Tour 1
Swan Woods: Landscape History and Ecology of an Atlanta Piedmont Forest Remnant
Atlanta is dotted with patches of remnant Piedmont forest which tell the story of the landscape and ecology of the city and region. Join Travis Fisher, Senior Horticulturist with the Goizueta Gardens and the Atlanta History Center, for an exploration of the history and ecology of Swan Woods, a Piedmont forest in the heart of Buckhead.
Travis Fisher is a Senior Horticulturist, Plant Records Manager, and Arborist for the Goizueta Gardens at the Atlanta History Center. He has a background in history, horticulture, archaeology, and Southeastern ecology, creating a confusing but institutionally appropriate milieu from which he draws to inform his work at the Atlanta History Center.
Tour 2
The Quarry Garden: Native Plants and Georgia’s History
The Muscogee used many of the plants located in the Quarry, the Georgia Native plant garden at Atlanta History Center, for medicine, food and utilitarian purposes. The tour will discuss several of those plants found on the campus and throughout various parts of Georgia and how they would have been integrated into the daily lives of the Indigenous people.
Rosemary Bathurst is Senior Horticulturist for the Quarry Garden—one of the best native plant collections in Georgia. She leads many garden volunteer workdays, public program workshops, and helps catalog and permanently label plant collections throughout Goizueta Gardens. She holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts in Fiber at Cranbook Art Academy
and is a certified Medicinal Herbalist. She is a Board Member of the Georgia Perennial Plant Association and co-chaired the annual Inspired Gardener Symposium. Rosemary officially joined Atlanta History Center in 2015.
Tour 3
Special Treasures Tour of the Cherokee Garden Library
Whether it’s a vintage Hastings’ Seed Catalog, an old postcard of Ansley Park, an early 20th-century garden photograph, or a rare 18th-century volume with stunning hand-colored botanical plates, the remarkable gems of the Cherokee Garden Library tell the diverse and meaningful stories of the people and plants that have shaped, are shaping, and will shape our land in Atlanta and beyond. The tour will also highlight classic environmental works, such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and the New Perennial Plant movement, which has influenced the design of the Entrance Gardens of the Atlanta History Center. Tour guided by the Cherokee Garden Library Director.
Staci L. Catron is a library director, historic preservationist, author, archivist, and community collaborator who is currently the Cherokee Garden Library Director for the Atlanta History Center. In this role, Catron manages the development, care, and interpretation of a 35,000-item collection, including rare and contemporary books, periodicals, manuscript collections, and visual arts collections. Catron is past president and honorary director of the Southern Garden History Society, past chair of the Georgia National Register of Historic Places Review Board, and treasurer of Easements Atlanta Board of Directors, among other roles. In 2023, she was awarded The Garden Club of America’s Historic Preservation Medal.