Appalachian springs: Nature writing and environmental views of the Southern mountains

American nature writing rooted itself early in the soils of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Long before Thoreau or Transcendentalism, early botanists and explorers traveled into the southern mountains and wrote vivid accounts of the region's geography and natural history. Some, like William Bartram, produced works that influenced scientists as notable as Linnaeus, and poets as significant as Wordsworth. Nature writers responded to the astounding diversity of plant and animal life found throughout the region. The Southern Appalachians are home to the richest temperate flora on earth.; The long history of nature writing on the Southern Appalachians reveals the continuing attraction of the region for some of America's most significant nature writers, including John Muir, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, and Wendell Berry. And the history of ideas presented in these writings represents changing views of nature over time, running a philosophical gamut from romanticism to recent manifestations of environmental ethics. These nature writings bear witness to a growing understanding of environment, from early proto-ecological descriptions to writings informed by evolutionary theory and detailed knowledge of ecological relationships. The informed subjective response--the fusion of feeling for and knowledge of the natural world--is the special domain of the nature writer. From this fusion emerges an imperative for preservation of nature's diversity, an understanding of the human need for wildness, and the understanding of a need for a nurturing relationship between humankind and the organic world.; This study traces and interprets the significant nature writing that was produced in response to the Southern Appalachian Region. It examines how these writings evidence the emergence of wilderness and agrarian ideals that are informed by a land ethic. The study examines the essays, poetry, and fiction that have contributed to the fabric that constitutes the nature writing legacy of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.