Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum

I can’t say enough good things about this museum — if you’re in Alexandria, take a half hour to go and take the brief tour! The old pharmacy and store room were fascinating, and the tour guide was wonderful. This would be an especially interesting stop for anyone in the health or chemistry fields.

This tour would have been better maybe if I were not the only person on the tour. The historical store fixtures are vary interesting. When I tour places like this, I think about what will be left in 200 years of today’s special places. Who thought to keep all the records? The notes for an order from Martha Washington? The cabinets still stocked with herbs and the tools of the trade? It really is quite interesting.

I went to the Apothecary Museum on 7÷31÷15 to celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday (yes, I said Harry Potter) at an adult only event. I had been wanting to visit this museum for a while and being a fan of Harry Potter books I thought the event was the perfect excuse to go.
Before I get into the specifics of the event, I want to talk about the museum itself. The museum is small when compared to the Smithsonian and some of the other private museums in the area. However, its content is fascinating (and somewhat over looked) in learning about what it was like to live in earlier America. You forget about how difficult it must have been when it came to getting sick (or even just having an upset stomach and not being able to pop into a place like CVS or Walgreens). The upstairs has many original boxes with herbs and (had) controlled substances (our tour guide told us they museum has received visits from the DEA to make sure all the controlled substances have been removed). It gave me a really good picture of what it must have been like to work in apothecary on the manufacturing side of things.
The event itself was fun (and cheesy in a good way). I appreciated several of the participants got into costume for the event. The food as described in the advertising of the event was on the lighter side but delicious.
The museum also took the time to get a Harry Potter themed cake and made themed alcoholic beverages.
I got to use dragon’s blood (which apparently is real thing but instead, of scaly beast it is a large tree) to make a powder for my teeth.
The highlight of the event for me was the tour. Our guide was a volunteer but you could tell she really enjoyed the subject and had done enough research to adequately answer everyone’s questions.
My only suggestions (and having learned this was the 1^st time the event for adults only was held) that the organizers next year staff more volunteers for different stations to make more herbal powders for more than one purpose. It also might have been nice to have some live music in either the lobby or area where the powders were being made.
In a nutshell worth the trip to see this off the beaten path museum but don’t expect it to take several hours (like a Smithsonian museum) to get through.

I’m in pharmacy school, so it’s kind of a «must» to tour pharmacy museums when I go somewhere new, and I love learning about the «old days» of pharmacy (i.e. apothecaries). At previous ones I’ve been to, you just walk around and look at things, so I was pleasantly surprised that we get a guided tour at this one. It’s only $ 5, and our tour guide was great and full of information. The museum is also full of many preserved artifacts, and I thought it was so cool to be standing in the pharmacy that George Washington used! My only complaint is that I would’ve liked to spend more time looking around at things, which you only are able to do during the guided tour.
As an added bonus, I was able to get some Fruit Stripe gum in the gift shop!

We loved this very unusual gem of a museum. What a cool place. Volunteers tell you the history of a lovingly preserved moment in time.

Great museum off the beaten path. Would recommend for sure staff was very nice and knowledgable, place itself has been preserve impeccably… Loved the original hardwood floors the most.

Excellent accueil .
Visite commentée. Une atmosphère d’ancienne échoppe flotte partout, et situé dans la vieille ville d’Alexandria ou il fait bon flâner .
Tout est resté figé dans le temps depuis la fermeture. Ça se ressent.

Well worth a visit for those interested in herbal remedies, history of medicine and drugs. Older kids would enjoy as well. Nicely done gift shop as well. Key to alexandria tour book is $ 10 and covers many historic locations and fees.

Well worth the 30 minute tour. Highly interesting with an enthusiastic guide. The Apothecary was our favorite place in Old Town Alexandria. The small gift shop has some unusual items.

