Edith L. Moore

The name of Edith L. Moore is synonymous with the history of Houston Audubon. When Edith Moore died in 1975, she bequeathed to Houston Audubon Society the 17.5 acres and cabin on Rummel Creek that became the Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary. Her will stated that Houston Audubon was to own and maintain the land forever as a bird sanctuary.

Mrs. Moore was an elderly lady living alone with her six dogs and numerous cats when Houston Audubon members befriended her in 1973. That help came in response to a letter from a concerned neighbor, Holland McCarver, who wrote a letter to Houston Audubon describing her situation: "Mrs. Moore, who lives in a little cabin on the land, is in her eighties and she cannot protect her property from vandals, trash dumpers, wood cutters, hunters, arsonists, and motorbike riders… You cannot conceive how much trash and junk so-called good citizens dump in Rummel Creek and on Mrs. Moore's land." Unfenced, the land was being used freely and thoughtlessly by the public to the distress of its owner. Houston Audubon acted swiftly to help Mrs. Moore and to protect the land they learned she had long wished to save as a wildlife sanctuary.

Edith Lotz Moore was born July 12, 1884, in Minnesota. At a time when few women acquired a higher education, she sang at weddings to earn money for her education at the University of Minnesota. During World War I she moved to Houston to work as a bacteriologist and pathologist at Camp Logan (now Memorial Park), where she described her arrival as follows: "At sundown after a long taxi ride, I arrived at the base hospital at Camp Logan, still sick from inoculations, and was greeted by the officer of the day who placed me in the care of a housekeeper. She was kind and showed me my quarters with a bath and mosquito-netted bed on a screened porch. By the time I bathed, the moon was shining beautifully and full and a mockingbird opened his repertoire. I loved it. The coolness of the night descended and sleep."

During and following the years of World War I, Edith worked on experiments at governmental laboratories in Beaumont, primarily in relation to malarial fever and bubonic plague. In 1920 she went to work for the City of Houston, where she met and married Jess Moore, a City Milk Inspector. When the City of Houston started to develop around their home on Park Street, Edith and Jess decided to move to the country. The land that was to become Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary was purchased as part of a larger 180-acre tract in the country west of Houston, and they began their log cabin near Rummel Creek. Edith Moore's diary describes the land as she and her husband found it: "We bought out in the country, 17 miles from downtown, the loveliest place, where yellow jasmine climbed to the top of pines. The dogwood and holly were so numerous…" Jess and Edith lived together in the cabin, running a dairy and lumbering operation, until they divorced in 1959. Edith lived on alone in the cabin, with the company of her dogs, until her death in 1975.

Edith Moore was a brave and intelligent woman who loved nature. She was a National Audubon Society member for many years, the earliest known member in the Houston area. When Houston Audubon Society was incorporated in 1969, she became a member and remained one for the remainder of her life. In her later years when Houston expanded out and around her log cabin, she hung tenaciously onto her way of life in the woods. Houston Audubon now hangs on for her, taking care of the sanctuary that has become an urban jewel in the middle of West Houston. The sounds of the city penetrate from I-10 and Beltway 8, but the woods are full of birds and other wildlife easily seen and heard in their natural settings. Fences now mark the boundaries of the sanctuary, and trails are maintained to keep visitors on paths. Birding and nature classes for children and adults are conducted year-round in the log cabin by Houston Audubon staff and Audubon Docent Guild members. Nestled among the trees, a small two-story building houses the Houston Audubon staff and volunteers that take care of Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary and Houston Audubon's other sanctuaries. We think Edith would be pleased and proud.