A Garden of Antietam: July 2012

A Statement of Purpose

Since 2012 I have been responsible for the garden at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on Antietam National Battlefield. The Pry House garden began as a 19th century style medicinal and kitchen garden, including medicinal plants, herbs, and vegetables. As close as possible, these plants mirrored those available to the Pry Family in the 1860s, meaning heirloom varieties. Since then, the garden has transformed to focus exclusively on medicinal plants, becoming an exhibit of the flora that was employed by military and civilian caregivers in the Civil War Era.

I am strictly an amateur, with no real experience in growing a garden. The purpose of this blog is to document my experiences as I learn by doing. It is anything but authoritative and I welcome any comments and advice for a greenhorn. Please be kind!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Garden in Bloom

A few weeks ago I went with my girlfriend to the Pennsylvania Lavender Festival in Fairfield, PA. I came back with some new ideas for using the lavender and other herbs that we grow here in the Pry House Garden. We already use our lavender in making fragrant wands and sachets for sale in our bookshop. Perhaps these crafts can be the subject of another future blog post.

The lavender is in full bloom and buzzing with bees. It isn't the only thing flowering in the garden right now, so I thought I would share a few of my amateurish pictures to share some of the blooms from lately in the garden.

Blue-podded Blauwschokker Pea Blossoms

Red Admiral butterfly in the Lavender

yellow Calendula or Pot Marigold

Purple Coneflower or Echinacea

Thyme

Feverfew

Borage, sometimes called Starflower

A bumblebee in the lavender

St. John's Wort

Hyssop

Strawberry

Lambs Ear

Germander

Spearmint

A White Cabbage butterfly in the lavender

The Pry House Field Hospital Museum

The Pry House sits on Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It was built in 1844 as the home of Phillip and Elizabeth Pry and their six children. During the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, the house served as headquarters for General George McClellan, commanding the Union Army of the Potomac, as well Major Jonathan Letterman, the army's medical director. Antietam is the birthplace of modern emergency medicine, as it was here that Letterman developed an efficient system for securing, evacuation, and treating casualties. Now called the Letterman Plan, it remains the basis of medical response on battlefields and in disaster situations around the world. Today the Pry House is home to the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, a satellite museum of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. The museum includes two floors of exhibits with original artifacts and text panels discussing battlefield medicine and field hospitals of the Civil War, especially Antietam.

Learn more about the Pry House Here