Country Doctor Museum is accepting ‘new patients’

Here’s a doable daytrip with a Carteret County, N.C., connection: Visit The Country Doctor Museum in the Town of Bailey, situated in the southwestern tip of Nash County, about 125 miles from Morehead City.

 

Two prominent North Carolina female physicians created the museum in 1967; both are now deceased. They were: Dr. Gloria Flippin Graham of Pine Knoll Shores, who was a dermatologist; and Dr. Josephine E. Newell of Bailey, who was a family medicine solo practitioner.

 

Dr. Gloria Flippin Graham, co-founder (left), attended the 50th anniversary celebration of The Country Doctor Museum with her friend Janet Williams in 2018.

A N.C. highway historic marker affirms that “The Country Doctor Museum is the oldest museum in the United States dedicated to the history of America’s rural health care.”

 

Gloria Flippin grew up in Pilot Mountain, N.C., the daughter of Dr. James Meigs Flippin and Ida Mae Boyd Flippin. He was a country doctor, and she was his nurse. Gloria would often travel with her parents when they made house calls. 

Following her graduation in 1957 from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, Gloria applied to enroll at Wake’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine. During her interview, she was asked why she wanted to go into medicine. 

Since her grandfather (Dr. Samuel Meadors Flippin), her father and a half-brother (Dr. Robert Edward Lee Flippin) were all physicians, Gloria responded: “Well, If I don’t go into medicine, I’ll have to figure out how to get out of it.” 

Dr. Gloria Flippin Graham earned her medical degree from Wake Forest in 1961. After completing internship and residency assignments, she formed a dermatology clinic in Wilson in 1966. 

Drs. Gloria Graham and Josephine Newell said their objective in founding The Country Doctor Museum in 1967 was “to put on display a significant collection of materials used by rural physicians” in North Carolina. 

A lot of Flippin family medical instruments and relics are showcased in the museum collection. Some of the oldest tools and artifacts date back to the 1820s, when Dr. Wood Tucker Johnson of Louisburg began his medical practice. (He was the great-great grandfather of Dr. Josephine Newell.) 

A chatelaine would adorn a woman’s waist to help her keep necessary items within easy reach. A nurse’s chatelaine on display at the museum includes a needle holder, perfume bottle, folding scissors and perhaps a small bottle for smelling salts.

The exhibits are contained within two “one-room country doctor offices” that have been moved to the museum property and restored. One building was owned by Dr. Cornelius Henry Brantley of Bailey; the other belonged to Dr. Howard Franklin Freeman of Rock Ridge. 

A massive apothecary cabinet, donated by the family of a former Bailey druggist, is the centerpiece of the museum.

 

The Country Doctor Museum was gifted in 2003 to the East Carolina University Medical & Health Sciences Foundation and is now managed by the university’s Laupus Medical Library. The museum is proving to be a valuable resource for college students who are interested in the heritage and culture that is associated with the rural health care mission of “health-giving and hope-giving.”

 

Outside The Country Doctor Museum is a medicinal herb garden replicates The Botanical Garden in Padua, Italy, which was established in 1545. 

The museum’s affiliation with ECU offers a source of sustainability – ensuring an ongoing commitment and investment to develop additional exhibits that teach the public about all aspects of rural health care, including nursing, pharmacy, homeopathy and dentistry. 

The museum is open Tuesday through Friday for guided tours, which are offered hourly between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Each tour lasts approximately 45-60 minutes. Admission fees apply, and reservations are required. Register online at www.communitydoctormuseum.org or call 252-235-4165. 

In 2015, Dr. Gloria Graham, at age 80, was selected as the North Carolina Medical Society’s “Doctor of the Year.” At the time, she was still caring for her dermatology patients three days a week at her medical office in Morehead City.

 

Dr. Gloria Flippin Graham, amid a variety of museum patrons and other guests, received special recognition in 2018 from ECU at the 50-year celebration for her efforts to preserve rural medical history at The Country Doctor Museum.

Dr. Gloria Graham was 86 when she passed away peacefully at her home in Pine Knoll Shores in 2021.