Summerdale, AL - What's a Tonsil Guillotine?

Today we headed off to have breakfast at Kitty’s Kafe, the best in the area and one we’ve eaten at 4 times over the last 5 weeks. Get there at 8:00 and you can linger over your coffee but get there at 9:00 when the groups come in and the tables are full. Of course, in January, lots of people are heading south and it’s the ‘high’ season. People are greeting each other since they haven’t seen each other since last March when they all left to head north.

Next was a stop at Books-a-Million, a local large-box bookstore. I looked at the magazine section and could tell the age of many of the customers.

Then at another section to tell the interests. I was curious about the name of the section: ‘New and Now.’

Then a last walk along the beach in Gulf Shores. Sunny but cooler.

Looking the other way, you can see all the condos and hotels lining the beach. Don’t be fooled by the sun in the picture above, check out my wind-blown hair in the picture below. Walking into the winds, we almost had to bend over double.

Then we stopped at a local store called the Pottery Barn but which had just about everything for the home but pottery: silverware, mirrors, Christmas decorations, sheets, tables, etc. They also had this strange gadget - a telephone handset to plug into your cell phone. Huh?

And, finally we stopped at the Holmes Medical Museum in Foley, AL which was on the second floor above Crosby Pharmacy. It operated as a hospital from the 1936 to 1958 when a much larger hospital was opened in the area. The hospital was run by Dr. William C. Holmes (fondly called Dr. Buddy) and his wife, Philomene, who, many residents would tell you, was as good or better doctor than her husband.

There are several rooms here, one is a typical examination room with the table and medical instruments, there is an operating room, several patient rooms, a waiting room, a cook’s kitchen for those staying in the hospital, a room where Dr. Holmes mixed his own medicines and several other rooms. There was also a set of stairs heading down to the parking lot so that Dr. Holmes could examine anyone who could not make it up the stairs to the hospital.

Here’s a picture from the late 40’s (I recognize the ‘fast back’ Chevy in the picture which looked just like the one my parents bought - but ours was a nifty grey and navy blue.)

Here’s the nurses’ station with a clipboard, a blood pressure meter and the lights to tell the nurse where to go. The cost of a private room in 1952 was $8 a day and the 1941 cost of a 7-day stay in a hospital and the delivery of a baby was less than $100.

Here’s a tonsil guillotine - note the pointy little blades on the right in the metal circle. Ouch.

Here are some obstetrical instruments.

Here’s an examining table - and you can look right outside. We don’t have a clue what the tined, rake-like tool leaning against the back wall is. Is that what he used it to rake in the money?

They also had a room devoted to ‘quackery’, cures that were widely publicised but rarely worked. Just like today. I especially liked this cure for varicose veins.

Here are the doctor’s books.

All in all a real glimpse into the medical past.

Ice cream after this in a local drugstore, with all the locals and then home.