The Giles County Historical Society is fortunate to have Drs. Harvey Green Johnston I and II’s Doctor’s Office on the property to interpret the history of medicine in the county. 
Throughout the years, patients’ relationship with their doctors has changed nearly as much as medicine has. In earlier times, before telephones and ambulances if someone was ill, they would send a family member or friend to fetch the doctor who would come to the patient’s house, often on horseback or by horse and wagon, his medical bag in tow to treat the illness. The medical bag would be filled with different types of medicines (many of which are known to be highly toxic today), needles, a stethoscope, and other equipment that could be used for diagnosis and treatment. Doctors had different bags for different house calls – birthing a baby was different from treating pneumonia.
Dr. Richard M. Newton has written a book, Miracles on the Nars, about his father, Dr. Maury Newton, Sr.’s, experiences making house calls as a doctor in Narrows. Dr. Newton, Jr. reminisced about his father’s practice as the featured speaker at the Historical Society’s Annual Meeting in January with stories about driving the backroads in sometimes unreliable vehicles, payments in forms other than cash, and the many interesting cases he had over the years.
There are many in the county who remember Dr. Newton, Sr. fondly or were brought into the world by his caring hands. Dr. Newton's book is available at the Giles County Historical Society and the Narrows Gift Shop and Art Gallery at 302 Main Street in Narrows.
Caption: Dr. Maury Newton’s medical cabinet is on display in the Doctor’s Office at the Giles County Historical Society. Inside are doctor’s bags used by several of the early doctors in Giles County to treat patients at their homes when health care was much simpler than today.
Throughout the years, patients’ relationship with their doctors has changed nearly as much as medicine has. In earlier times, before telephones and ambulances if someone was ill, they would send a family member or friend to fetch the doctor who would come to the patient’s house, often on horseback or by horse and wagon, his medical bag in tow to treat the illness. The medical bag would be filled with different types of medicines (many of which are known to be highly toxic today), needles, a stethoscope, and other equipment that could be used for diagnosis and treatment. Doctors had different bags for different house calls – birthing a baby was different from treating pneumonia.Dr. Richard M. Newton has written a book, Miracles on the Nars, about his father, Dr. Maury Newton, Sr.’s, experiences making house calls as a doctor in Narrows. Dr. Newton, Jr. reminisced about his father’s practice as the featured speaker at the Historical Society’s Annual Meeting in January with stories about driving the backroads in sometimes unreliable vehicles, payments in forms other than cash, and the many interesting cases he had over the years.
There are many in the county who remember Dr. Newton, Sr. fondly or were brought into the world by his caring hands. Dr. Newton's book is available at the Giles County Historical Society and the Narrows Gift Shop and Art Gallery at 302 Main Street in Narrows.
Caption: Dr. Maury Newton’s medical cabinet is on display in the Doctor’s Office at the Giles County Historical Society. Inside are doctor’s bags used by several of the early doctors in Giles County to treat patients at their homes when health care was much simpler than today.
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