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![]() Caroline Coroneos Dormon (July 19, 1888-- November 21, 1971) was a botanist, horticulturist, ornithologist, historian, archeologist, preservationist, naturalist, conservationist, and author from Louisiana. She was born in modest circumstances at Briarwood, the family home in northern Natchitoches Parish, to James L. Dormon and the former Caroline Trotti. She was reared in Arcadia,in northern Louisiana. She never married. As a child, she developed a great interest in plants and wild life. She was educated at the Judson College in Marion, Alabama, from which she received a bachelor's degree in literature and art. She taught several years in Louisiana schools and then re-established her home at Briarwood in 1918. She began to collect and preserve native trees and shurbs. In 1921, she became the first woman to work for the Louisiana Forestry Department. She attended a Southern Forestry Congress in 1922 and persuaded the United States Forest Service to establish a national forest in Louisiana. U.S. RepresentativeJames B. Aswell of Natchitoches worked with Dormon to bring to fruition the Kisatchie National Forest, which was designated in 1930, during the administration of President Herbert C. Hoover. In 1941, Dormon during the administration of Governor Sam Houston Jones, Dormon joined the Louisiana Highway Department (since the Department of Transportation and Development) as beautification consultant. She was thereafter a landscape consultant for the Huey P. Long Charity Hospital in Pineville Louisiana. Dormon also proposed what became the Louisiana State Arboretum located some eight miles north of Ville Platte as part of nearby Chicot State Park. The 301-acre site was dedicated in 1964. The Caroline Dormon Lodge, which opened in 1965, serves as a visitor center, a library, and houses a herbarium of native plants which grow within the boundaries of the arboretum. Her published works include the following: Wild Flowers of Louisiana (1934), Forest Trees of Louisiana (1941), Flowers Native to the Deep South (1958), Natives Preferred (1965), Southern Indian Boy (1967), and Bird Talk (1969). Dormon was the only woman member of the De Soto Commission, which was established by Congress in 1935 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of De Soto's expedition across the American Southeast, which crossed northern Louisiana. In 1965, Dormon was presented with an honorary doctor of science award from Louisiana State University. The Dormon Collection is located at the Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. Briarwood, located near Saline (Bienville Parish), is now the headquarters of the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve.There is also a Caroline Dormon Trail extending 10.5 miles in the Kisatchie Bayou Recreation Complex within the national forest. It is popular for horseback riding, hiking, and bicycling. The trail starts at the Longleaf Scenic Byway. Dormon is interred in the Briarwood Baptist Church Cemetery near her home. ![]() ![]() As you can see I came by my garden and earth passion honestly. My Mom would always talk about her cousin Caroline, but at the time mom was into painting and would show me Caroline's art work. It wasn't until years later when I was visiting I came across Caroline's garden books at mom's house that I knew her as a gardener. Then I was given the book "The Gift of The Wild Things" The Life of Caroline Dorman by Fran Holman Johnson. Now I am so proud to know this woman is part of my heritage. This biography tells the story of a fascinating woman that I knew as the cousin my mom said would greet them with a shotgun till she saw kinfolk had come to visit. A woman passionate about all she did in life who's legacy lives on. ![]() ![]() ![]() This is like a beautiful field guide to native flowers. Each with a botanical painting and details of what it looks like and where it grows. ![]() ![]() Natives Preferred has photographs of plants as well as line drawings. She goes into more detail about plants in this book as if you;ve come to visit and she's sat down to tell you all about some native treasure. | Caroline Dormon | My 'Worn Out' Books | Useful Garden Books | Entertaining Garden Books | Inspirational Garden Books | Rose Books | | Return Home | In the Garden | Garden Resource Directory | Garden Tours | Recommended Garden Reading | Event Calendar | Garden Organizations | Q & A Page | Contact Me | |
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