Dr. Tumblety's Time-Inspired Specialty Shop – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Atlas Obscura

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Dr. Tumblety's Time-Inspired Specialty Shop

This shop filled with oddities and knick-knacks is named for a 19th-century charlatan. 

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This eclectic little store is stuffed with old timely colognes, charming knick-knacks, amazing books, and gorgeous hats that wouldn’t be out of place in the 1920s.

The store is named for Francis Tumblety, an Irish-born American who earned a small fortune—and a reputation— in the late 19th century. Tumblety traveled across the United States and Canada, falsely claiming to be a doctor and peddling herbal medicines said to destroy pimples and cleanse the blood. According to some stories, he maintained an apothecary in downtown Pittsburgh during the Victorian Era.

After learning Francis Tumblety’s story on a haunted Pittsburgh walking tour, Jesse Mader and Amanda Rok were inspired to make him the face of their new store. Dr. Tumblety’s opened in the summer of 2019. You can browse to your hearts’ delight while you chat up with the owners, who are creating a tasting room and event space in the back. It feels like a little piece of New Orleans in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood.

Know Before You Go

Located on the Main Drag of Allentown, a suburb of Pittsburgh that was hard hit when steel left, its part of a reimagining of this section of town. Street parking ample!

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