Tag Archives: Cedars of Lebanon

At 100, Elsie Quarterman attends her Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival

Dr. Elsie Quarterman pioneered the ecology of cedar glades. Yesterday she attended the annual festival named in her honor, the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, Lebanon, Tennessee. Aunt Elsie is 100 years and five months old, and isn’t getting around as fast as she once did, so she met with her students and grand-students at a local restaurant. Only a few of them are pictured here:


Kim Cleary Sadler, Assistant Professor of Biology at Middle Tennessee State University and co-Director of the Center for Cedar Glade Studies. (Student of Thomas “Tom” Ellsworth Hemmerly, who was teaching and couldn’t come.)
Dr. Elsie Quarterman, Professor Emerita of Plant Ecology, Vanderbilt University
Carol C. Baskin, Professor of Biology, University of Kentucky

There were classes, botany walks, owl hoots, and musicians. Here’s the schedule. It was sunny this year, unlike last year’s great flood. Next year, you should come! Get out of town, take a walk in the glades.

Elsie got a guided tour, with Tennessee State Naturalist Emeritus Mack Pritchard and his successor Randy Hedgepath. Here they are with Elsie’s nephew Patrick Quarterman, while Gretchen Quarterman photographs a glade.

Here State Naturalist Randy Hedgepath consults with Dr. Quarterman about identification of a cedar glade plant.

Elsie got out of the car to look at this one with Randy and Ann Quarterman: Continue reading

Elsie Quarterman Glade Festival

Some of you may remember my aunt, Elsie Quarterman, born in Valdosta, played basketball for Hahira High School:

Cedars of Lebanon State Park will host its annual Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival April 30 – May 1. Held in partnership with The Center for Cedar Glade Studies of Middle Tennessee State University, this event will offer visitors an opportunity to learn more about the area through seminars, guided nature walks, exhibits, guest speakers and naturalist displays. All events are free and open to the public.

“We are honored to be hosting this 33rd annual event and excited about the roster of experts on hand during this two-day festival,” said Park Ranger and Naturalist Wayne Ingram. “We have numerous activities and educational opportunities planned for all ages and encourage everyone to join us – rain or shine.”

Dr. Elsie Quarterman was professor Emeritus of Vanderbilt University and pioneered cedar glade research in the early 1950s. Coupled with her extensive research at this site, Dr. Quarterman has been an advocate for natural area protection throughout her distinguished career. Her efforts helped Tennessee in 1971 become one of the first states to pass legislation to protect natural areas in the U.S.

At 99 years old she won’t be outwalking everybody like she used to, but she will be there. Road trip to Lebanon, Tennessee? Y’all come!

Echinacea tennesseensis, the Tennessee coneflower, thought to be extinct until Elsie rediscovered it: Continue reading