Before John James Audubon penned The Birds of America and became one of, if not the, most famed ornithologist, wildlife artist and scientist in the world, he was a storekeeper in Kentucky.
In 1808, Audubon was a recently married 23-year-old when he began his retail career in Louisville. But at the behest of his then-business partner, Ferdinand Rozier, the pair soon moved their dry goods store down the Ohio River to the frontier town of Henderson. Audubon reluctantly agreed to the move.
For reasons that are unclear, the partnership dissolved after a few years. For a while, Audubon apparently prospered in dry goods and might have a made a career in retail, but he spent a considerable amount of his time tramping about the Kentucky woods and waters hunting, painting and drawing birds and other wildlife. It’s impossible to know if the idea for The Birds of America had already seeded, but Audubon’s scientific and artistic bent had absolutely taken hold.
Audubon was born in 1785 in what is today Haiti, the illegitimate son of Jean Audubon, a French sea captain and plantation owner, and his 27-year-old mistress and French chambermaid, Jeanne Rabine, who died a few months after the boy was born.
Father and son returned to France when Audubon was 6, where the youngster fell under the care of his protective and doting stepmother, Anne Moynet Audubon. She and Jean Audubon formally adopted the child to stabilize his legal status and renamed him Jean-Jacques, which later was anglicized as John James.
Much of Audubon’s childhood was spent roaming the French countryside, hunting, drawing and painting—a pattern that eventually would prove fruitful.
Audubon, who would go on to produce the seminal book on American birds, didn’t arrive in the United States until 1803. Political rumblings in Europe and concern that his son would be conscripted into Napoleon’s army prompted Jean Audubon to send the then-18-year-old to Pennsylvania to oversee and manage Mill Grove, a 284-acre estate Jean Audubon owned about 20 miles from Philadelphia.
Audubon continued his habit of roaming the countryside, sharpening his natural eye, hunting, drawing and painting. He soon met Lucy Blackwell, whose well-to-do family owned the adjoining property. They married in 1808, and the young newlyweds soon departed for Kentucky, first to Louisville, then Henderson, followed by a brief return to Louisville.
Kentucky wasn’t particularly kind to the Audubons. They had two sons. A daughter, Lucy, died in 1817 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Henderson. They apparently moved in comfortable social circles, as much as could be found in the roughshod, muddy frontier river town of Henderson, and enjoyed some financial success early in their tenure. But they later endured crushing financial hardship. Audubon and others invested in a steam-powered gristmill, cutting-edge technology at the time. For various reasons, the investment ended in bankruptcy for Audubon. Penniless and with few options, he was briefly jailed for debt. But before leaving Henderson, the 34-year-old married father of two had gathered much of the core materials—including numerous sketches, drawings, paintings and notes—for The Birds of America, which would become the major ornithological work of the 19th century.
Thanks to Audubon’s determined focus on his art and scientific work and the unwavering support of his resourceful wife, the turnaround was surprisingly swift. Little more than a decade after the gristmill financial disaster, Audubon would be dining at the White House as the guest of President Andrew Jackson.
All this information and more can be found at the John James Audubon State Park, which is located just south of the Ohio River off U.S. Hwy. 42 in Henderson.
“Audubon lived in Henderson for nearly 10 years,” said Lisa Hoffman, parks program services supervisor for the park. “He had some struggles while here. But some successes, too.”
The state park honors Audubon not only in name but also with its architecture. The museum, nature center and park offices are housed in a couple of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) 1930s-era buildings with English and French architectural overtones that reflect Audubon’s European heritage.
The park’s Audubon Museum also houses a large collection of the ornithologist’s works along with numerous period artifacts.
The park recently nearly doubled in size. A 649-acre wetlands just north of the park’s main section is expected to open soon.
Interest in the wetlands tract, which will include hiking trails and walkways, has been high, said Hoffman.
The park’s main 724-acre block includes 6 miles of trails, a 28-acre fishing and boating lake, seasonal campground, cabins, golf course, tennis court, park offices, nature center and the Museum. About half of the area is managed as a nature preserve.
It’s worth a visit. For more information, go to parks.ky.gov/parks/recreationparks/john-james/ or contact the park office at (270) 826-5939.
Readers may contact Gary Garth at outdoors@kentuckymonthly.com