Country Doctor Museum brings “History Alive!” on Oct. 27

A daylong celebration at the oldest museum in the United States dedicated to the history of rural health care will be held Saturday, Oct. 27.

The Country Doctor Museum will host “History Alive!” from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Free activities will include museum tours, horse drawn carriage rides from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., and pony and cart rides for children from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

“Ben Franklin” will perform his one-man show at the top of the hour throughout the day. Classical and traditional bluegrass vocals and instrumentals will be performed by Chambergrass, featuring bassist David Schwartz and banjoist Kim Terpening.

Food vendors will be selling barbecue sandwiches, hot dogs, funnel cakes, fried Oreos and more.

The Aurora Fossil Museum, Ava Gardner Museum, Aycock Birthplace State Historical Site, Joel Lane House, Rocky Mount Children’s Museum and Science Center, and Sylvan Heights Bird Park will offer free activities and demonstrations for visitors.

The Country Doctor Museum showcases more than 5,000 medical artifacts and volumes of historic texts relevant to the practice of medicine between the late 18th century and the first half of the 20th century. In addition to rural doctors, nursing, pharmaceuticals, and home remedies are included.

The museum is managed as part of the History Collections of Laupus Library, ECU’s health sciences library, through an agreement with the Medical & Health Sciences Foundation.

For more information, call 252-235-4165 or visit http://www.countrydoctormuseum.org.