“In late December 1700, John Lawson and a group of eight Englishmen and Native Americans set off on a 500-mile, two-month trek into the Carolina backcountry. The expedition began in Charles Town and headed north and west as far present-day Hillsborough, North Carolina, and then turned east, ending up in the settlement of Bath on the Pamlico Sound in February 1701. During the journey, Lawson kept a detailed journal, made sketches and maps, and gathered specimens of plants and animals. This month, Documenting the American South celebrates the 300th anniversary of the first publication of Lawson’s journals…”
Read more from DocSouth‘s highlight here.
I recently posted on my blog the part of Lawson’s journal where he describes his trip from Salisbury, NC (Sapona Town) to Hillsborough, NC (Acconeechy Town) with some of my comments in square brackets:
http://piedmontwanderings.blogspot.com/2009/10/lawson-crosses-proto-orange-county.html
The whole book is great, but even this short stretch includes lots of interesting details about the land he crosses and the Natives that he encounters.