New Orleans Historical Pharmacy Museum

Frommer's Review

Founded in 1950, the New Orleans Historical Pharmacy Museum is just what the name implies. In 1823 the first licensed pharmacist in the United States, Louis J. Dufilho, Jr., opened an apothecary shop here. The Creole-style town house doubled as his home, and he cultivated the herbs he needed for his medicines in the interior courtyard. Inside you'll find old apothecary bottles, voodoo potions, pill tile, and suppository molds as well as the old glass cosmetics counter (pharmacists of the 1800s also manufactured makeup and perfumes). Unfortunately, the old-timey atmosphere is assisted by itty-bitty information cards attached to the exhibits with minimal facts listed in ancient typefaces or spidery handwriting -- too bad. As alternative medicine gains acceptance, it's fascinating to look back at a time when medicine was barely more than snake-oil potions.

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