Anita Miller Smith - Career As A Herbalist

Career As A Herbalist

In the 1930s Miss Smith embarked on a second career as an herbalist after the Great Depression prompted her to leave painting. She wrote that people with a sense of color are supposed to have a keen sense of taste and, since many of the artists were excellent cooks, she and her associates tried to share tasty dishes with one another. To accomplish this, she found it necessary to grow a few herbs for culinary purposes. She was also an enthusiastic gardener and she found that her hobby changed to a vocation as her herb gardens began to turn a profit. This was during a time when popular interest in herbs soared across the country.

In 1934 Smith built a bluestone cottage near the Rock City Corners at the base of Overlook Mountain, about a mile from the center of Woodstock. By 1937 a greenhouse was added, and a short time later she had over 150 herbs under cultivation, with commercial clients that included H.J. Heinz. During this period, Smith's As True as the Barnacle Tree was cited in a New York Herald Tribune article, and its writer dubbed her the "The Herb Lady of the Catskills."

After the war, Dr. James T. Shotwell, a neighbor and friend, asked Smith to compile a service database; the record was to include all Woodstockers who fought for their country during the Second World War. This formed a key chapter in her soon-to-be-published book, Woodstock History and Hearsay—the town's first official chronicle. Smith based her narrative on detailed scholarship as well as a wide-ranging collection of local folk stories gathered from Catskill mountain families and resident artists. The story's arc begins with Native American times and concludes with chapters on the art colony, leading up to the Woodstock Festival of 1969. Smith also wrote The Landscape of History and The Quest of Abel Knight: The Quakers and Shakers. Due to a resurgence of public interest in Smith's paintings, her works were exhibited at the USArtists Show in 2003 and 2005. In 2006, publisher WoodstockArts released a second edition of Woodstock History and Hearsay.