Public Hospital

In addition to serving as the entrance to the Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, the Public Hospital of 1773 provides exhibits that document the treatment of mental illness from the hospital's founding in 1773 to its destruction by fire in 1885. Originally built as the first medical facility in North America constructed solely for the treatment of the mentally ill, the current hospital was reconstructed by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1985. The exhibition details the theory and practice of the treatments and doctor-patient relationships that were common in the 18th and 19th centuries.