from 1773 to 1777. In this influential work, Bartram captured the mysterious beauties of the American continent as no one had before. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Carlyle, Emerson and countless other literary figures on both sides of the Atlantic joined the scientific world in acknowledging their debt to Bartram's work.
When the aging Quaker died at his Pennsylvania home in 1823, he left behind a legacy of which Americans can still be proud.
The Bartram Trail Conference was founded in November, 1976 as a non-profit organization to "study, promote, construct, and maintain a continuous, multi - purpose trail" commemorating Bartram and his remarkable accomplishments.
Though B.T.C. is a non-governmental body, it has support from the governors of the eight Southeastern states through which Bartram traveled. A representative appointed by each governor serves on the Conference Board of Managers.
Membership in the Conference is open to all. Annual dues are $10.00 per year. For more membership information, contact the Bartram Trail Conference, 3815 Interstate Court, Suite 202-A, Montgomery, Alabama 36109.