Greet the Gardener at the Pry House Medicinal Herb Garden

Meet Greg Susla, the man behind the medicinal herb garden at the Pry House on Tuesdays from 10-2.

On Tuesdays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, visitors will have the chance to “Greet Greg the Gardener.” For five years Museum volunteer and retired critical care pharmacist Greg Susla has worked to plant, care for, and expand a 19th century medicinal herb garden on the grounds of the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on Antietam National Battlefield. Boasting over 35 different herbal varieties, the garden is representative of plants that would have been grown during the period in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Every Tuesday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM you can meet Dr. Susla and watch him maintain the garden, hear about future plans, and learn more about Civil War Medical Care. In addition to the medicinal herb garden, visitors can tour the grounds of the Pry House which include a barn which was used as a field hospital after the Battle of Antietam – treating about 500 patients. As you anticipate your visit, read more about the garden and 19th century herbal medicine here.

If you want to support the garden and the Museum, the best way to do so is by becoming a member.

Greg Susla has been a volunteer at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine since January 2011. Greg’s interest in the Civil War stems from his home town, Torrington, CT, the birth place of the abolitionist John Brown. Greg received his pharmacy degrees from the Universities of Connecticut and Florida and completed a critical care pharmacy residency at the Ohio State University Hospitals. Greg spent the majority of his career as the ICU pharmacist at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD and volunteered his time in the ICU at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. Greg has been active in the Society of Critical Care Medicine for over 25 years serving on a number of the Society’s committees, and is a Fellow in the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Greg recently retired as the Associate Director of Medical Information at MedImmune in Gaithersburg, MD. Greg is leading the restoration of the garden and is being assisted by his wife Lisa and other staff members and volunteers at the Museum and Pry House. Greg and his wife Lisa live in Frederick, MD.