Notes from the Archives · In memoriam
Lydia Sargent MacauleyJuly 5, 1932 – August 8, 2025
Begin reading“…doing what we can to continue their work by preserving and protecting this area that they loved.”
In her words
“Lately I have been thinking about the special bond you and I have. We both had fathers who were incredibly devoted to conservation and in particular to the flora of their beloved Blue Ridge mountains. . . . Neither [man] took full credit for their achievements, but left immense lasting legacies. It’s impossible to fill the huge voids left by our fathers except by remembering their passions and doing what we can to continue their work by preserving and protecting this area that they loved. . . . We are both fortunate to have had such marvelous fathers.”
Summers in Highlands
Lydia Sargent’s parents, Ralph and Louise, were avid supporters of the Highlands Biological Station (HBS), a tradition which they passed down to their two children, Lydia and Hugh while spending many summers in Highlands. The Sargent family property is contiguous to the Station, giving Lydia and Hugh a world of play and adventure in their childhood.
Bird Study, 1945
Lydia’s earliest known involvement with the Station is documented in her father’s book, Biology in the Blue Ridge. In 1945 Lydia volunteered at The Highlands Museum, now Nature Center, teaching a weekly class on bird study.
At that time The Highlands Museum was keeping observation cards on flora and fauna around the plateau. Notably on June 7, 1945, Lydia saw a Bewick’s Wren, recorded as “singing” on the card. This species of wren is now thought to be extirpated from the Eastern United States.
The card’s details, set out here; not a copy of the card itself. Lydia was twelve that June.
A Career in Natural Areas
Lydia wrote of her botanical interest and career in a short biography for the Highlands Biological Foundation - HBF and HBS (Botanical) Forum in May of 2015. Her “main career was with the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, where she was a Natural Area Preservation Specialist doing Landowner Contact as follow-up for the Illinois Natural Area Inventory. She was on the Board of the Natural Areas Association for 8 years. She served on the Board of Directors of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee for 11 years (now known as Mainspring Conservation Trust).”
Lydia was on the Board of the Trustees of the Highlands Biological Foundation for 13 years from 2004 - 2017. She also served as Treasurer and as a key member of the Botanical Garden Committee, and she was a major donor during those years as well.
Thirty-two years on three boards
- Natural Areas Association8 years
- Land Trust for the Little Tennessee now Mainspring Conservation Trust11 years
- Highlands Biological Foundation Trustee 2004 – 2017 · Treasurer · Botanical Garden Committee13 years
Her Father’s Botanical Survey
Lydia was always concerned about her father’s Botanical Survey of Highlands which was revised by Jeff Zahner in 1991-1992 and then by Lydia herself in 1996. In 2018 she was still writing the “Plant Inventory database needs much more than ‘Keep Updated’. It hasn’t been done since June 2008, so really really needs a new inventory. I feel a new inventory is vital - Glenda (Zahner) knows all the ropes on how to carry it out. It’s a one-day intensive study with lots of people involved.”
The Botanical Survey of Highlands
- Ralph SargentHis Botanical Survey of Highlands.
- Jeff ZahnerRevises the survey.
- Lydia Sargent MacauleyRevises the survey herself.
- The last inventoryThe plant inventory “hasn’t been done since June 2008,” she wrote in 2018.
- “really really needs a new inventory”A one-day intensive study with lots of people involved.
A Naturalist’s Guide
Between 2010 and 2012, Lydia collaborated with HBS Director James Costa and his wife Leslie Costa to produce The Highlands Botanical Garden: A Naturalist’s Guide, which was published to mark the 50th anniversary of the HBS Botanical Gardens in 2012. Jim served as lead author on the project, Lydia as copy editor, and Leslie designed the book’s layout and scanned and edited images from Ralph Sargent’s botanical slide collection which Lydia had compiled and researched. Lydia and Jim began a mutually respectful relationship not long after Jim’s arrival at the Station as noted on a postcard dated September 26, 2005 - “Such a pleasure meeting you last week.” Lydia was thrilled that Jim wanted to use “her father’s magnificent photos.”
- James CostaLead author
- Lydia Sargent MacauleyCopy editor. Compiled and researched Ralph Sargent’s botanical slides
- Leslie CostaLayout, and scanned and edited the slide images
The Red Pencil
Everyone who knew Lydia was well aware of her methodical record keeping. After reading the minutes of the many Botanical Garden meetings, forums, and retreats, Lydia wrote about herself in 2018, “I am a terribly slow reader and that’s why I catch so many typos.” Indeed, Lydia edited and corrected almost everything she read including the 2018 “Roadmap” for the Botanical Gardens Committee. In 2011 she even combed through Biology in the Blue Ridge listing all the “Ideas and Development of the Botanical Gardens” to verify the history of the gardens.
Catch the typos
A slow, careful read finds them all. There are four in this sentence. Select each one.
Lydia and almost everything she , including the 2018 “Roadmap” for the Botanical Gardens .
0 of 4 found
Two Fathers
Lydia was devoted to her father and his support of the Station and the Botanical Gardens. A revealing letter of January 17, 2008 to Jeff Zahner talks of this respect and the life-long garden interest concerning Ralph Sargent and Bob Zahner.
January 17, 2008 · To Jeff Zahner“Lately I have been thinking about the special bond you and I have. We both had fathers who were incredibly devoted to conservation and in particular to the flora of their beloved Blue Ridge mountains. . . . Neither [man] took full credit for their achievements, but left immense lasting legacies. It’s impossible to fill the huge voids left by our fathers except by remembering their passions and doing what we can to continue their work by preserving and protecting this area that they loved. . . . We are both fortunate to have had such marvelous fathers.”
Lydia
Indeed, Lydia continued her father’s work of protecting and leading the conservation of the Highlands Plateau and HBS Botanical Gardens. We thank her for this legacy.
A life on the plateau
- 1932July 5Lydia Sargent is born.
- 1945June 7She teaches a weekly bird study class at the Highlands Museum, and records a singing Bewick’s Wren.
- 1991Jeff Zahner revises her father’s Botanical Survey of Highlands, through 1992.
- 1996Lydia revises the survey herself.
- 2004She joins the Board of Trustees of the Highlands Biological Foundation, serving through 2017.
- 2005September 26A postcard: “Such a pleasure meeting you last week.”
- 2008January 17Her letter to Jeff Zahner about their fathers.
- 2011She combs through Biology in the Blue Ridge to verify the history of the gardens.
- 2012The Highlands Botanical Garden: A Naturalist’s Guide marks the Gardens’ 50th anniversary.
- 2015MayShe writes a short biography for the HBF and HBS (Botanical) Forum.
- 2018She calls for a new plant inventory, and edits the Botanical Gardens “Roadmap.”
- 2025August 8Lydia Sargent Macauley dies.
Lydia Sargent Macauley
1932 – 2025
James Costa, Jason Love and Bryding Adams, Highlands Biological Station