Andre' Michaux Historical Marker

          Andre' Michaux (1746-1802) a French botanist and traveler. For a period of time he traveled the western mountains of North Carolina including climbing Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, the Black Mountains and the peaks of Table Rock and Hawksbill. He was known as the first white man to set foot in the Black Mountains and it was Michaux who first called the Black Mountains by their current name. Until 1796 he made botanical journeys through the United States and recorded his studies in a book on the oaks of North America (1801) and in a work on North American botany, Flora Boreali-Americana (1803). He discovered many new plants such as the wild flower, Giant Chickweed; the fern, Broad Beech; the Grass, River Oats; the shrub, Carolina Rhododendron and many, many more, it was probably in the thousands. 
          As recorded on his historic marker, he spent the nights of September 08, 1794 and May 02, 1795 at Swan Ponds which is about 3 miles S. W. of Morganton. The marker is located west of the Burger King on Highway 181 going out of Morganton.

      "His name was Andre` Michaux and we should all remember his name,
   for he  was one of the most remarkable human
   beings of the 18th century, or of any  century." 
                                                                                                                                    Charles Kuralt, 1994

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