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All the United States Virginia Lynchburg The Pest House Medical Museum

The Pest House Medical Museum

A "hospital" where people went to be quarantined, die, and be buried in the yard.

Lynchburg, Virginia

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Mike Bison
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About

Lynchburg's first "hospital," the Pest (as in pestilence) House, was in actuality a quarantine house where people with contagious diseases would be placed away from the population. Many who entered the Pest House never recovered.

Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, those infected with contagious diseases like smallpox, cholera, and scarlet fever, were quarantined in this wooden house. During the Civil War, Lynchburg was a hospital center, and the Pest House was used for quarantining Confederate soldiers. When a local doctor, John Jay Terrell, learned about the poor conditions at the hospital he took over its operations, introducing reforms that brought its mortality rate from 50 percent to just five percent.

In 1987, the small, white-frame building was moved from its original location to Old City Cemetery. Today you can see the Pest House just as it was in the mid-1800s when Dr. Terrell successfully treated Civil War veterans there. Be sure to see the "poison chest."

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Medical Museums Museums Civil War

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Added By

mbison

Edited By

CC, michellecassidy1

  • CC
  • michellecassidy1

Published

November 21, 2008

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  • https://www.gravegarden.org/the-pest-house/
  • https://www.virginia.org/listings/HistoricSites/PestHouseMedicalMuseum/
The Pest House Medical Museum
Taylor Street
Old City Cemetery
Lynchburg, Virginia, 24504
United States
37.409538, -79.151268
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Nearby Places

Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum

Lynchburg, Virginia

miles away

Museums at Old City Cemetery

Lynchburg, Virginia

miles away

Joel Sweeney's Grave

Appomattox, Virginia

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Lynchburg

Lynchburg

Virginia

Places 3
Stories 1

Nearby Places

Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum

Lynchburg, Virginia

miles away

Museums at Old City Cemetery

Lynchburg, Virginia

miles away

Joel Sweeney's Grave

Appomattox, Virginia

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Lynchburg

Lynchburg

Virginia

Places 3
Stories 1

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