Caroline Dormon

Caroline Coroneos "Carrie" Dormon
Born (1888-07-19)July 19, 1888
Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died November 21, 1971(1971-11-21) (aged 83)
Shreveport, Louisiana
Resting place Briarwood Baptist Church Cemetery near Saline, Louisiana
Residence

(1) Arcadia, Bienville Parish

(2) Briarwood estate in Natchitoches Parish
Nationality American
Alma mater Judson College (Alabama)
Occupation Botanist; Artist; Author; Conservationist
Religion Southern Baptist
Spouse(s) Never married

Caroline Coroneos Dormon, also known as Carrie 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, the parish seat of government of Bienville Parish, in northern Louisiana. She never married.

Background

As a child, Dormon developed a great interest in plants and wildlife. She was educated at the Baptist-affiliated Judson College in Marion (Perry County), Alabama, from which she received a bachelor's degree in literature and art. She taught for several years in Louisiana schools, and then re-established her home at Briarwood in 1918. She began to collect and preserve native trees and shrubs.

Diversified career

In 1921, she became a public relations representative 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. Representative James 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 Hoover.

In 1941, during the administration of Governor Sam Houston Jones, Dormon joined the Louisiana Highway Department (later the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development) as beautification consultant. She was later a landscape consultant for the Huey P. Long Charity Hospital in Pineville in Rapides Parish east of the Red River from Alexandria.

She was a consultant for the popular Hodges Gardens State Park near Many in Sabine Parish. The park opened as a private development in the 1950s, but came under the operation of the State of Louisiana in April 2007.

Dormon also proposed what became the Louisiana State Arboretum, located some eight miles (13 km) north of Ville Platte, the seat of Evangeline Parish, as part of nearby Chicot State Park. The 301-acre (1.22 km2) site was dedicated in 1964. The Caroline Dormon Lodge opened in 1965, serving as a visitor center, library, and herbarium of native plants which grow within the boundaries of the arboretum.[1]

Her published works include: 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).

Caroline Dormon was the only woman member of the De Soto Commission established by Congress in 1935 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Hernando 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 in Baton Rouge. The Dormon Collection is located at the Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches.

Briarwood, located near Saline in southern Bienville Parish, is the headquarters of the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve. Natchitoches attorney and philanthropist Arthur C. Watson organized the Foundation for the Preservation of the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve and served as its treasurer until his death in 1984. The Caroline Dormon Trail extending 10.5 miles (16.9 km) 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.

In August 2012, the Rapides Parish School Board opened Caroline Dormon Junior High School 

Woodworth. The school is located on a 33-acre (130,000 m2) site, off U.S. Highway 165. Land for the school was donated by the United States Forest Service from the Kisatchie National Forest. The K-8th grade school cost $6.5 million and is a “green” school with energy saving tweaks such as solar panels, building and roofing colors, and efficiency of the mechanical and electrical systems. The 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) school is expected to open with approximately three hundred pupils.

Legacy

Dormon died in Shreveport. She is interred at the Briarwood Baptist Church Cemetery near her home.

Dormon willed her home, Briarwood to the public. It is open for tours and other events. More information is available on Dormon in "The Gift of the Wild Things:" The Life of Caroline Dormon written by Dr. Fran Holman. Also available is Adventures in Wild Flowers: The Timeless Writings of Caroline Dormon, a compilation of fifty articles edited by Dr. Holman.

In 1972, an art show named in Caroline Dormon's honor was formed in Shreveport by Emmett Elmo Rhodes. For twenty-six years, this annual art show and festival ran to promote nature art in 'Miss Carrie's' name which eventually received entries from all over the state. The show had two divisions, Children's Division and Adult Division. It was held at different venues located in Shreveport and was first help at the R. S. Barnwell Art and Garden Center, then at Mall St. Vincent, then at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum.

References

  1. ↑ Peak, Myra F. (ed.). Louisiana Arboretum. Governor's Office of Federal Affairs and Special Projects.

Further reading

External links

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