While Shocking by Today’s Standards, America’s First Public Mental Hospital Was a Step Forward
Last month marked 241 years since America’s first public mental hospital opened in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds took in its first patient on Oct. 12, 1773, at a time when the colonies still belonged to England. Treatment at the hospital could be brutal. One procedure called for dunking patients in […]
The American Town That Literally Lives in the Past
America’s past is revisited every day in a small town that was once the capital of Virginia, Britain’s largest, richest and most heavily populated outpost in the New World. One of the first things you notice about Colonial Williamsburg is how picture-perfect it appears. The streets are tidy and the Georgian-inspired historic buildings are charming […]