Pilgrimage

UPDATE 2/15/24:  A revised brochure is now available with reduced price for banquet participation.  CLICK HERE for updated Pilgrimage brochure & registration form!

NOTE – The following trips are now full:   Trip #2 Sprewell Bluff (Friday), Trip #13 Camp Thunder VPA (Sunday).

The 55th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage of the Georgia Botanical Society will be held April 12th – 14th, 2024, based in LaGrange, GA. The Pilgrimage will feature a total of 16 field trips, including trails and floodplains along the Chattahoochee River, shoals, lakeside trails, a granite outcrop complex with embedded woodlands, montane sites with potential for American chestnut restoration, a plant museum, the tallest waterfall on Pine Mountain, and much more!

LaGrange is the seat of Troup County and was incorporated as a city in 1828. The town is located in Georgia’s western Piedmont region, with West Point Lake to the west of town. This area is part of the Chattahoochee River basin, an elongated stretch of land that averages 24 miles wide and about 140 miles long. The region is characterized by rolling hills around the lake. The soil is high in iron oxides and the rich red clay for which Georgia is so well known.

We will be exploring ecosystems in the Pine Mountain Ridge, the southernmost mountainous area east of the Mississippi River, characterized by quartzite rock formations of the Piedmont Plateau. It is the site of F.D. Roosevelt State Park, the largest Georgia state park, with Dowdell’s Knob as its highest point at 1,395 feet.

We will venture as far east as Camp Thunder in Upson County, and west into the East Gulf Coastal Plain of Alabama in the Tuskegee National Forest.

The city of LaGrange has a history focusing on local investment, as well as industrial diversification going back to the 1880s. Contributions from the Callaway Foundation enhance the city’s quality of life with amenities not found in towns of similar size. We have left the Friday morning field trip schedule light for those who choose to visit the historic venues in LaGrange, such as the Hills and Dales Estate, the historic home and gardens of the Callaway family. The famed Callaway Gardens are less than 20 miles south of LaGrange in Pine Mountain.

You can find the locations to all Pilgrimage activities in the Pilgrimage Interactive Map that lets you navigate to the locations.

Important Dates:

The Pilgrimage T-shirt order link will be open from February 8th through March 17th, 2024 – see Online T-shirt order.

Pilgrimage registration will be open from February 12th through March 12th, 2024.