Herb Society Meeting in Williamsburg, May 2015, Part Three!

Pasteur & Galt Apothecary Garden

The Pleasure Garden of the Benjamin Powell House

The Kitchen Garden of the Benjamin Powell House

Leicester Longwool Sheep

Lots of Pleasure Gardens to See

The Best Pleasure Garden is One in the Shade

View of the York River from the Riverwalk Restaurant, Yorktown, VA

Had to Have Crab Cakes!

Finally Met the Elusive Carolee Snyder!

Beautiful Herbs on the Speakers Stage

So everyone in my little band of merry herb lovers wanted to see the apothecary garden.  It wasn't on the official tour map and I wondered why.  It was a lovely garden and one that should have been seen by all of the members of the Herb Society because medicinal herbs are such an important part of why we are learning about herbs in the first place.

Pasteur and Galt were competitors at first and then they formed a partnership and when Pasteur retired, Galt continued on.  So the inside of the apothecary is stocked and furnished just as it would have been in Galt's time.  During the war, they had to deal with public health issues such as small pox and whopping cough.  They obtained most of their potions and herbs from England at first.  What was fascinating and wonderful to me is that they treated both free and enslaved men and women.

The last garden was at the far edge of the Historic Area past the Capitol.  Not everyone ventured on, but Kathleen, Bonnie and I wanted to see it and I am glad we did.  The Benjamin Powell House and Garden was another combination of pleasure and kitchen garden.  Also they had sheep that Colonial Williamsburg is working to preserve, the Leicester Longwool sheep.  George Washington raised these sheep at Mount Vernon.

This part of the Historic Area had nice pleasure gardens and we were encouraged by the members of the Tidewater Unit to just go and walk into these gardens on our own.  It was really a lovely day.  We ended our day with dinner with Kathleen our long time friend from the Western Reserve Unit and long-time resident of Chagrin Falls and former owner of the Village Herb Shop.  We went down to Yorktown along the York River to the Riverwalk Restaurant.  A beautiful restaurant, great food and wonderful company!

On the first day of the conference I finally met Carolee Snyder who has sold her farm and is now semi-retired.  Don't try to find her at the farm, but she will still be writing her newsletter about all of her adventures.  I thought I did a lot when I travel.  Carolee seems to do twice as much.  We had wonderful speakers on the first day and day two would be even better if that's possible.

So one more post and I will finish our trip to the Herb Society Meeting in Williamsburg.  Talk to you soon.