Granny Women, Native Plants and Medicine at Hobbs State Park

Former Arkansas Master Gardener of the Year to talk about Granny Women, Native Plants, and Medicine at Hobbs State Park

Former Arkansas Master Gardener of the Year, Sharon Haley, will present her program “Plants as Medicine:   From Granny Woman to Pharmacist” at the Hobbs State Park visitor center on Sunday October 12th.  The program is a thought-provoking look into the often forgotten lives of women in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

According to Haley, “From the late 1800s through the 1930s, Ozark granny women were often the primary source of medical care.  Knowledge of medicinal plants was passed from generation to generation, and sometimes gained by trial and error.  Granny women knew how to identify native plants; how and when to harvest the plants; and how to prepare tonics, tinctures and poultices to treat common maladies.  By the 1930s, plants that had been used by generations of Granny women could be found for sale in local apothecaries, or ordered from mail order catalogs.”

If you're intrigued by Ozark’s history and native plants, you'll enjoy learning about these unselfish women who nurtured the sick and infirmed, tended births and deaths, and enjoyed a special connection with our native vegetation.   A variety of antique herbal and pharmaceutical memorabilia will be on display.

Where:  Hobbs State Park visitor center located on Highway 12 just east of the Highway 12/War Eagle Road intersection

When:    Sunday October 12      2:00 p.m.

Cost:      Free   The Public is invited

This presentation is a continuation of the Friends of Hobbs Speaker’s Series.  For more information call:  479-789-5000.