New Orleans: Pharmacy Museum

As an add-on to a tour we took on our recent trip to New Orleans, we received free admission to the Pharmacy Museum. The museum is located in the Vieux Carre Historic District of the French Quater, on Chartres Street. Louis J. Dufilho, Jr. became America's first licensed pharmacist in 1804 when Louisiana became the first state to require a licensing examination for pharmacists. Dufilho’s 1823 apothecary shop is now the Pharmacy Museum and it's an antique-medical-lover's dream.

The museum is filled with historical medical artifacts that range from the mundane to the truly bizarre. Everything is housed in beautiful wooden and glass cabinets and the physical space itself is worth the price of admission (normally $5). Immediately upon walking into the shop you feel as if you've stepped back in time.

The best part of the museum is their extensive collection of vintage medicines in bottles, boxes and tins. We could have spent days just reading the ridiculous (and beautifully designed) labels on treatments for every ailment you can imagine, from Mexican bowel pills for stomach troubles to lung balm for bronchitis to whatever it is that you use "chocolated worm syrup" to cure.