What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm Saturday 9am - 5pm Sunday 9am - 5pm

Spanish Military Hospital Museum

Name: Spanish Military Hospital Museum
Address: 3 Aviles Street, Saint Augustine, FL, 32084, US
Telephone: (904) 342-7730
Price range: $
Rating: 4.8

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Spanish Military Hospital Museum

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Experience 18th-century Spanish Colonial medicine in the Nation's Oldest City! Plan your visit at smhmuseum.com 🎟️ A journey of discovery for the whole family!
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The Spanish Military Hospital Museum offers fully-guided tours, live surgical demonstrations, traditional apothecary practices, and more. Travel back in time to the Spanish Military Hospital Museum where the doctor is always in. Our fully guided tour takes you back to colonial Spanish days of medicine. Your journey to the past begins as our skilled surgeon performs surgical demonstrations. Watch as our Apothecary creates medicines and discover how colonial herbs were the origins of some of the most popular medicines today. Educational field trips and guided tours available.

10/12/2026

Our gift shop is filled with so many fantastic items to bring home as a reminder of your time in St. Augustine. 🧳✨ From handmade lotions, toners, and body butter to herbs and teas from our apothecary, we have taken great care to curate our little shop at the Spanish Military Hospital Museum. Stop by and visit us!

10/10/2026

“Super cool! A really interesting tour to do in San Agustín. Josè explains everything wonderfully and makes the tour very enjoyable. He knows a lot and is very friendly! We loved it.”

~ Lara Mlgezq via Google Reviews

10/08/2026

Are you ready to experience the most dog-friendly attraction in St. Augustine? 🐾

The Spanish Military Hospital Museum welcomes well-behaved, four-legged friends on its tours. Explore Spanish Colonial Medicine on a fully-guided tour featuring demonstrations of 18th century surgery and traditional apothecary practices.

🎟️ Tickets are $17.95 for Adults, $7.95 for Children (age 6-12), and $15.95 for Seniors (60+)

📍 3 Aviles Street
St. Augustine, FL

⏰ Open Daily, 9am to 5pm

10/06/2026

Aviles Street in downtown St. Augustine, FL is the oldest platted street in the United States. 🧱

It was originally called Hospital Street (Calle del Hospital) until 1924 because of the Colonial-era hospitals that resided on the street.

Learn more at smhmuseum.com

10/04/2026

Modern medicine is shaped by lab testing, microscopes, and a clear understanding of infection and anatomy. 🩺 In colonial St. Augustine, medical care followed a very different logic—one rooted in observation, tradition, and a worldview that tried to explain illness through balance, environment, and belief.

That world comes into sharper focus when you step inside the Spanish Military Hospital Museum. Here, visitors explore how apothecaries and physicians approached suffering long before germ theory, antibiotics, or modern surgical standards—and why certain treatments, though surprising today, once felt not only reasonable but essential.

10/02/2026

Do you know about the medicinal benefits of Lemon Balm? 🍋🌿

Lemon Balm is most commonly known for its use in tea to ease colds, but this herb has more amazing characteristics. Not only does the herb heal the inside of the body, but it aids in relief of insect bites, which is particularly beneficial to us here in Florida. Check out this herb in our apothecary and learn more about it during our guided museum tour!

📍 3 Aviles Street
St. Augustine, FL

09/30/2026

St. Augustine Royal Hospital Patient Diets 🥘

The Royal Hospital had eighteen regular diets and thirteen special diets. Diets and meal plans were ordered by the physician for a patient’s specific health needs.

All meals were made into a soup that came from the “common pot.”

Ordinary rations would include hen, chicken, young pigeon, roast beef, roast chicken, meatballs, and hash. Bread, pork lard, chocolate, sponge cake, rice, and vermicelli were food/ingredients also used in the hospital diets.

First Diet (Ordinary Ration) was the allowance of food for one day that was divided into meal plans with specific number of ounces served at each meal.

🍖 1 pound of fresh beef (with bone)
🥓 1 pound of bacon
🫘 1 ounce of chickpeas
🍞 14 ounces of bread
🫓 ½ ounce of pork lard

Join us on a 45-minute, fully-guided tour and learn what a hospital stay was like during Spanish Colonial times.

09/28/2026

“This is a true learning experience! We ventured in unsure of what to expect here, but were overwhelmed at the incredible knowledge of our docent, Katie. Katie demonstrated surgical tools and procedures, answered all of our questions (because we're nerds) and gave us insight on herbal remedies, the history of medicine and apothecaries, and was an overall lovely guide.”

~ Amy Peritore via Google Review

09/26/2026

Best morning at the museum! 🐾 We welcomed Doggy Drop ‘n’ Go for The St. Augustine Pup Pack Tour. A dozen local dogs and their owners came to tour the museum and socialize. We’re not sure how much they learned about Spanish Colonial Medicine, but they definitely loved seeing their friends and meeting new ones.

09/24/2026

Educating our guests about 18th-Century Spanish Medicine is a highlight of what we do. And one of the biggest highlights is the funny interaction between our guests when they’re pretending to amputate each other’s arm. 😉

Come visit us for a 45-minute, fully-guided tour of the Spanish Military Hospital Museum 🎟️ smhmuseum.com

📸 Danielle S. via Tripadvisor

Address

3 Aviles Street
Saint Augustine, FL
32084

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

(904) 342-7730

Website

https://smhmuseum.com/

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