Photo from OnLineAthens.

The Friends of Scull Shoals will sponsor a guided tour of Dr. Durham’s Herb Walk beginning at 2:00 pm on Sunday, November 7, 2010, at the Scull Shoals Education Center in Greene County. Horticulturist Debbie Cosgrove will guide a tour of the native herbs and other plants used by Dr. Lindsey Durham in his 19th century herbal remedies. The guided tour of the herbal trail is open to the public.

These are local native plants, and Mrs. Cosgrove will explain their features and the uses Dr. Durham made of them in his patent medicines. The plants along the trails on the Education Center grounds are a small sample of the many herbs Dr. Durham grew in a thirteen-acre herb garden near Scull Shoals. Most of the plants grow naturally on this property, and others have been purchased and moved from nearby areas by Mr. and Mrs. Cosgrove and the Friends of Scull Shoals.

Patients came from long distances to be treated in his hospital at Scull Shoals, and his large family of Durham medical practitioners continued to treat patients for generations.

The Scull Shoals Education Center is located off Macedonia Road, two miles from Georgia Highway 15, at the intersection of Forest Road 1234. The tour will start promptly at 2:00 pm, so visitors are advised to arrive a bit early. Mrs. Cosgrove and members of the Friends of Scull Shoals will be available to answer questions before the tour, and briefly afterwards.

Dr. Durham’s Receipts: A 19th Century Physician’s Use of Medicinal Herbs was published in 2008 by Debbie Cosgrove and Ellen Whitaker. The “receipts,” or recipes, were recorded from Dr. Durham’s notes in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia. Preparing the book gave impetus to the construction of the Herb Walk on the Friends’ property. Copies of Dr. Durham’s Receipts will be available for sale at the Center.

Dr. Durham’s Receipts can be purchased at Homeplace in Five Points in Athens, the State Botanical Garden, the downtown copy shop in Greensboro, or online here.

Parking is available along FR 1234 and on the loop road within the Education Center, from the entry on FR 1234. Cost of the tour is $5.00 per person to defray expenses and help expand future plant offerings.

The time changes that weekend, so don’t miss this fun tour! For more information, write Bill or Debbie Cosgrove via email by clicking here or visit the Friends website.

For the press release, click here.

Where to find it

Click above to go to a larger Google interactive map of the area.

Posted online on Monday, October 25th, 2010

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