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Healthcare in Wachovia
On this week's episode of Moravian Mornings, from herbs and treatment to interesting medical cases, join Maizie and Casey as they discuss aspects of healthcare within early Wachovia.
Doctor Kalberlahn: The first Moravian doctor in Wachovia was Doctor Kalberlahn who traveled down from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1753 with 14 other Moravian Brethren to begin the settlement of Bethabara. He served as the physician, surgeon, dentist, and pharmacist. He traveled up to 80 miles to see patients, and patients traveled up to 100 miles to Bethabara to seek treatment from him. The young doctor ultimately caught and passed away from Typhus during the Typhus outbreak that took place in the years of the French and Indian War.
God’s Acre: Moravians called their cemeteries “God’s Acre.” In God’s Acres, such as the one found at Bethabara, the departed were buried based on their choir, buried according to their sex, age, and marital status. The Bethabara God’s Acre is separated into four blocks, males being buried in the two southern blocks and females being buried in the two northern blocks.
Bloodletting: One of the most common forms of treatment during this time in Bethabara was bloodletting, a treatment used in Humoral Medicine. A perfect balance of the four humors meant perfect health. When an individual fell ill in Bethabara or received an injury, it was thought the humors were out of balance. Bloodletting would be utilized to get the humors back into balance and heal the patient.
Medical Garden/Medicinal Herbs: Doctor Kalberlahn laid out the first medicinal garden ever planted in America in October of 1756 in Bethabara. The plants in this garden were used to treat anything from headaches to stomachaches to intestinal worms in the 18th Century.
Bibliography & Further Reading:
Bynum, Flora. “Old World Gardens in the New World: the Gardens of the Moravian Settlement of Bethabara in North Carolina, 1753-72.” The Journal of Garden History 16:2 (1996): 70–86. https://doi.org/https://doi-org.libproxy.uncg.edu/10.1080/14601176.1996.10435638.
Ferguson, Leland. God's Fields: Landscape, Religion, and Race in Moravian Wachovia. 1st ed. Cultural Heritage Studies. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011.
“Encyclopædia Iranica.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 0AD. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/humoralism-1
Fries, Adelaide, ed. Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. Volume I: 1752-1771. Vol. I. Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Print Company, 1922.
Thorpe, Daniel. The Moravian Community in Colonial North Carolina: Pluralism on the Southern Frontier. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1989.
Music (Freemusicarchive.org):
Allegretto (green pastures) by Dee Yan-Key (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
Grand Piano Theme - Echo - Loopable by Lobo Loco (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
On my Way to Work by Lobo Loco (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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On this week's episode of Moravian Mornings, from herbs and treatment to interesting medical cases, join Maizie and Casey as they discuss aspects of healthcare within early Wachovia.
Doctor Kalberlahn: The first Moravian doctor in Wachovia was Doctor Kalberlahn who traveled down from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1753 with 14 other Moravian Brethren to begin the settlement of Bethabara. He served as the physician, surgeon, dentist, and pharmacist. He traveled up to 80 miles to see patients, and patients traveled up to 100 miles to Bethabara to seek treatment from him. The young doctor ultimately caught and passed away from Typhus during the Typhus outbreak that took place in the years of the French and Indian War.
God’s Acre: Moravians called their cemeteries “God’s Acre.” In God’s Acres, such as the one found at Bethabara, the departed were buried based on their choir, buried according to their sex, age, and marital status. The Bethabara God’s Acre is separated into four blocks, males being buried in the two southern blocks and females being buried in the two northern blocks.
Bloodletting: One of the most common forms of treatment during this time in Bethabara was bloodletting, a treatment used in Humoral Medicine. A perfect balance of the four humors meant perfect health. When an individual fell ill in Bethabara or received an injury, it was thought the humors were out of balance. Bloodletting would be utilized to get the humors back into balance and heal the patient.
Medical Garden/Medicinal Herbs: Doctor Kalberlahn laid out the first medicinal garden ever planted in America in October of 1756 in Bethabara. The plants in this garden were used to treat anything from headaches to stomachaches to intestinal worms in the 18th Century.
Bibliography & Further Reading:
Bynum, Flora. “Old World Gardens in the New World: the Gardens of the Moravian Settlement of Bethabara in North Carolina, 1753-72.” The Journal of Garden History 16:2 (1996): 70–86. https://doi.org/https://doi-org.libproxy.uncg.edu/10.1080/14601176.1996.10435638.
Ferguson, Leland. God's Fields: Landscape, Religion, and Race in Moravian Wachovia. 1st ed. Cultural Heritage Studies. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011.
“Encyclopædia Iranica.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 0AD. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/humoralism-1
Fries, Adelaide, ed. Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. Volume I: 1752-1771. Vol. I. Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Print Company, 1922.
Thorpe, Daniel. The Moravian Community in Colonial North Carolina: Pluralism on the Southern Frontier. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1989.
Music (Freemusicarchive.org):
Allegretto (green pastures) by Dee Yan-Key (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
Grand Piano Theme - Echo - Loopable by Lobo Loco (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
On my Way to Work by Lobo Loco (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)