Pest House Medical Museum

Visit this old quarantine house in central Virginia.

The pest house medical "hospital" is a small building used during the 1840s and 1850s. This facility was used to quarantine individuals with infectious diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and scarlet fever. Pest House referred to pestilence because many of the people that entered never recovered from their illnesses. During the Civil War, the Pest House was used for quarantining Confederate soldiers. Doctor John Jay Terrell was the local doctor and was one of the first doctors to wash his hands and sterilize his instruments between the surgeries he performed. Dr. Terrell painted the rooms of smallpox patients black to lessen patients' ocular hypersensitivity to light. There were no beds, but patients would simply lay on linens instead. After the war, the impoverished doctor opened an office outside of town, where he spent the rest of his days. He passed away in 1922 at the age of 93.

Dr. Terrell changed many of the protocols and reduced the hospital's mortality rate from 50 percent to 5 percent. The Pest House was initially located at Rock Castle Farm in Campbell County. It was moved to Old City Cemetery in 1987 and has since been restored to recreate medical history in the late 1800s. The exhibits represent the primitive conditions of Lynchburg's Pest House during the Civil War, plus a typical country doctor's office that would have been used by Dr. Terrell, including the instruments and tools used during that time period. You should also get a good look at the "poison chest" before you go.

Visitors are welcome to take self-guided tours of the museum and cemetery at their own pace. Guests can also stop by the Old City Cemetery, which features shade trees and a garden with 60 rose bush varieties dating back to 1565. This museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm.