April 26th - Birthday of John James Audubon

Audubon in 1826

Today marks the 226th anniversary of the birth of famed naturalist John James Audubon, whose footprints can still be traced across the American South.
Born in what is now Haiti (then the French colony of Saint-Domingue) on April 26, 1785, he fled with his family to France just three years later when a slave revolt broke out on the Haitian sugar plantations. He was educated in France and remained there until he was 18, when he boarded a ship for America using a false passport to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic army.

He contracted yellow fever as he arrived in New York and was nursed back to health in a boarding house run by Quaker women, who taught him English and assisted in his relocation to a farm near Philadelphia where he developed a passion for American birds and wildlife. His business interests eventually took him west to Missouri and Kentucky, where he continued to expand his studies.

Oakley Plantation in Louisiana

Audubon, of course, went on to travel through much of the South and his ground-breaking bird paintings are among the finest ever done in North America. His travels are the focus of much attention in historical and birding circles and markers and historic sites across the region note his presence.

An excellent place to learn more about Audubon's work is at Audubon State Historic Site in St. Francisville, Louisiana. The park preserves Oakley Plantation, where he completed many of his bird paintings and which he described as "almost supernatural" in its beauty. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/audubon.

Ruins of Elizabeth Female Academy

A little more than an hour north near Natchez, Mississippi, are the ruins of the Elizabeth Female Academy, where Audubon taught drawing in 1822. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/natchezelizabeth.

The Audubon Society, of course, is a great place to learn about the life and contributions of John James Audubon. The Society maintians an online version of his groundbreaking book, Birds of America, at http://web4.audubon.org/bird/BoA/BOA_index.html.






Oakley Plantation (Audubon SHS) - St. Francisville, Louisiana

Oakley Plantation

Built in around 1806, Oakley Plantation at Audubon State Historic Site has been a Louisiana landmark for more than 200 years.

Built with clear West Indian influences, the house dates from the days when the Florida Parishes of Louisiana were still part of Spain. Oakley was still new in 1810 when the territory east of the Mississippi, south of the 31st parallel, north of Lake Pontchartrain and Gulf of Mexico and west of the Perdido River rebelled against the Spanish and declared its independence. The Republic of West Florida, so named because it was part of colonial West Florida and not present-day West Florida, lasted for only three months before it was taken over by the United States.

Footpath at Oakley Plantation

Oakley Plantation's best known interaction with history, however, came in 1821 when famed naturalist John James Audubon was hired by Mr. and Mrs. James Pirrie, the plantation owners, to teach drawing to their daughter Eliza. Although he remained there only a few months, the plantation became a landmark location in the life and career of Audubon because it was here that he began work on 32 of his famed paintings of North American birds. He was so taken with the farm and its surroundings, in fact, that he described its beauty as "almost supernatural."

Oakley Plantation is now preserved at Audubon State Historic Site on the outskirts of St. Francisville, Louisiana. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/audubon.

Elizabeth Female Academy - A Reminder of Audubon in Mississippi

John James Audubon is remembered today as one of the finest naturalists ever to explore the North American continent. He is memorialized in the Audubon Society and his work, particularly on the bird species of the United States, is still critical today.

He spent many months roaming through the South, studying its wildlife up close, and produced the only known artistic representations of such rare species as the Ivory Billed Woodpecker from life. It is a little known fact, however, that the Haitian born Audubon survived during many of his explorations by painting portraits and teaching drawing. Among the places he worked was a landmark college for women along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi.

The Elizabeth Female Academy, founded in 1818, was the first college in the United States to award degrees to women (a distinction also claimed by Wesleyan in Georgia). The ladies who attended Elizabeth studied advanced topics including Latin, history, mathematic, natural science, philosophy and art. For six weeks in the summer of 1822, their drawing instructor was John James Audubon.

The famed naturalist walked 7 miles each way in the blazing Mississippi sun to teach at the academy, which was located up the trace from Natchez in Washington. The heat and exposure to mosquitoes and other insects soon left him bed-ridden with fever. When he recovered, he accepted a position in Natchez and did not return to the job at the academy.

The ruins of Elizabeth Female Academy can be seen today along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The unique institution held a landmark place in American education and it is well worth taking your time to visit the historic site during a trip up or down the Trace. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/natchezelizabeth.