Dr Best House and Medical Museum — Attraction in Town of Middleburgh

The Dr. Best House is a unique museum located in Middleburgh, NY. The house was built in 1884 by Dr. Christopher Best. The house was home to Dr. Best, and his son who was also a doctor, for a little over a century. The house has three bedrooms, a kitchen, and medical exam rooms. The museum exhibits not only the life of the Best family, but also the work of a rural family doctor. Nearly everything in the museum is original to the house including medical instruments, medicine, and even groceries. The house tour was one of the best I’ve been on. The tour will take you into every room and explain the history behind it. Many of the technologies in some of the rooms still work including an old Edison phonograph and uranium glow in the dark glass. The kitchen still still has groceries including several kinds of coffee, Kool-Aide, peanuts, and Crisco. Other interesting items include quilts, a piano, children’s toys, and human hair wreaths. The rooms have exhibits that describe each member of the house. It seems that the Best family saved everything under the idea that the house would one day be a museum. The most interesting exhibits are in the medical exam rooms. Here you can see medicine bottles still filled with medicine that is nearly 100 years old! There are exam tables and an X-ray machine. One machine looks like something out of the old Frankenstein movies! Strangely, there is even a real human skull that can be seen. The museum is open on weekends and you should check their website for hours. The museum is run by a great group of volunteers who go out of their way to make this such an interesting museum. The admission price for the museum is free, but donations are accepted. If you’re looking for a museum that explains the history of medicine and gives a good overview of life in the past, this is the...

Trish was our enthusiastic wonderful guide!!! I know that she has given this tour several times before but she made the experience so much fun! She never rushed us through the rooms and welcomed all of our questions. She was informative as well as accommodating to our group. This truly is a time capsule of one of the last country doctors homes who lived and practiced in Schoharie County. Our group of ladies enjoyed a tea party and secretly wished we lived there!! Please don't miss this gem of a museum located in...

This place is like stepping into a time capsule. I have never seen anything like it. The docents and volunteers are fabulous. You don't feel like you're in a museum. You feel like you're in a time warp. Every single thing this family had, right diwn to notes and receipts, are in this house. Words cannot describe. Also, medical treatment 120+ years ago? No thank you....