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2023 Bartram Trail Conference in Athens, GA

This year’s Bartram Trail Conference is being held at the University of Georgia in Athens from August 4-5.

More information, registration, and up-to-date information can be found on the Bartram Trail Conference website.

The schedule of events:

Friday, August 4, UGA Special Collections Library

Registration opens at 4 p.m. with book sales and special exhibits.

5:00–6:30 p.m., Reception, Tours of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library,

Dinner on your own

Saturday, August 5, UGA Special Collections Library

Registration continues, Coffee and pastry provided

Theme I: Following in Bartram’s Footsteps

“Mapping the New Purchase: Bartram’s First-Person Account,” Dr. Kathryn Braund.

“In Search of William Bartram’s Buffalo Lick,” Brad Sanders.

“Finding Bartram’s Fish,” Dr. Bud Freeman, Georgia Natural History Museum.

Focusing on the fish species Bartram described from the Broad River in northeast Georgia as well as efforts to establish a new species of shoal bass to be named in honor of Bartram.

Theme II: Preservation and Innovation

“The usefull, the beautifull, the singular…” Highlighting the State Botanical Garden’s work in propagating rare plants as part of the Center for Plant Conservation.” State Botanical Garden of Georgia staff member to be decided. Focus on rare plants in northeast Georgia as well as elsewhere in the state, particularly those related to Bartram. Afternoon guided tour of rare plant propagation facilities at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

Lunch, catered at the Special Collections Library.

Theme II: Preservation and Innovation (continued)

“Preserving Bartram Landscapes in Georgia,” Wendy Jo Ledbetter, Fort Stewart Project, The Longleaf Alliance.

“Innovative Approaches to Visualizing History in the Landscape,” Dr. Micah Taylor, UGA College of Environment and Design.

6:00–7:00 Reception, Special Collections Library.

7:00 Banquet

Keynote address: Darlene Farris-Labar, Stroudsburg University, Pennsylvania, “Reimagining Bartram’s Artistic Vision.”

3D printed flower sculptures traveling exhibition in cooperation with Columbus State University.

Afternoon Tours in the area, self-guided and sponsored

State Botanical Garden of Georgia:

Bartram plants featured at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia; opportunity for field trips to see propagation of rare native plants and/or prairie restoration; Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum featuring botanical works galore.

Field trips following in Bartram’s path in northeast Georgia.

Kayaking on the Broad River and “Biking with Bartram” on the Firefly Trail.

Circle Gallery, College of Environment and Design, “With Rapture and Astonishment,” art and sculpture inspired by Bartram’s Travels in the Blue Ridge.
– See this event as well – https://blueridgebartram.org/event/with-rapture-astonishment-photography-exhibit-at-the-circle-gallery/

“Rural Runners” – Documentary Screening and Discussion with Chloe Maxim & Canyon Woodward

Please join us for our next Bartram Writers Series event including a screening of the documentary Rural Runners at the Cowee School on Saturday, May 20. After the screening, Brent Martin will host a Q&A discussion with its authors, Chloe Maxim and Canyon Woodward.

Rural Runners is a short documentary, 28 minutes, and a labor of love created by Canyon’s brother, Forest. The film follows Chloe and Canyon’s journey as two community organizers. It documents their time on the campaign trail as well as Canyon’s burgeoning rise as a champion ultra-distance runner. The film is about re-humanizing our deeply divided political system, offering hope and path toward a healthier democracy.

Rural Runners is now public! You can see the full film here. It premiered at Mountainfilm in Telluride and is a Vimeo Staff Pick.

About the Authors

Chloe Maxmin
Hailing from rural Maine, Chloe is the youngest woman ever to serve in the Maine State Senate, at 28 years old. She was elected in 2020 after unseating a two-term Republican incumbent and (former) Senate Minority Leader. In 2018, she served in the Maine House of Representatives after becoming the first Democrat to win a rural conservative district. She also received an honors degree from Harvard College, where she co-founded Divest Harvard. Chloe is the recipient of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes and the Brower Youth Award. She was also named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone. She was named the 2020 Legislator of the Year by the Maine Council on Aging. She is also the Co-Founder/Advisor at JustME for JustUS, a Maine-based organization focus on rural youth civic engagement and climate organizing. She is the Co-Founder, alongside Canyon, of Dirtroad Organizing, a new non-profit dedicated to rural organizing.

Canyon Woodward
Canyon was born, raised, and homeschooled in the Appalachian Mountains of rural North Carolina and the North Cascades of Washington. He was the campaign manager for Chloe Maxmin’s successful 2018 and 2020 campaigns. He was previously regional field director for Bernie Sanders 2016, field director for Jane Hipps for NC Senate, and vice chair of the NC District 11 Democrats. He earned an honors degree in social studies from Harvard College, where the bulk of his education took place outside of the classroom co- coordinating (with Chloe) Divest Harvard, a 70,000+person movement that succeeded in pressuring Harvard to divest its $53 billion endowment from fossil fuels. He is also an avid trail runner. He is the Co-Founder of Dirtroad Organizing, a new non profit dedicated to rural organizing.

Visit their website to learn more about the authors and their book, Dirt Road Revival.

June 2, 2023: The River Runs On – Documentary Screening

Please join us in exploring the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests through the new feature documentary, The River Runs On. The hourlong screening will begin at 7pm with a Q&A following with the filmmaker, Garrett Martin. This is a free event with a suggested donation of $10 going towards the distribution expenses of the film. The event is sponsored by Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy who will be tabling at the event.

Website: www.theriverrunson.com
Official Trailer: https://vimeo.com/764170588

Synopsis: THE RIVER RUNS ON follows conservationists as they struggle to manage two of the most important national forests in America – the Pisgah and Nantahala. The film revolves around the release of the Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Plan as the US Forest Service decides how these two national forests are managed for the next twenty years. The result is a meditation on our relationship to nature, our role in managing lands and what it may mean for the future.

More information about this event can be found on the Macon County Public Library website: https://fontanalib.org/events/river-runs-documentary-screening

Bartram Writers Series: Coming into Animal Presence – Q&A with John Lane

We’re excited to offer another installment of the Bartram Writers Series! Please join us for this book release discussion and Q&A with John Lane, hosted by Brent Martin. This event will be held at the historic Rickman Store in Cowee Valley on March 15th, from 6-8pm. Light refreshments will be provided. Copies of this book will be on sale at the event and John will be available to sign them.

Please RSVP below to help with planning and refreshments.

In his latest book, Coming into Animal Presence, John Lane continues his exploration of the intersection of the human imagination with the world of other animals in a companion volume to COYOTE SETTLES THE SOUTH (2016) and NEIGHBORHOOD HAWKS (2019). Each of these fifteen pieces–some more formal essays, some journalism, and some stories of Lane’s encounters with wild animals in wild places–explores the diversity and the mystery of what’s often been called “the more than human world.” In each piece there is always animal presence, sometimes central and sometimes peripheral. In one piece the Columbian mammoth comes back to trouble the contemporary political landscape of South Carolina. In another, he ponders the fate of a wing-shot goose finding a last refuge in the Lane family’s tiny frog pond. In another, Lane ventures into an abandoned Zimbabwean gold mine alone to check on the status of a common genet, a shy carnivore.

John Lane is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Dead Father Poems. His latest, Anthropocene Blues, was released by Mercer University Press. His Abandoned Quarry: New and Selected Poems won the SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) Poetry Book of the Year prize in 2012. He was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2014. He co-founded the Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and teaches environmental studies at Wofford College there.

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