10/22/2026
Along the south wall of the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, the original 18th-century bricks hold more than historyāthey preserve the touch of the people who made them.
More than 250 years ago, local brickmakers shaped clay by hand and laid the soft bricks out to dry. When examining the Hugh Mercer Apothecary, this process is still evident in the form of fingerprints preserved in the bricks. Why the bricks were moved to shelter prior to fully drying remains a mystery but perhaps an impending storm was the culprit. Regardless of the reason, the marks
survived the firing processāand centuries of weather.
Today, those fingerprints remain visible: a remarkably personal connection to an unknown craftsperson whose hands helped build colonial Fredericksburg. Although we do not know who left these particular marks, brickmaking and construction in colonial Virginia relied heavily on enslaved people and poor free laborers, with indentured and convict servants also contributing. Their labor shaped the buildingsāand the historyāwe preserve today.
Next time you visit the Apothecary Shop, enter through the garden gate and take a close look at the side of the building. You may find yourself face-to-face with a handprint from the past!
Images:
1) Photo of handprint, courtesy of Professor Michael Spencer, Department of Historic Preservation, UMW
2) Another possible handprint on the south wall of the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop
3) The hand-pressed bricks are arranged in a Flemish bondāa traditional masonry pattern in which every row alternates stretchers, laid lengthwise with the long face showing, and headers, laid short-end first.
