Southern Herbalist Darryl Patton to speak on “Poison Plants and More” at Museum on April 18

Southern Herbalist Darryl Patton will speak on “Poison Plants and more” at the Union County Heritage Museum’s Museum Moments Thursday, April 18 at noon.

Patton, who is a Master Herbalist, has been hunting and gathering and working with medicinal plants for more than 30 years on Lookout Mountain in the Southern Appalachians. He brings many years of experience to the field of alternative medicine. He operates the Heirloom Academy of Healing Arts.

For more than a decade, Patton was an apprentice to the late Tommie Bass, one of the last old mountain herb doctors. Known internationally among herbalists as well as the people living near Lookout Mountain, AL, Bass used his knowledge of medicinal herbs to help many people from all walks of life, Patton said.

During his apprenticeship with Bass, Patton was taught the identification and medicinal uses for many plants found in the hills and hollers of the south. He said that his passion in life is to pass on the “old way” of using plants to his students and others wanting to continue the tradition of gathering wild plants for food and healing.

Patton operates the Deep South Center for Herbal Studies in the mountains of North Alabama. He is a primitive and wilderness survival expert and outdoorsman. He is an Army veteran and taught in public school for 30 years.

He will lead a plant walk at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Call the museum for more information and the location of the walk- 662-538-0014.

The museum is located at 114 Cleveland Street in New Albany, MS.

The event is free and a sack lunch will be available. Museum Moments is made possible through the museum’s Community Partners.

Jill Smith, Director
Union County Heritage Museum
114 Cleveland Street
New Albany, MS 38652