Few books are as important to North Carolina history as John Lawson’s “A New Voyage to Carolina,” published in London in 1709. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the book, the N.C. Office of Archives and History will host a symposium Friday Oct. 9, and Saturday, Oct. 10 at locations in and around the N.C. Museum of History.
At once travel account, botanical study, and detailed description of Indian life, the book is unrivaled among studies of the early eighteenth century American colonies. Historian Hugh T. Lefler wrote, “Lawson’s observation is keen and thorough; his style direct and vivid. He misses nothing and recounts all.”
The symposium begins on Friday, Oct. 9, at 1:30 p.m. The focus that day will be natural history. The symposium continues Saturday, Oct. 10, at 8:30 a.m., and will examine Lawson and his times.
Concurrent with the symposium, the North Carolina Museum of History will open the exhibit “A New Land, ‘A New Voyage’: John Lawson’s Exploration of Carolina” on Friday, Oct. 9. The exhibit, which will feature artifacts, specimens, illustrations, and other objects related to Lawson’s travels in the Carolina colony, will be on view through Feb. 15, 2010.
The keynote address will be given by Mark Laird, who serves as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Other speakers include E. Thomson Shields Jr., associate professor of English at East Carolina University; Vincent Bellis, professor emeritus of biology at East Carolina University; Perry Mathewes, Education Program Manager at Norfolk Botanical Garden; John Hairr, Manager of the House in the Horseshoe State Historic Site; Lindley S. Butler, historical consultant and Historian for the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project; Kathy O. McGill, of George Mason University; Bea Latham, of Historic Bath State Historic Site; Patricia Samford, director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory; Charles R. Ewen, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University; and Marcus Simpson Jr., Vice-chairman of the Department of Pathology and Director of Clinical Laboratories at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Registration is $25, which covers all lectures, a Friday afternoon reception, the Friday evening dinner, and a Saturday morning continental breakfast. Please return a check payable to the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association by Oct. 2, to Parker Backstrom, 4610 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4610.
The Office of Archives and History is a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Visit www.ncculture.com for podcasts and information 24/7.
Agenda
Friday, October 9
North Carolina Museum of History Auditorium
1:30 Welcome
Jeffrey J. Crow, Deputy Secretary, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
1:40 E. Thomson Shields Jr., Edenton
“A New Voyage to Carolina: Publication History of a Classic of North Caroliniana”
2:10 Vincent Bellis, Greenville
“Lawson’s North Carolina Plant Specimens, 1710-1711”
Break
3:00 Perry Mathewes, Norfolk
“John Lawson the Naturalist”
3:30 John Hairr, Lillington
“Lawson’s Observations on the Animals of Carolina”
6:00 Dinner
North Carolina Museum of History Lobby
7:00 Mark Laird, Toronto
Keynote Address
“English Plant Collecting and the American Connection”
Saturday, October 10
North Carolina State Capitol
North Carolina Museum of History Auditorium
8:30 Continental breakfast
North Carolina State Capitol
9:00 Lindley S. Butler, Wentworth
“John Lawson’s North Carolina, 1701-1711”
9:30 Kathy McGill, Oakton, Virginia
“’The Most Industrious Sex’: Lawson’s Carolina Women Domesticate the Land”
Break: Return to North Carolina Museum of History Auditorium
10:20 Bea Latham, Bath
Patricia Samford, Lexington Park, Maryland
“Botanist, Explorer, and Town Founder: John Lawson and Bath”
10:50 Charles R. Ewen, Greenville
“Lawson’s Bath: A Subterranean Perspective”
11:20 Marcus Simpson Jr., Winston-Salem
“Lost Heritage: John Lawson’s Plans for a ‘Compleat History’ of Carolina”
Speakers
E. Thomson Shields Jr. is Associate Professor of English at East Carolina University where he also teaches North Carolina Studies. A specialist in early American literature, he directs the Roanoke Colonies Research Office and co-edited Searching for the Roanoke Colonies.
Vincent Bellis is professor emeritus of biology at East Carolina University. In 2001 he helped organize a symposium to commemorate the 300th anniversary of John Lawson’s journey.
Perry Mathewes is Education Program Manager at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Formerly Curator of Gardens at Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens in New Bern, he researches historic gardens in the coastal Carolinas and Virginia.
John Hairr is Manager of the House in the Horseshoe State Historic Site. Author of Great Hurricanes of North Carolina and Col. David Fanning: The Adventures of a Carolina Loyalist, he is a frequent contributor to Our State.
Mark Laird is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Author of The Flowering of the Landscape Garden, he teaches courses in landscape architectural history.
Lindley S. Butler, historical consultant and Historian for the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project, is completing a study of North Carolina’s Proprietary era. He is the co-editor of The North Carolina Experience and author of Pirates, Privateers, and Rebel Raiders of the Carolina Coast.
Kathy O. McGill teaches history at George Mason University. She takes a particular interest in travel and migration in the eighteenth century. Her dissertation concerned British national identity and America.
Bea Latham is Assistant Manager of the Historic Bath State Historic Site. Patricia Samford, formerly site manager at Bath, is Director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.
Charles R. Ewen is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University. His field is historical archaeology and his studies have extended from Hernando DeSoto to pirates to the Roanoke Colonies.
Marcus Simpson Jr. is Vice-chairman of the Department of Pathology and Director of Clinical Laboratories at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. He has published widely on topics ranging from blood transfusion to natural history.
Lawson and Carolina
John Lawson (1674-1711)—naturalist, adventurer, and author—was a key figure in early North Carolina history. A New Voyage to Carolina, the account of his travels across the Carolinas published in 1709, introduced much of Europe to the New World. Also acting as an ambassador to the natives, John Lawson was one of the earliest promoters of the Carolina territories.
Little is known of Lawson’s early life. Born in Yorkshire, he received primary and advanced education in London. Trained in the natural sciences, Lawson sailed to Charles Town in 1700, to gather specimens for English collectors. Later that year, he and nine others embarked on a 550-mile, 57-day journey through Carolina’s unexplored regions. He kept record of his travels, meticulously describing flora, fauna, topography, and inhabitants.
Lawson dedicated the next decade to a fledgling Carolina. He edited his journal for publication, hoping to attract new settlers with descriptions of Carolina’s fertile soil, and abundant resources. Published in 1709, A New Voyage to Carolina proved a resounding success, being reprinted several times for English and German audiences. Lawson also led expeditions to locate grounds ideal for settlement, as a result founding Bath in 1705 and co-founding New Bern in 1710.
North Carolina’s first Surveyor General, Lawson identified the border between North Carolina and Virginia, work later continued by William Byrd. In 1711, Lawson and two companions set out to discover the source of the Neuse River. On their way, Tuscarora Indians ambushed the party and led them as captives to Catechna, where Lawson, perhaps the strongest Indian advocate among the colonists, was executed on September 20, 1711.
Although his contributions to North Carolina are often obscured by figures in later state history, Lawson, the rugged gentleman, helped to build the foundation upon which the state now rests.