A wonderful small museum – don’t miss it if you are in Old Town Alexandria (it is right across from Alexandria’s Visitors’ Center). The museum is open only for guided tours that begin a quarter after the hour and a quarter to the hour and last for 30 minutes, led by volunteers and museum staff who clearly love what they do.
For just $ 5 a ticket ($ 4, with this coupon:
), this is a fascinating place to visit: A family-​owned apothecary operated from this location between 1792 and 1933, witness to Alexandria’s history from the early days of Independence (Martha Washington filled out her orders here), to the Civil War (there is a plaque marking the spot where Robert E. Lee stood when he was called out to suppress the Harpers Ferry rising), to the Great Depression.
The museum is unique in that nothing much changed since the apothecary closed its doors in 1933 – it became a museum immediately after it closed, all the herbs and the pills and the tinctures still in their picturesque boxes and drawers. I loved the second floor of the museum especially: the storage area and the pharmacists’ workshop, with colorful remedies of the past, many so toxic that they haven’t been touched or moved for 80 years.
Constantly changing displays throughout the museum illustrate various aspects of the apothecary’s 141 years in operation – the changing instruments of the trade, the «cures», the letters and orders from Alexandria’s prominent denizens.
Interesting events take place here for different ages – this is a great place for kids and adults alike. Do give it a try.
Here’s what you may expect when you visit:

I’ve avoided tours my whole life – had I known that a visit to this Museum involved one I probably wouldn’t have gone, but I’m happy I did. I think the whole thing lasted about 30 minutes, but it was very informative and interesting, covering a variety of historical topics from ancient Greek and Egyptian ‘day-​after’ pills to why Aspirin is not trademarked in the US (think Germans and WWI).

Have just a minute? If you are in Old Town this is a really great place to pop in. It is informal and comfortable but really interesting and terrific for kids. If you have out of towners or kids who need something that doesn’t need to be plugged in to think about for a while, this museum is quite perfect. Because the tour is quick you won’t have to listen to long drawn out teenage whining.(No, I am not talking about the tour guide) Chances are any teen will really like even if they won’t admit to it.
Now here is the surprise– the gift shop! I stop in there just to pick up gifts for wedding showers, anniversaries, birthdays and holidays. They have some really cool stuff and people love local Virginia things of which they have plenty. If you love lavender products like I do you will want to check out their selection. It rocks!

Fun/​Cost: (⁴⁄₅) Admission into the Stabler-​Leadbeater Apothecary Museum costs $ 6 for adults, and you get just the right amount of education, picture taking opportunities, and antique viewings for the price. The museum tour is pretty informal. You pay at the gift shop cashier area and the cashier-​turned-​tour-​guide leads you on a 30 minute guided tour of the actual pharmacy area adjacent to and above the gift shop. As you cross the line into the previously roped off museum area, you’ll feel as if you’ve stepped back in time. As the tour guide will explain, everything nearly everything in the store — from the jars of mysterious liquids and powders, to the shelving, to the safe in a corner — is original to the pharmacy that dates back to the 1800s. After explaining the shop area in the lower level, the tour guide leads you upstairs to where more pharmaceutical items and medicines are stored. Don’t miss the roaster leg above the doorframe! Oh, and a drawer labelled «Dragon’s Blood»! For picture fanatics like me, the tour is great because they’ll let you wander around and take pictures of anything you see and ask questions after the guide finishes his general talk.
Ambiance: (⁵⁄₅) The museum is well preserved from its operational days. I love that everything, both upstairs and downstairs, is exactly as it was in the past. The pharmacy store area downstairs is actually quite a lovely space with wooden floors, white walls, and scalloped cutouts near the crown moldings. When you go upstairs, the storage area is dark and musty, just as you would expect, and the unaltered arrangement and furnishings lend the space an authentic and historically-​rich aura. You can almost see the 19^th century apothecary/​pharmacist directing his apprentice or holding up a newly completed bottle of medicinal powder. I’m not sure if it’s because we visited during off-​peak tourist season, but there was nobody else here when my group of 5 came. Fine by us though; we got the tour all to ourselves.
Location: (⁵⁄₅) The museum is conveniently located in Old Town Alexandria with restaurants, museums, and shops aplenty. You’ll have plenty to see and do before and/​or after your visit here. We visited the area on a Saturday afternoon in mid-​April and had no problem finding street parking.
Service: (⁵⁄₅) The only person we interacted with here was the gift shop cashier, turned tour guide who sold us our tickets and gave us the guided tour. He was very laid back, knowledgable, and friendly. He answered all our questions and let us take our time with pictures. No complaints!
Overall: (⁴⁄₅) I’ve visited countless museums in DC proper and some in Virginia; this museum — though small — stands up to the rest of them. A visit here is particularly worthwhile if you’re just looking for simple museum outing that doesn’t require much reading or much time. The tour is pretty short, but for a mere $ 6 (less than a price of a decent meal), you’ll making a financial contribution to keeping this cool bit of history alive.

