Midterm

The Country Doctor Museum

Visiting The Country Doctor museum was truly very interesting. I highly recommend the visit to anyone going into the medical field. The tour consists of The Freeman-Brantley Building, The Carriage House and The Farmer Annex. There is also a medicinal herb garden.

The Freeman – Brantley house is where the tour begins. This building is a combination of two doctors’ offices that were joined together. The first room in the Freeman – Brantley building was Dr. Howard Franklin Freeman’ s office. The Freeman – Brantley Building is where the Apothecary is situated. The Apothecary is very interesting in that is has old medicine bottles and age-old techniques and tools for making medicine. After discussing the Apothecary, the tour then goes to Dr. Cornelius Henry Brantley’s office where they told about how doctor’s got paid. Not surprising, rural doctors were paid by means of bartering. Often times, people would trade other goods and services for treatment. The last room in the Freeman – Brantley building has different furniture and medical devices common to the time period.

The Carriage House is just that. This part of the tour is where one gets to see the different modes of transportation that have been used in history. There was a horse-drawn buggy, a surrey and a couple of older model cars on display.

The Farmer Annex is where the gift shop is located. In the gift shop is another exhibit room. This is where, of course, you can buy any memorabilia from your visit.

The visit to the Country Doctor Museum was very insightful. The things that interested me the most were the show globes, the pill machine, an amputation kit and the ear horn.

The County Doctor Museum is located in Bailey, NC. Tours are held Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.; tours begin hourly. The cost of admission is $5.