Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop

The museum is fascinating. The guided tour is phenomenal and both ladies give a lot of good historical information in a fun way. The garden out back is fun to walk through as well. Definitely worth visiting.

We missed out on touring this location since they had a private tour going on the only day and time we had to visit the museum. After waiting outside for almost an hour, we had to move onto the other locations we wanted to visit. There was limited time since most of these locations closed at 5 p.m. With the history of the original owner and the connection to the Washingtons, we really would have loved to go inside the building. We did spend sometime outside looking at the house and the gardens over the fence. If we ever find ourselves back in Fredericksburg again, we would love to add this location to our bucket list.

I loved visiting this place. It may not be big but there is a lot of interesting things to see and learn here. It was surprising how some things still have relevance today. There is no need to buy tickets in advance and no wait for me.

The staff was incredibly friendly and informative. I took my 12-year-old son for a walk there after breakfast, and he was fascinated by all the herbal products. We even had the chance to touch a live leech!

Our whole family loved this experience. The guides were absolutely fantastic, quite knowledgeable, funny, and very willing to graciously field all the many questions we and our children raised. Highly recommend!

Interesting to learn about the history and totally amazed how they knew this stuff in those days.

We stayed in Fredericksburg until 12 PM specifically to go to the Hugh Mercer Apothocary and Rising Sun Tavern museums on Sunday. We arrived and were told that they weren’t opening until 1 PM due to private tours. It would have been nice if they had posted that on their website or instagram pages so that we didn’t just waste a ton of time. Very unprofessional.

This is a cute little shop right in the Main Street in downtown Fredericksburg. It’s a great chance to take a peek into the history of this town in a convenient location. The people that worked there were very sweet and informative. It’s not the most exciting experience for young kids, it mostly goes over their heads. But we had fun with the leeches! They explain different medical procedures and a lot of that involves blood and bleeding and somewhat unpleasant things, so keep that in mind if you’re bringing kids. Over all really cool information and a fun little thing to do with your favorite history buff.

Such a cool tour!! Very much worth it. Two different rooms and a whole upstairs and don't skip the garden!

Fascinating little museum of both an apothecary and doctors office of the time. The docents we're both delightful, and stayed in period dress and speech -we loved, smelling the different herbs and tinctures, and my husband even got to touch a leech! Memorable way to learn about history , medicine and more !

The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop was part of our 3 part ticket, which we purchased to tour this, the Mary Washington House and the Rising Sun Tavern for $15 a person. My mother, aunt and grandmother were in town from Ohio and Pennsylvania and wanted to stay local to see some of the highlights of Fredericksburg. We didn't have much interest in seeing the Apothecary Shop, but since it was part of our combination ticket, we went ahead with the tour. The building is located in downtown historical Fredericksburg and looks like a small house with modern day siding from the road. Upon entering, there is a a long counter covered in bottles of fresh herbs and bugs, that were used in medicine in colonial days. When we arrived, a tour was already in process for the front room, which was the ending part of the tour for us. We entered into the room to the left and learned about leaches, blood and some surgical/dental techniques. Although informative, I didn't find it as interesting as I'd hoped. The museum is quite small and although staff do in fact try to stay in character for the parts, our party found that they weren't the friendliest. Non-flash photography is permitted, but video is not. Staff will request that you hold your pictures until after the tour. All in all, I wouldn't have paid any additional for this particular tour.

This Museum is like an interactive colonial museum. You have very knowledgeable period guides who let you smell many plants and potions and the scent will be remember for a long time. I did not know that Dr. Mercer used a sandstone rock to filter the water for his medicines in 1760's. Besides having a symphony of smells, encyclopedia of interesting facts, you get to see and hear about leeches and blood drawing for a little taste of oddities. This museum definitely gets the attention of kids and adults and leaves them wonder how fortunate we are that the science advanced so much. High Mercer was a soldier at the Indian War and general in the American Revolutionary War and successful doctor/dentist in between.

The two ladies there were awesome! The "tour" was very entertaining while still being educational. Great deal on admission.

Small historical apothecary turned into a tiny museum. Sniff various tinctures, view medical curiosities, and see live enormous leeches! The real draw is the presentation by the docents. Historical dress + a charming presentation. These ladies obviously love their work! Lots of discounts available, just ask. My husband is active duty so we got in for free and left a donation because we enjoyed the presentation so much. Overall, great way to spend an hour and enjoy a peek into medical history.

As much as American history bores me - this place was so neat! Nifty even! For the record, I went there in 5th grade, and I'm having flashbacks to my oh-so-educated childhood, but I remember being amazed! This was definitely my favorite part of the Fredericksburg trip (except for rolling down the big hill where Stonewall Jackson did something). They showed us real leeches that people used to use to drain blood and all kinds of other old tools that people used to use to do medical stuff. Definitely a fun stop if you're in the area!

I thought this was a really interesting stop on our tour of Fredericksburg. The women working there are in period clothes and do a great job taking you back in time. They ask the group questions about the time period and are quite fun. I learned a lot. And, they have leeches you can touch!

I was always curious and interested in seeing what was in the shop. What they used back in the day and for what purpose. On this particular day they were open, but I didn't have the time to do a tour. I walk in and ahead of me I see different types of glass jars, I couldn't wait to look at these up close. To my left there was a room, it wasn't closed off, I didn't go in it because I'm sure it was part of the tour. A young man asked me if I was taking the tour today, which I replied no, not today. I was just looking still standing outside of the room, at least a foot from the doorway. He ask me again are you taking the tour today. I said no, I just wanted to see the inside and what it was like to which he replied "we don't allow that in here". I said ok and I left. Will not go back to take the tour, will not recommend it to anyone to take the tour. Look at the pictures online and you will see all that's there, you will save money and avoid the snotty employee. Spend it in the Manarc thrift store where they are friendly and don't seem to mind you walking around their shop. Whether you spend money or not.

The docents dressed and talked the part. Got to see and smell all the remedies that were available in George Washington's time. Dr Mercer was Washington's mother's doctor and a friend of Washington. We could listen to those stories all day!

I don't like museums very much but I found the presentation of the shop's services, given as if we were travelers stopping by in 1764, extremely engaging and interesting. They showed us dozens of "medicines" and pieces of medical equipment. It was fun to be able to smell the various "medicines" and hear what things like crab claws and myrrh used to be used for. There were even real leaches! It was a fascinating peek into history. Definitely worth $5 and a must-do if you're in the area.