Caroline Dormon, a botanist, artist, author, conservator, and pioneer, was born at Briarwood in Saline, Louisiana, on July 19, 1888. Briarwood, established by her grandparents Harietta and Benjamin Sweat in 1859, was originally a cotton plantation. In 1921, she became the first woman employed by the U.S. Forestry Department and took a major part in establishing Kisatchie National Forest in 1930. She researched and studied a variety of native trees, and in 1936 President Roosevelt appointed her as the Louisiana representative on the Desoto Commission, where she was the only woman to serve on the board. Dormon wrote several publications about wildlife and the environment, conserved Louisiana wildflowers for landscaping and on highways, and in 1965 received an honorary doctorate from LSU for her work in botany and horticulture. She died on November 23, 1971, and was buried at Briarwood Baptist Cemetery.