Originally
located just outside the perimeter of our Historic Site,
at 404 Ann Street, the Apothecary was probably built
around 1859. First used by Dr. William Cramer, the
Apothecary Shop has the ability to transport visitors to
a time when candy was a penny and medication was made
right in front of you.
Dr. William Cramer, of Portsmouth Island, first came to
Beaufort in 1850 to help staff the new US Government
Hospital and decided to stay. Dr. Cramer built the front
portion of the Apothecary shop in 1859 next to his home.
He died in 1864, a victim of the yellow fever epidemic
that ravaged the area that year. After Dr. Cramer’s
death, Dr. Josiah Benjamin Davis acquired the Apothecary
shop and moved it across the street next to his home
where it served as his office and drugstore and was used
until 1936 by his son who was also a doctor.
Dr. Josiah Benjamin Davis was largely self-educated and,
after attending a series of medical lectures in 1859-60,
Dr. Davis started his practice in 1862. He continued his
medical education at the University of New York City in
1865 and graduated a year later.
His
son, Dr. George Davis, later joined the practice in 1902
and eventually added an office to the rear portion of
the building. George went to the University of Chicago
Medical School and was well known for his intellect.
George was not only a physician but a lawyer as well,
having received his law degree in 1931 on a dare that he
couldn’t do it. It is said that he would have a circle
of friends in the back with chairs around to discuss
politics, religion and law. George was also a talented
musician and he had a small organ in the office. He was
very melancholic and always wore all black with long
sleeves, even in the summer. He had very fair skin that
burned easily so he avoided the sun and never went out
without a long black cape and top hat, his skin
supposedly an unhealthy, pasty white. He diagnosed
himself as having Hodgkin’s disease in 1931 and
practiced until 1932.
In earlier times doctors were surgeons, eye doctors,
dentist, psychologists, and general practitioners.
Doctors diagnosed patients, prescribed medicine and then
filled their own prescriptions in the front part of the
shop. The apothecary shop now looks very much as it did
when Dr. George Davis was practicing there - filled with
medicinal bottles, measuring instruments and flasks -
and an organ for Dr. Davis to play.
Originally
located just outside the perimeter of our Historic Site,
at 404 Ann Street, the Apothecary was probably built
around 1859. First used by Dr. William Cramer, the
Apothecary Shop has the ability to transport visitors to
a time when candy was a penny and medication was made
right in front of you. 
His
son, Dr. George Davis, later joined the practice in 1902
and eventually added an office to the rear portion of
the building. George went to the University of Chicago
Medical School and was well known for his intellect.
George was not only a physician but a lawyer as well,
having received his law degree in 1931 on a dare that he
couldn’t do it. It is said that he would have a circle
of friends in the back with chairs around to discuss
politics, religion and law. George was also a talented
musician and he had a small organ in the office. He was
very melancholic and always wore all black with long
sleeves, even in the summer. He had very fair skin that
burned easily so he avoided the sun and never went out
without a long black cape and top hat, his skin
supposedly an unhealthy, pasty white. He diagnosed
himself as having Hodgkin’s disease in 1931 and
practiced until 1932.