Moses A. Curtis
Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Moses A. Curtis. Botanist, authority on North American flora, author, and Episcopal minister. Home was two blocks east.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Moses Ashley Curtis was a nineteenth-century Episcopal minister who became one of America's foremost botanists, cataloging the plant and fungal life of the South while serving churches in the North Carolina Piedmont. His scientific writings on North American flora earned him international standing among naturalists of his day.
Why it matters
Curtis embodies the era when American natural science was often advanced by clergymen-scholars documenting a still little-known continent.
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Themes & tags
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