James T. Costa will be the guest speaker at the Tryon Garden Club’s meeting on Sept. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross at 150 Melrose Ave. in Tryon.

Costa, a professor of Biology at Western Carolina University and Executive Director of Highlands Biological Station, will present “Bartram’s Trail, 1773-1776.”

William Bartram, an American naturalist who included the Carolinas in his travels, documented his journey and discoveries in his book, “Bartram’s Travels,” published in 1791. The book’s full title is “Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws. Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions; Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians,” and it is still considered a significant historical source concerning Native Americans and the American South.

Costa has lectured on William Bartram in the U.S., Europe and the Galapagos. The public is invited to attend his presentation here in Tryon.

 

-article submitted
by Susan McNabb