This multi-​story apothecary shop, opened in the mid-​18^th century, became a thriving business, but, ultimately, closed in 1933, and has remained untouched since then. A docent guides a 30-​minute tour ($ 5 donation), providing detailed explainations of medical practices of the day, displaying equipment and pharmaceuticals that were available during the 18^th through early 20^th century at this, the largest apothecary business in America at the time. Visiting this storefront museum is an interesting, educational experence.
It is believed that George Washington, afflicted with pneumonia, actually died as a result of the bloodletting done on him, as was the practice of the day, in order to «treat» his illness. Oops.

As a museum buff and someone who seeks out new and exciting museums, I really enjoyed my trip to the Stabler-​Leadbeater. The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable, and I got to see boxes containing opium, sulfur, and mercury. What fun! My parents also enjoyed the tour. The recent renovations make this a really enjoyable experience.

The Stabler-​Leadbeater Apothecary Museum in Old Town Alexandria is a snapshot of pharmacy history! As a future pharmacist, it was very cool to get to see just what my predecessors in the profession were doing and who their patients were. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and friendly. We went on a Monday afternoon and we were the first tour she’d given all day. Definitely a place to chill for a few minutes while enjoying Old Town and a great place to learn the history of pharmacy!

This place is just neat. It’s hard to imagine all the potions concocted and the 1-​stop shopping these old pharmacies contained. It’s really a gem of a little museum, perfectly preserved because the last owners never cleaned anything out when they left. If you’re a history fan and in the area of Old Town, definitely check this place out. It’s fun! Neat little gift shop, too!

Ever wonder what a CVS (or an old school version of it) would look like or be back in the late 1800’s? Then, check out the Stabler –Leadbeater Museum. This is the oldest pharmacy in the country.
The museum was going through renovations for the past 2 years and just reopened a few months ago. On my tour, I learned that this apothecary was opened in 1792 and was open and operational for 140 years. That’s a long time. In its prime, this shop serviced high profile folks like Presidents Monroe, Lee and possibly George Washington.
What you can plan on seeing inside the museum is stuff like old drug store equipment such as mortars and pestles, drug mills, and medical glassware. There’s also medical journals and other documents including letters and day books. No apothecary table like the one from that Friends episode, though.

So, I’m a history nerd. I mean, I’m not dressing up at the Renaissance Fair or doing Civil War re-​enactments (although I love to see both and participate vicariously through those people since I’m too self-​conscience, vain and worried about the opinions of others to do either).
If you’re down in Old Town, you could walk right past the Stabler-​Leadbeater Apothecary Museum and not even know it. The Apothecary shop was a family business founded in 1792 by Edward Stabler which operated in its current location from 1796 — 1933. Obviously, Mr. Stabler didn’t work there through that whole time period. The place closed in 1933 during the Great Depression and the owners literally walked away and locked the doors; leaving everything behind as is. When you go upstairs, there’s tons of little drawers still filled with herbs, tinctures, talcs. Some of the cooler things:
* A written request from Martha Washington for some castor oil before she died
* A log book showing customers such as Robert E. Lee
* All sorts of cool bottles and «remedies.»
* A plaque showing the exact spot Robert E. Lee was standing in when JEB Stuart came in to give him the orders to put down the uprising at Harper’s Ferry.
The tour guide — a nice lady who does it as a labor of love– said that a lot more items are being prepped for display in this tiny, two-​floor museum. For $ 4.00 she gives about a 30 minute tour that’s pretty fascinating. One odd thing is that when you go up to the «warehouse» part of the apothecary there’s a modern kitchen and sink… kinda snaps you out of the charm of the old building. There was also a keg in the corner (they apparently rent out the top floor for events). Other than that, it’s a fantastic snapshot into the past.