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LSU Hilltop Arboretum Director Tara Titone passes the Bartram Trail Marker along the William Bartram Trail at the LSU Hilltop Arboretum.

Ask Louisianans to name a famous naturalist, and John J. Audubon's name will top the list.

It's understandable, with Audubon's name prominently attached to everything from zoos and aquariums to bridges and parks and, yes, even a golf trail.

Audubon visited Louisiana often, spent lots of time in New Orleans and even based his portfolio, "Birds of America," on many of the birds he collected and documented while living in St. Francisville.

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A potrait of American naturalist William Bartram painted in 1808 by Charles Willson Peale.

But Audubon wasn't the first naturalist to document Louisiana's natural landscape and its inhabitants. That distinction goes to William Bartram, who made his way through the Louisiana territory in 1775, a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed and 10 years before Audubon's birth.

Proof is in the markers

Doubts? Well, proof is found in the historic markers documenting Bartram's trail through the Baton Rouge area, each bearing a local passage from his book, "Travels of William Bartram."

One of these markers piqued Cynthia Jardon's curiosity about the legendary naturalist.

"I saw a marker relating to William Bartram on a visit to the Burden Center," the Alexandria reader said. "I've been told there are more markers in Baton Rouge. So, why did Bartram travel through Baton Rouge, and how was it decided where the markers would be placed?"

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A page from William Bartram's handwritten draft of his book, 'Travels,' which chronicles his exploration of the southeastern United States, including a detailed documentation of the Baton Rouge area.  

Answering the last part of that question is easy.

"We placed the markers according to locations in the passages in William Bartram's book," said Michele Deshotels, a member of the Bartram Trail Project Committee and the LSU Hilltop Arboretum's board of directors.

She refers to Bartram's 1791 book, "Travels of William Bartram," in which he accurately chronicles his 1773-1777 exploration of the southern colonies and southeastern region of North America. In it, Bartram specifically documents the findings of his visit to the "Baton Rouge settlement," where he not only takes note of a bluff along the Mississippi River, but also a river called Amite and an area by the name of Manchac.

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William Bartram encountered alligators during his four-year journey through the southeast between 1773 and 1777. He sketched these while traveling through Florida.

In his blood

Why did Bartram decide to conduct this survey of the South's ecosystem? It was in his blood.

Bartram's father was noted naturalist John Bartram. Though dad was born in the "British Province of Pennsylvania" in 1699 and was a close friend to Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, son William Bartram is celebrated as America's first native born naturalist and scientific illustrator.

According to Allen Johnson's 1929 entry on Bartram in the "Dictionary of American Biography," the naturalist's talent for drawing was recognized by Franklin, who "offered to teach (young Bartram) printing, and then suggested for him the trade of engraver."

Instead, Bartram tried his hand working as an independent trader in Cape Fear, North Carolina, before accompanying his father's 1765-66 exploration of the St. John River in Florida.

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The William Bartram Trail Marker along La. 450, which borders the Mississippi River levee  in Pointe Coupee Parish. The marker commemorates Bartram's westernmost stop on his 1773-77 exploration of the southeastern region of North America.

The father and son duo wrote a book about that trip, titled "Travels on the St. John River," and though it was published in 1791, it's still in print through the University of Florida Press.

But William Bartram's life journey would take a different path after that.

"His father's friend, the English naturalist Peter Collinson, had before his death in 1768 shown drawings by William — 'elegant performances' — to the Duchess of Portland, and to Dr. John Fothergill, a (British) botanist and a Friend, who soon extended his patronage to the young American," Johnson writes. "At Fothergill's expense, Bartram spent the years 1773-77 exploring the southeastern part of the United States. In return, Fothergill was to have seeds, specimens, and drawings; journals and exquisite drawings."

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Celebrating the Sept. 13, 2015, unveiling of the William Bartram Trail Marker at the Main East Baton Rouge Parish Library were, from left, Library Director Spencer Watts; Kizzy Payton, East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board of Control president; Randy Harelson; associate Professor Charles Fryling, LSU College of Art & Design; Sally Diagle, William Bartram Trail Project committee member; Kathy Wascom, Library Board of Control member; Peggy Davis Coates, LSU Hilltop Arboretum executive director; Melissa Eastin, library archivist; and Andrea Wulf, author of 'Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature & the Shaping of the American Nation.'

It was through Fothergill's patronage that Bartram was able to travel as far west as Louisiana.

Started out in Philadelphia

Bartram was living in Philadelphia when he set out on his pioneering, four-year solo journey, which brought him through the Carolinas and the Gulf South to Louisiana and the Mississippi River. He observed and recorded native plants, animals and people in his journal along the way. That includes a drawing of alligators, though he documented them in Florida before arriving in Louisiana. 

"He didn't explore a whole lot of Louisiana," Deshotels said. "He only got as far west as Pointe Coupeé."

Or, as Bartram spelled it in his book, "Pointe Coupe." A marker stands across from St. Francis Chapel along La. 420 bordering the Mississippi River levee.

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The William Bartram Trail Marker is one of several markers commemorating America's first native born naturalist's 1773-77 journey through North America's southeastern region, which included Baton Rouge.

But his chronicle of the Baton Rouge area was thorough, as told through the markers.

Each was spearheaded by Baton Rouge's Bartram Trail Project Committee, headed by the late Randy Harelson, in cooperation with the nonprofit Bartram Trail Conference.

The markers' locations

In Baton Rouge, they can be found:

  • on the Mississippi River levee at the intersection of South Boulevard and River Road downtown;
  • BREC Airline Highway Park, 17200 Airline Highway near Bayou Manchac;
  • the LSU Hilltop Arboretum, 11855 Highland Road;
  • Burden Museum & Gardens, 4560 Essen Lane;
  • BREC Magnolia Mound Museum + Historic Site, 2161 Nicholson Drive;
  • and the Main Library, 7711 Goodwood Blvd.

"The marker at the library was in storage at a botanical garden in Mississippi," Deshotels said. "We approached the library and asked if they would be interested in having this original marker, which took an overall view of the area through the writing in the book. We thought it was just perfect for the library, and they even chose some plants that were related to Bartram for their landscaping."  

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Among the participants at the dedication of the William Bartram Historical marker in Port Vincent on Nov. 17, 2021, were, from left, Derrick and Vanissa Murphy representing Quality Engineering, Michelle Deshotels of the Edward Livingston Historical Association, Joseph Labbe, Quality Engineering, Rev. Jason Palermo, pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in French Settlement, Angela Elmore, mayor of Port Vincent, Eric Edwards, director of the Livingston Parish Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, Kathleen Abels, marketing director of the bureau, Jamie Seal, Quality Engineering, Dr. Clark Forrest, president of the Edward Livingston Historical Association, and Iris Stilly, secretary of the historical association. Quality Engineering sponsored the dedication and provided lunch for those attending the ceremony.

Markers also stand at the intersection of Plains-Port Hudson Road and Old Scenic Highway in the Zachary-Plains area, along La. 42 in Port Vincent and, again, along La. 420 in Pointe Coupeé Parish.

A marker commemorating Bartram's journeys through the Lake Pontchartrain Basin also stands in Pelican Park at 63350 Pelican Blvd./Pelican Drive in Mandeville.

Finally, the trail winding through LSU Hilltop Arboretum is named for Bartram.

"All kinds of great things are associated with William Bartram," Deshotels said. "And he was actually asked to go on one of the great explorations after the Louisiana Purchase, but he said no, because by then he was too old. He thought his fireplace in his own house would be a much nicer place to be."

Email Robin Miller at romiller@theadvocate.com.