The Doctors Apothecary Garden
“A living exhibit to educate and enlighten
People of all ages about the importance of
Self sufficiency and the intimate connection of
Earlier peoples to the lands they inhabited”.
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The Doctors apothecary garden is one
of two new additions to the campus of the Old Fort House Museum. The
garden was conceived and designed to educate people about the critical
importance of plants to both Native and Colonial Americans. Medicines
in this era were most often derived from available plants.
These plants were
collected from the wild or intentionally cultivated. Colonial
Physicians would frequently have a special garden (an Apothecary Garden)
adjacent to their homes to supply medicinal plants.
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The garden contains over
twenty different species of plants (mostly native) that were known to have been
used by Native Americans and Colonials in earlier times. Some of the plant
species growing here are New York Ironweed, Toothache tree,
Wild Senna, Turtlehead, and Rattlesnake Master. An antique chimney pot sits
in the center of the pathway, symbolizing the importance of the hearth in drying
and preparing plants for medicine.
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The name: The Doctors Apothecary Garden pays tribute to the many
doctors who either owned the Old Fort House or were responsible for
saving it as a museum. Among these Physicians was Dr. John Cochran,
who owned the house sometime between 1778 and 1783. Dr. Cochran was
George Washington’s personal surgeon and the first surgeon general of
the United States Army. |
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In
1881 another physician Dr. Robert A. Linendoll purchased the property and
owned it until his death around 1900. By 1949 twelve Fort Edward businessmen
purchased the Old Fort House with the idea of using it for the benefit of the
community. Among these twelve were 4 local Doctors:
Another physician Dr. Silas Banker was the first president of the Fort
Edward Historical association and one of the first town historians. To
recognize the important relationship of Doctors with the Old Fort House, the
garden is named in their honor.
Visitors can arrange for a tour of the garden or take a self guided tour during
regular museum hours.
The Garden was funded by a
grant from the New York Council for the Humanities.