The Lewis County Historical Society met November 7, 2022 with a talk by herbalist Meredith Kotelec who gave an historical review on Southern herbal remedies. She is a Certified Herbal Practitioner and teaches workshops.

The history of using plants to treat illness in the South comes from a blending of European settlers, Native Americans, and African slave culture. There were different ways of thinking about healing with the mixing of all these cultures based on the natural land and the people who lived here.

The Africans brought us their native plants and foods, like black-eye peas, okra...