Eastern State Hospital

James City County · dedicated 2009 · Galt Drive near intersection with Foster Rd.

Eastern State Hospital is the oldest psychiatric hospital in the United States. It was established on 12 Oct.1773, when Virginia was still a British colony, with the mission of treating and discharging the curable mentally ill. In 1841, under the leadership of John Minson Galt, the hospital initiated new reforms characterized as “moral management,” a self-directed form of rehabilitation that changed the social perception and treatment of mental illness in America. Beginning in 1935 and ending on 28 Jan. 1970, the entire institution gradually moved to Dunbar Farm.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Eastern State Hospital

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