Tucson Tutors Come To You

Mount Lemmon is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. At the peak stands the Mount Lemmon Observatory, the building that formerly housed a military radar tracking station for landing the Space Shuttle at “White Sands Missile Range”. These days the telescopes on the mountain are used for astronomical research, and Tucson tutors feel very privileged to have these educational tools in such a unique teaching location.

One of the more romantic local stories of Tucson revolves around the naming of its tallest peak Mount Lemmon. It gained its name from a 19th century botanist Sara Lemmon. She also named a flower found on the mountain called the “Mount Lemmon Marigold” or “Tagetes Lemmonii”.

Sara Lemmon nee Plummer found herself in Santa Barbara, CA after suffering from ill health. A friend had recommended the place as a tonic so she went there in hopes that her health would improve. It was during her time here that she took an interest in botany and began studying local plant life. A scholar in her own right she was well known in the community through her endeavor to create a lending library. She operated out of a small jewelry store on State Street, where the books were available to borrow and she held cultural gatherings, lectures and art exhibits. So it would seem natural that she would meet her future husband at a lecture. He John Gill Lemmon was a veteran and self-trained botanist so they had much in common and plenty to discuss.

Their romance blossomed as they sent word via mail back and forth describing in depth their botanic finds. He became her tutor and they quickly fell in love. In a pattern that would continue through their relationship he named a shrub she found near Santa Barbara “Baccharis plummerae” in honor of her. After they married they began traveling and cataloging their finds together. Their first trip was their honeymoon where they went on her recommendation to Tucson.

Mount Lemmon was named after Sara Lemmon because she was the first woman to scale it. During the expedition they discovered a number of species that they found to be unique to the mountain. To this day Mount Lemmon is a big tourist attraction that many visit for honeymoons and other types of vacation. It’s popular for cycling, hiking, rock climbing, camping, and in the winter months for snowboarding and skiing. The town of Summerhaven, which sits near the summit, has quaint log cabins, and hiking trails.