| Charles Atwood was an American physician and botanist who founded Fillmore Glen State Park in Moravia, New York. He earned his degree in botany from Cornell before pursuing medicine, and he maintained a strong interest in plants throughout his life. He collected extensively throughout the state and kept an herbarium and botanical library, which he let other botanists of all levels of experience use. This included botanist and Cornell alumnus Bernard E. Harkness, who was a high schooler at the time. William Dudley's Cayuga Flora credits Atwood for his help in better understanding the region's flora through his work. While serving on the Finger Lakes State Park Commission, Atwood was struck by Fillmore Glen's rich, diverse flora. The glen opened as a state park in 1921 and bears a plaque in Atwood's honor as its founder and "Father." |
