Chapter Events

Sep
11

The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument: Transforming Perceptions of the Appalachian ‘Coalfields.'

Thursday, September 11th, 2025
to (Eastern Time)
Christ Lutheran Church, 2011 Brandon Ave SW, Roanoke, VA, 24015 Map

Public Welcome Free Event Chapter Meeting Program/Speaker Presentation Wheelchair Accessible Public Restroom Free Public Parking Drinking Fountains

Dr. Shannon Bell, Professor of Sociology, Virginia Tech, is the project director of The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument, which celebrates the historical and present-day traditions and relationships that many different Appalachian peoples have long held with the bountiful medicinal herbs and forest foods that can be found growing wild throughout the Appalachian woodland understory. 

She will talk about why the monument was created, and the histories of Appalachian peoples' longstanding relationships with our woodland medicinal plants and forest foods. 

More information about the Living Monument and an online exhibit can be found here: https://forestbotanicalsregion.vt.domains/exhibits/show/online-exhibit

Dr. Bell is an environmental sociologist and Appalachian Studies scholar whose current research projects focus on forest-based traditions and lifeways in Central Appalachia.

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