[1] Cecile Hulse Matschat was born in 1895 and grew up in upstate New York, later studying art at the Pratt Institute.
[2] Growing up, she began studying orchids in nearby swamps and in New Jersey, eventually expanding her explorations to the Everglades, West Indies, Central America and Mexico.
[3] Throughout Matschat's career, she wrote 16 books including her Rivers of America book on the Suwannee River —Suwanee River: Strange Green Land (Farrar & Rinehart, 1938)— provided rare insight into the society and history of the people of the Okefenokee Swamp.
[1] She won a Literary Guild award and membership in the Explorer's Club for the work.
[2] Matschat was a member of the Society of Woman Geographers from 1937 to 1966.