She was educated by a tutor and at two “ladies” schools, proved herself a child prodigy in numerous scientific and classical subjects, and showed early promise in drawing and painting.

Her early training grounded her in both science and art, and she has been called the Connecticut River Valley's "earliest and most often published woman artist.

"[1] On May 31, 1821, Orra White married geologist Edward Hitchcock, principal of Deerfield Academy, minister, professor and third president of Amherst College.

Orra White Hitchcock, a scientist in her own right, had the contemporary reputation as one of the valley's “most distinguished naturalists.”[2] In addition to being an artist and educator, she extended her influence beyond formal classrooms.

For the 1833 edition, Pendleton's Lithography (Boston) lithographed nine of Hitchcock's Connecticut River Valley drawings and printed them as plates for the work.

Between 1828 and the 1840s, Hitchcock made hundreds of large and dramatic classroom charts of geologic cross-sections, prehistoric beasts (like the Megatherium), fossils and ichnological (later called dinosaur) footprints.

Hitchcock's last documented work was her symbolic illustrations for her husband's Religious Lectures on Peculiar Phenomena in the Four Seasons,[9] including an emblematic representation of spring and a stylized rainbow.

Edward acknowledged his wife's essential contributions to his work in the dedication of The Religion of Geology,[15] citing her drawings as more powerful than his pen.