Location: NC 8/89 and SR 1001 at Hanging Rock State Park
County: Stokes
Original Date Cast: 1979
Lewis David von Schweinitz was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1780 to German parents who had traveled to the United States to assist in management of the Moravian Church. Schweinitz attended school in Bethlehem until his father was recalled to Germany in 1798. Once he arrived in Germany, Schweinitz sought to improve himself academically by attending the Moravian Theological Seminary where he studied theology and botany. Inspired by his teachers, he became interested in fungi, writing and publishing works on the topic throughout his lifetime. After completing school, he began to teach and was promoted several times to various posts before being assigned to administer the Moravian Southern Province in America.
Schweinitz traveled to Bethlehem and then to Salem, North Carolina, in 1812 where he began to oversee the activities of several churches, including business affairs and ministerial duties. A prominent leader among the Moravians of North Carolina and Pennsylvania, he was elected in 1818 to be a synod representative in Germany. Seen as an important leader and scholar, he was elected a trustee of the University of North Carolina by the General Assembly in 1819. Just a few years later he was called to become head pastor for the Bethlehem congregation and, at a synod in Germany in 1825, he was made an overseer for the Church in America.
The minister maintained his love of botany while in Salem and traveled throughout the region searching for new species and studying the local flora. One of his favorite spots, called the cascades, today is part of Hanging Rock State Park. He has been called the “Father of American Mycology” and is credited with discovering over 1,000 new species in America. He wrote several books and articles on the subject including Fungi of North Carolina in 1818 and A Synopsis of North American Fungi in 1831.
Schweinitz died in 1834 in Bethlehem, leaving his wife and four sons to distribute his large collection of books and herbaria. Much of his collection is now in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. His sons, Emil, Robert, Edmund and Bernard, all became important members of the Moravian church, serving as ministers and educators.
References:
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, V, 300—sketch by Rosamond C. Smith
Adelaide L. Fries, ed., Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, VII (1970)
Hanging Rock State Park: http://www.ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/haro/info.html
National Scenic Byways Online, Hanging Rock State Park: http://www.byways.org/browse/byways/11582/places/29040/