Andre Michaux
Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Andre Michaux. French botanist, pioneer in studying flora of western North Carolina. Spent nights of Sept. 8, 1794, and May 2, 1795, at "Swan Ponds," 3 mi. S.W.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
In the 1790s the French botanist André Michaux ranged through the still-wild mountains of western North Carolina, cataloging plants unknown to European science. On two occasions in 1794 and 1795 he lodged at "Swan Ponds" near Morganton, using the estate as a base for collecting in the surrounding highlands. His journals and specimens helped introduce Appalachian flora to the wider scientific world.
Why it matters
Michaux's expeditions were part of the great early-republic effort to map and understand the natural riches of the American interior, laying groundwork for American botany.
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