DAPHNE, Ala.—The next program of the Baldwin County Historical Society is set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Daphne Senior Center, 2605 U.S. Highway 98 in Daphne.                 

William Bartram and Samuel Taylor Coleridge will be the topic.

In the 1780s, William Bartram completed his most widely read book, “Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, etc.” It was considered at the time to be one of  the foremost books on American natural history. “Travels” is noted for its lush, exotic and poetic descriptions of the South, especially what was then West Florida, an event spokesperson said.

Bartram’s descriptive style influenced many of the early 19th-century writers.  William Wordswoth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge read the book, and its influence can be seen in many of their works, including “Kubla Khan” and Biographia Literaria.

Sunday’s presenter will be Michael D. Patrick.

Patrick has lived in Fairhope since 1995, when he retired from the University of Missouri-Rolla as an associate professor emeritus. He was three-time president of the Missouri Folklore Society, president of the Ozarks States Folklore Society, and a judge for the annual Missouri Historical Society research competition. He also served on the Editorial Board of the University of Missouri Press. He was a National Endowment for Humanities Fellow at the University of North Carolina.

He has been a consultant for the Center for Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi since its inception.

After moving to Fairhope, he taught Southern Folklore and Alabama Folklore at the University of South Alabama Baldwin County until 2000. 

His publications include articles on Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Ozark folklore.

His three books are “We Are a Party of History: the Story of the Orphan Trains,” “Orphan Trains to Missouri,” and “The Black West in Story and Song.”

Light refreshments will be provided.

Admission is free and the public is welcome.