John Gorrie State Museum, State park museum in Apalachicola, US.

The John Gorrie State Museum in Apalachicola documents a physician and inventor who developed the first mechanical cooling system. The building displays a recreation of this machine and exhibits from early medical practice in the 1800s.

John Gorrie received the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851. The museum in Apalachicola, a block off U.S. 98 at 46 Sixth Street, commemorates the physician whose work on cooling led to that patent. Its exhibits cover his life and inventions and the history of Apalachicola.

The museum's exhibits cover Apalachicola itself as well as the life and inventions of John Gorrie, the physician who received the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851. A visitor can follow both the town's story and the inventor's in the same rooms.

The museum is at 46 Sixth Street in Apalachicola, one block off U.S. 98. The visitor center opens 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday through Monday and is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Gorrie received the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851; the museum at 46 Sixth Street holds exhibits on his life and inventions and on Apalachicola itself, a block off U.S. 98.