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The Morning Call: Weekend entertainment highlights for Lehigh Valley: Apothecary tours, beer and wine fests, Capitol Steps
January 18th, 2018 | In The News
Written by Jennifer Sheehan for The Morning Call
It was a time when few physicians had medical degrees and we lacked antibiotics and sterilization procedures. You couldn’t count on pain-free surgery, and the average life expectancy was only 36.
The Moravians, however, had their own highly advanced medical approaches and at the center of it was an apothecary.
Learn about the local medical professionals who operated out of the 1752 Apothecary in Bethlehem in all its forms over two centuries in a guided tour presented by Historic Bethlehem at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and Jan. 27 and 28. The Apothecary ran 1743-1952 and is the oldest continually operated drugstore in the United States.
Tours start at the Moravian Museum, 66 W. Church St. and go to the 1752 Apothecary behind the Moravian Book Shop, a building that has survived numerous deconstructions, moves and the test of time. In this peek into the lives of historic medical practitioners and pharmacists you will see the medical implements used as well as learn how medicines were made and administered to patients.
The tour also stops at the Single Brethren’s House, one of the first hospitals in the area.
Tickets are $15; $9, ages 4-17. Info: 800-360-TOUR, historicbethlehem.org.
