The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument celebrates the historical and present-day traditions and relationships that many different Appalachian peoples have long held with the bountiful medicinal herbs and forest foods that can be found growing wild throughout the Appalachian woodland understory. This online exhibit is one of three components of the monument, which also includes a Storywalk Trail at Flag Rock Recreation Area and a future sculpture at the High Knob Destination Center in Norton, Virginia.
Click on the links to the right to see the content of each of the interpretive signs along the Storywalk Trail. Additional resources, photographs, and videos will be added to this website over time.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
This monument is funded by Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV), which seeks to “reclaim, imagine, document, reinterpret, display, and amplify histories and experiences that highlight collective struggles for the vitality of people and our shared environment, especially by, for, and with people whose stories have been silenced, denied, or excluded.” MAAV is funded through the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project.
CONTRIBUTORS:
Shannon E. Bell, Professor of Sociology, Virginia Tech (Project Director and Lead Author, Editor, and Graphic Designer for the Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit).
Katie Commender, Agroforestry Director, Appalachian Sustainable Development (Leadership Team)
Robin Suggs, Procurement Manager, Appalachian Sustainable Development (Leadership Team)
John Munsell, Professor and Forest Management Extension Specialist, Virginia Tech (Leadership Team)
Ruby Daniels, Afrolachian herbalist and forest farmer, Owner of Creasy Jane's Herbal Remedies (Contributing Author for Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit )
Victoria Persinger Ferguson, Monacan Indian Nation and Virginia Tech (Contributing Author for Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit )
Ryan Huish, Associate Professor of Ethnobotany, University of Virginia-Wise (Contributing Author for Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit, Advisory Board member)
Katie Dunn, Tourism Director, City of Norton (Advisory Board Member)
Shayne Fields, Trails Coordinator, City of Norton (Advisory Board Member, Trail Sculptor, Storywalk Sign Installer, and all-around problem-solver)
Beth Walker, High Knob Master Naturalists (Advisory Board Member)
Nathan Wachacha David Bush, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Program Coordinator for the Oconaluftee Indian Village (Sculpture artist and Contributing Author for Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit).
William Rogers, Rogers Metals (Sculpture artist)
Shannon Joyce, Herb Hub Associate, Appalachian Sustainable Development (Project team member)
Sean Bemis, Geoscientist, Virginia Tech (Cartographer and Geological consultant for Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit)
Onita Bush, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (Cherokee language advisor for Storywalk Trail and Online Exhibit)
Rachel Poteet, Research Assistant and Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia Intern, Virginia Tech
Elly Loyd, Research Assistant, Virginia Tech
Lily Mohr, Research Assistant, Virginia Tech
Sophia Silis, Research Assistant, Virginia Tech
Sophia Spraker, Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia Intern