Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop

A Scottish doctor who fled the Battle of Culloden opened this shop in the mid-18th century. Hugh Mercer had practiced medicine in Pennsylvania, where he met Colonel George Washington during the French and Indian War. Washington told him to come to Fredericksburg, and Mercer came — he ran his apothecary here before the Revolution.

The building has been restored to demonstrate 18th century medical treatments. A small exhibit covers Mercer's life and his service in the war. Preservation Virginia held it for decades, then passed it to Washington Heritage Museums in 2013.

Fredericksburg sits at the fall line of the Rappahannock, where colonial Virginia's frontier pushed west from Tidewater into the Piedmont. The town was a port, a tobacco hub, a place where Washington's family lived across the river at Ferry Farm. You're standing in the room where a man who knew Washington before there was a United States worked. The shop is at 1020 Caroline Street, open for tours most days except winter Tuesdays.