We believe that if John Lawson in 1700 had had access to Twitter and the capacity to blog and immediately share what he found -- and engage the people through whose territory he traveled -- he would have done so. So as we retrace his journey we're committed to doing exactly that, regularly updating and sharing our progress as we plan and travel.
Along the path, Lawson entrusted his enterprise to native American guides and to the people he found on the way. Just so, we're trusting current natives and experts to point us in the right direction. We'll be moving all through central and coastal North and South Carolina, as you can see on the map. Live there? Know something about the terrain, history, culture? Want to join us on the trail for a while? Let us know! Reach out! We want to hear from you and want to meet you and learn about where your grandfather took you for ice cream.
Along the path, Lawson entrusted his enterprise to native American guides and to the people he found on the way. Just so, we're trusting current natives and experts to point us in the right direction. We'll be moving all through central and coastal North and South Carolina, as you can see on the map. Live there? Know something about the terrain, history, culture? Want to join us on the trail for a while? Let us know! Reach out! We want to hear from you and want to meet you and learn about where your grandfather took you for ice cream.
Sponsors! Sponsors! Sponsors!
The Knight Science Journalism Fellowships are far from the only sponsors an undertaking like this gathers. Just like it was for Lawson in 1700, it seems like every conversation we have brings to the fore another person looking to help us find our way. We'll link to everyone who helps us out.
Nature Adventure Outfitters in Charleston learned about our first segment -- canoeing, as Lawson did, along the coast to the mouth of the Santee River -- and offered every kind of help imaginable. We can't wait to meet them, their guides, and their friends. They're even helping us find a canoe. Thanks, Nature Adventures Outfitters.
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The North Carolina Office of Archives and History heard about our quest and started making with the background in a hurry. Thanks, guys.
North Carolina Maps, a joint enterprise of the North Carolina State Archives, the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Outer Banks History Center, makes just about every important map of NC available online and downloadable. They've been enormous supporters of this project.
REI hasn't given me any money or paid for anything. But I'm a member there, and every time I walk in their store I get great advice, and they steer me to what I need, not what they want to sell me.
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Some people help us out and have no logo. We're already enormously grateful to Val Green and Tom Earnhardt. Elizabeth Sparrow has very graciously allowed us to use the portrait -- plausibly of Lawson -- acquired by her husband, the late Dr. Keats Sparrow. My friend Adam Organ, someone who can do an awful lot of things, has been enormously generous with his time and advice regarding logistics and equipment.