These three lots, on which the rambling St. George Tucker House has stood since 1788, were described in 1735 as “the Lotts and Land whereon the Bowling Green formerly was, the Dwelling House and Kitchen of William Levingston and the House call’d the Play House.” The last, of course, was the first theater in the English colonies, and Gilmer later sold it to the mayor and aldermen of Williamsburg to be used as a city hall and courthouse. It was a particularly convenient arrangement for one of the aldermen who was to become mayor himself a year later, none other than Dr. George Gilmer. Gilmer’s career as an apothecary-surgeon-physician was not without its ups and downs. Soon after buying the property on Palace Green, he was giving away samples of rattlesnake root on behalf of Dr. John Tennent, who maintained it would cure pleurisy, the gout, rheumatism, and mad-dog bites. At the same time the _Virginia Gazette_, Williamsburg’s new weekly, carried the news that “on _Monday_ Morning last, dy’d, at Mr. _Geo. Gilmer’s_, in this City, Mrs. _Susanna Skaife_, ... and was decently interr’d on _Wensday_. And, on _Thursday_ Morning also dy’d, the Rev. Mr. _John Skaife_, her Husband, after a tedious Indisposition.” It would appear that at least Mrs. Skaife was a bed patient in Dr. Gilmer’s home; this was a usual way of caring for serious illnesses before the day of hospitals. [Illustration: _Surrounded by the equipment of his craft, this young apothecary is making up a prescription of some kind, probably for pills. The illustration traces back to a London publication, _The Book of Trades or Library of Useful Arts_, first American edition published in 1807 by J. Johnson and for sale in his bookstore in Philadelphia and in Richmond, Virginia._] Soon thereafter, Gilmer found it necessary to insert the following advertisement in the _Virginia Gazette_: Williamsburg _May_ 26, 1737. _There being a Report industriously spread about the Country, of _George Gilmer’s_ Death, by some well-meaning People, and of his being so much in Debt, that nothing from _England_ would be sent him this Year, _if alive_._ _To obviate such scandalous and groundless _Reports_, I take this Opportunity to acquaint all my Friends, that I can now, better than ever, supply them with all manner of Chymical and Galenical Medicines, truly and faithfully prepared, and at as cheap Rates as can be had from _England_. Also Double-refin’d, Single refin’d, and Lump Sugars, Cinnamon, Cloves, Mace, Nutmegs, _Bateman’s_ Drops, _Squire’s_ Elixir, _Anderson’s_ Pills, Sweet Oil, _&c._ at reasonable Rates; at my Old Shop, near the _Governor’s_._ George Gilmer