John Bartram in Charlestowne
During the settlement of North America, explorers and scientists were paid considerable sums of money to collect and identify specimens of plants and animals. Mark Catesby, whom we’ve discussed previously, first arrived in North America in 1712. His main competition for collecting and identifying plant specimens was John Bartram.
The observation, collection, and study of plants and animals practically consumed John Bartram from the day he was born in 1699 until his death in 1777. When not exploring fields, forests, and mountains, Bartram lived all of his 78 years on a roughly 100-acre family farm called Kingsessing, located just outside of Philadelphia. With the plants and seeds that Bartram collected from his explorations, he added a nursery business to his farm operation. Among those who paid Bartram for plant specimens was the great Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus, who considered John Bartram “the greatest natural botanist in the world.”
Charlestonians Martha Daniell Logan (1701 – 1779) and Elizabeth Pitts Lamboll (1725 – 1770) were among Bartram’s most important supporters for his plant and seed business. Martha was the daughter of Robert Daniell (1646-1718). Upon his death, Martha’s mother married Col. George Logan Sr. (1669-1721). In July 1719, Martha married her step-brother, Col. George Logan Jr. (1695-1764). The Logans lived on the land that they and their families owned along the Wando River until 1750. Martha then moved to Charlestowne, where she owned a house near “Trotts Point” on the north side of Tradd Street.
Like many homes in Charlestowne at the time, her house was also her place of business. In Logan’s case, it was plants and seed that she sold out of the elaborate garden that she maintained. Logan also wrote about gardening and plant care for the South Carolina Gazette beginning in 1751. Her column was titled “Gardners Kalander [sic], done by a Lady of this Province, and esteemed a very good one.”
Living just a few blocks from Martha Logan at 19 King St. was Elizabeth Pitts Lamboll. She tended a garden that stretched from the side of her single-house that now fronts Lamboll St. all the way to the Ashley River. The distance today is two city blocks. Lamboll also had a plantation on James Island where she nurtured an orange grove that was most likely the source of the orange trees that grew in the town’s park, called the Orange Garden. The park has since been broken up into lots and built upon, but the west side of what was once the Orange Garden is now Orange Street.
Elizabeth Lamboll corresponded closely with John Bartram. At her invitation, John Bartram and his son, William, visited Charlestowne for the first time in 1760. It was while visiting Charlestowne that John and William Bartram first met Martha Logan and had the opportunity to admire her impressive garden. From then on, like Lamboll, Logan corresponded frequently with John Bartram and exchanged plant material.
In 1764, a campaign for more shade and cleaner air led to an ordinance to encourage tree planting in Charlestowne. It was also believed that trees would provide a better division between the streets and the sidewalks. Rather than planting trees that were native to the Lowcountry, such as the Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), Live oak (Quercus agricola), or Cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto), John Bartram and William Bartram were able to help supply, starting in 1765, faster growing non-native trees such as the “Pride of India,” also known as Chinaberry (Melia azedarach). Chinaberry grew to be so common in Charleston that John James Audubon later placed his drawing of the White-eyed vireo in the tree in his famed folio Birds of America. In the book, Chinaberry is the only tree featured that is not native to North America.
After visiting with their Charlestowne friends and working to help Charlestowne conform to its tree ordinance, John and William Bartram continued south to explore the St. Johns River in East Florida. It was during this exploration that they discovered Gordonia pubescens along Georgia’s Alatamaha River near Fort Barrington, a few miles northwest of present-day Darien, Georgia. Today, Gordonia pubescens is known as Franklinia alatamaha. John James Audubon placed Bachman’s warbler with Maria Martin’s drawing of Franklinia alatamaha in Birds of America. The plant no longer grows in the wild, and the bird is officially extinct.
Learn more about the natural history of Charleston and the Lowcountry on our tour with naturalist Layton Register. Offered weekly and by request, you can book your spot here.
Researched and written by Layton Register. Edited by Anna Zlotnicki.
