The Matheson is excited to host a history bus tour of Paynes Prairie, featuring a tour of the prairie and a catered lunch by Pearl Country Store & Barbecue, on October 24, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. Lars Andersen, a full-time river guide and author of Paynes Prairie, The Great Savanna: A History and Guide, will lead an immersive tour of the prairie. Dr. Peggy Macdonald, executive director of the Matheson and author of Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida’s Environment, will provide an overview of Carr’s quest to save Paynes Prairie, Lake Alice, and Micanopy. Carr is one of the six women featured in the Matheson’s current exhibit, Saving the Sunshine State: Women Leaders in the Twentieth Century.
Marjorie Harris Carr was raised in southwest Florida and received a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) in 1936 and a master’s degree in zoology from the officially all-male University of Florida in 1942. She led campaigns to save Paynes Prairie, Lake Alice and the Ocklawaha River. A co-founder of the Gainesville Garden Club, Alachua Audubon Society and Florida Defenders of the Environment, Carr led the successful campaign to stop construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
Lars Andersen, owner of and full-time river guide for Adventure Outpost in High Springs, is also the author of The North Florida Adventure (an educational audio CD). Recent projects include Paddlers Guide to the Suwanee River Wilderness Trail and Paddlers Guide to the Gilchrist County Blueway.
Tickets are $60 per person and include lunch from Pearl Country Store & Barbecue and bus transportation from the Matheson History Museum to Paynes Prairie. For more information call 352-378-2280 or email info@mathesonmuseum.org.