Beginning September 26, 2020, the Stonestreet Museum will reopen to the public. Opening hours are Saturdays-Sundays, 12-4 pm. Masks are required and visiting groups may not exceed more than six people. Only one group will be permitted in the museum at a time. Contact Info@MontgomeryHistory.org with questions.

The Jane Sween Research Library, Beall-Dawson House, and Museum Shop continue to be closed to support the effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. We are not announcing a reopening date for these buildings at this time. Receive updates about reopening by subscribing to our e-newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram.

You can also view our virtual tour!

Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine

Dr. Stonestreet and his family

The Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine, in its current home on the Beall-Dawson grounds.

 This one-room doctor’s office was built in 1850 for Dr. Edward Elisha Stonestreet of Rockville, who had just graduated from the University of Maryland medical school; he served as one of the town’s doctors until his death in 1903. During the fifty-one years of Dr. Stonestreet’s practice, medical knowledge and technology underwent many radical changes. The Stonestreet Museum contains a small office vignette, and changing exhibits that highlight our extensive 19th and early 20th century medical collections including books, instruments and tools, pharmaceutical items, and more.

The doctor’s office, in its original location on the edge of the Stonestreet property, c. 1890.

The office was originally situated in the front yard of the Stonestreet home on East Montgomery Avenue. Some years after the doctor’s death the office was moved to the Rockville fairgrounds (now the site of Richard Montgomery High School), and it was thus spared demolition during the city’s urban renewal project in the mid 20th century. In 1972, Dr. Stonestreet’s office was donated to the Montgomery County Historical Society and moved to the grounds of the Beall-Dawson House.

Clarence Hickey, as Dr. Stonestreet, demonstrates Civil War-era medical techniques.

Clarence Hickey, who portrays Dr. Stonestreet for the public at the museum and at other venues around the region, closely watched the “Mercy Street” PBS series and has written an episode-by-episode account with his observations about the historical accuracy of the show’s depiction of Civil War-era medical care.