In 1991 volunteers reclaimed what had been a farm dumping ground in a wooded area on the grounds of Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum and began its conversion into a tranquility zone. More than 100 species of plants now grow on this 2.5-acre plot. Some were sources of medicine, some supplemented the diet of the Northeast Woodlands Indians, and some provided building material from which native people built canoes, boxes, baskets, and their homes.
When visitors to the museum walk the path through Medicine Woods they are encouraged to look, listen, smell, and feel the elements of the forest. It is our hope that they will experience what many before them have enjoyed - a sense of peace, a feeling of connection to the land, and an appreciation of its healing properties.
Native elders say that the earth not only provides teas and poultices to heal the body, but also a peace that heals the soul. Visitors to Medicine Woods have told us that walking along the path that winds through the forest have given them a feeling of traquility. They also remark that they leave the Woods inspired by Native philosophy not to be just takers, but caretakers of the land.
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| 1996 Rededication of the Medicine Woods |
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