Bowie Historical Committee
Click on the image below for
historical info on DR Anna Bowie
The Bowie Historical Committee was formed in June 1996 to safeguard and evaluate items left to the City of Fairview by the late Dr. Evangeline Bowie. They worked with hopes for a small museum detailing the amazing story of Bowie Nature Park’s creation.
That dream became reality on August 2, 2003 when the Bowie Nature Center and Museum opened to the public. The Bowie Historical Committee’s efforts can be seen in the building’s large-scale diorama featuring a likeness of Van Bowie and the natural healing process of forest succession - fast growing trees like loblolly pines hold the soil in place, permitting the slow transition to a natural hardwood forest. They also installed a permanent exhibit with memorabilia from the Bowie family and items related to Dr. Bowie’s work preparing the land for tree planting.
The Bowie Historical Committee is affiliated with the Friends of Bowie Nature Park, but it is not necessary to join the Friends to help with new or ongoing museum projects. BHC maintains the original Bowie collection, which has been archivally protected, and using items in the collection or private acquisitions, tries yearly to mount one or more temporary exhibits in the nature center.
New members are welcome and needed.
For more information, email us by clicking HERE.
DRs. Anna and Byrd Bowie were formerly recognized and honored at Vanderbilt recently during the unveiling ceremony at Langford Auditorium on the Vanderbilt campus on December 17, 2018.
Dr. Andre Churchwell, VUSM’s Chief Diversity Officer, contacted the Bowie Park staff back in the summer to find out more about Anna and Byrd, and to try to obtain portraits suitable to grace the walls of Vanderbilt’s lecture halls. The park staff referred them to the Friends of Bowie Park’s Bowie Historical Committee. As Churchwell said, (It is) time to populate our hall of heroes (or pantheon) with faculty representatives of groups who have not been previously recognized. Our heritage of acknowledgement of greatness HAS to recognize diverse leaders representative of the people we serve—such as women, Hispanics, African-Americans, and other
diverse groups.
Click on the PDF icon below to read about the unveiling. Scroll down to "Vanderbilt Portrait Unveiling"
