July 20, 2018
6:00 PM
RHS Garden
On Friday, July 20, 6:00 PM, the Rockbridge Area Master Gardeners Association and the Rockbridge Historical Society will partner for an educational, interactive demonstration of the new “Healing Garden,” behind RHS headquarters at 101 E. Washington Street. Along with its unique historical and horticultural content, this program on “Healing, Herbs, and History” also offers information for people interest in learning more about volunteer opportunities with RAMGA, or with RHS’ own Gardens Team.
Though some of these herbs go by different names today (not to mention their pharmaceutical adaptations), the domestic plot offers a few lively offerings:
Snakeroot, used for “hot flashes, tremors, inducing labor.”
Common Foxglove: “regulates heart rhythm.”
Bitter Buttons/ Tansy, for “migraines, rheumatism, parasites, gout.”
Bedstraw, for “menopause, and kidney & liver disorders.” Beyond its aromatic and culinary benefits,
Sage was also used to address “depression, memory loss, digestive disorders.”
Four years ago, the RAMGA team extended its educational mission beyond the rich, floral plots themselves, preparing a 4-page, full color interpretive brochure marking different types of flowers, as well as the 100+ history of the gardens themselves. That more comprehensive guide has now been complemented by an overview of the gardens’ newly cultivated “Healing Garden” (both brochures are available on the RHS website at RockbridgeHistory.org/Campbell-house-gardens for viewing at home, or on smartphone while visiting onsite).
[the following text is is re-printed from the July 13, 2018 issue of The News-Gazette].
As its brochure notes, the Healing Garden is designed to jointly identify the range of different medicinal and therapeutic uses of different herbs and plants, while also noting some of the ways in which these botanical resources have been used over time – some stretching back centuries, some still today. On the evening of July 20, RAMGA volunteer Linda Bytnar will discuss a number of these common herbs, including those noted above, each of which include their own signs noting common names, scientific species, and their variety of uses.
RHS Executive Director Eric Wilson adds that “the range of uses here demonstrates the ingenuity (as well as risk) that people showed in centuries in addressing their illnesses and maintaining health, at home here in Rockbridge and well beyond. There’s a mix of strangeness in seeing some of these applications, as well as marvel in how they ‘got it right,’ as we continue many of their uses today.”
He also notes a new application of this resource to one of RHS’ most successful classroom-based programs focused on Lewis and Clark, and their journeys from Virginia, through the Valley, and across the continent. “With only one death across the entire expedition, the success of the Corps of Discovery depended not just on Lewis’ crash course in medicine with Philadelphia’s eminent Dr. Benjamin Rush. In both general health and emergencies, they depended on their familiarity with many of these ‘homegrown remedies,’ as well as their willingness to experiment with native healing traditions, and the properties observed in new botanical specimens. We didn’t plan it this way, but among the dozen or so herbs and plants featured in this demonstration garden, no less than eight were either carried and used by the Corps, or brought back to Jefferson for scientific examination, agricultural cultivation, or everyday use.”
For many years now, teams of Master Gardeners from RAMGA have volunteered to re-design, maintain, and interpret the gardens that jointly lie behind RHS’ three historic properties: Campbell and Sloan Houses on E. Washington St. and The Castle, on S. Randolph St., the stone building that may be the oldest standing building in Lexington, after surviving the city’s catastrophic 1796 Fire. “Originally developed by RHS benefactor Hale Houston in the 1920s,” RAMGA’s new healing garden brochure notes, “the garden area arose from a dusty city lot described as ‘rough and unsightly’.” Today, RAMGA volunteers have crafted a coherent, well-cultivated space building around the variety of mature trees, and three distinct terraces marked by fieldstone walls (themselves revealing the historic crafts of Rockbridge stonemasonry techniques). The Healing Garden now sits where the greenhouse once stood, and
Both RAMGA and RHS plan to use this distinctive resource in their various educational outreach programs, for both schools and adult audiences. Wilson stresses that these gardens are not only fully and always open to the public, but are a unique and often overlooked asset contributing to Lexington’s historic charm. He says, “Thanks to the care and cultivation of RAMGA and RHS volunteers, this quiet, secluded haven offers one of the few publicly accessible greenspaces in downtown Lexington, right across from the Visitor’s Center, and one block from Main Street and the Courthouse. Our picnic tables have offered students a quiet place for university students to study, a welcoming pit-stop for families and tourists to eat, and a quiet getaway folks to take a break during the downtown workday. A donor recently allowed us to install a nicely backed bench honoring preservationist, educator, and former RHS President Pamela Hemenway Simpson. The historic character of our buildings, and RAMGA’s instructive signage add a fresh touch too.”
This coupling of historic and environmental perspectives extends RHS’ recent initiatives (responding to the interests of many Rockbridge residents and visitors) in coupling historic and environmental perspectives. Presentations and programs have recently pursued these connections through collaborations with the Blue Ridge Garden Club, Natural Bridge State Park, and the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council. A 100-side presentation on “Bridging History and Nature” has also been archived on the Events page of the RHS website.
Wilson and RHS Gardens Team Coordinator, Karla Wachenheim both note the need for a steady volunteer team. While formal RAMGA projects require a certain expertise in training and technique, Wachenheim notes that what’s chiefly needed at Campbell House are people willing to share “ ‘dirty knees’: one morning a month goes a long way in maintaining and freshening this special space.” Wilson echoes that “as with our volunteer corps in the Campbell House museum, enthusiasm for Rockbridge is well more important than prior experience.”
To volunteer, or for more information, contact RHS@RockbridgeHistory.org or RHS Facebook.