Meet Greg Susla, the man behind the medicinal herb garden at the Pry House on Tuesdays from 10-2.
The Pry Garden at the start of the season
On Tuesdays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM from May through October at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, visitors will have the chance to “Greet Greg the Gardener.” For seven 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.
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.
The Pry House Field Hospital Museum is located at 18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756
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 hometown, Torrington, CT, the birthplace 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.
