One of the earliest sources showing an appreciation of mineral waters
for bathing in the new world is a 1748 reference in George Washington's
diary to the "fam'd Warm Springs."[10] At that time only open ground
surrounded the springs which were located within a dense forest.
[10] GEORGE WASHINGTON, _The Writings of George Washington_, John C.
Fitzpatrick, ed. (Washington: United States Congress, 1931), vol.
1, p. 8.
Another entry for July 31, 1769, records his departure with Mrs.
Washington for these springs (now known as Berkeley Springs, West
Virginia) where they stayed more than a month. They were accompanied by
her daughter, Patsy Custis, who was probably taken in hope of curing a
form of epilepsy with which she was afflicted. In the latter part of the
18th century hundreds of visitors annually flocked to these springs.
Although the accommodations were primitive, we early note that the
avowed therapeutic aims for visiting these waters were very quickly
combined with a growing social life on dry land.
Rude log huts, board and canvas tents, and even covered wagons,
served as lodging rooms, while every party brought its own
substantial provisions of flour, meat and bacon, depending for
lighter articles of diet on the "Hill folk," or the success of
their own foragers. A large hollow scooped in the sand,
surrounded by a screen of pine brush, was the only
bathing-house; and this was used alternately by ladies and
gentlemen. The time set apart for the ladies was announced by a
blast on a long tin horn, at which signal all of the opposite
sex retired to a prescribed distance, ... Here day and night
passed in a round of eating and drinking, bathing, fiddling,
dancing, and reveling. Gaming was carried to a great excess and
horse-racing was a daily amusement.[11]
[11] JOHN J. MOORMAN, _The Virginia Springs_ (Richmond: J. W.
Randolph, 1854), pp. 259-260.
The more permanent bath houses found at the increasing number of springs
in the early 19th century were really only shanties built where the
water bubbled up. Nevertheless, as civilization moved in upon these
resorts, the current taboos and mores were soon imposed. These gave rise
to customs, facilities, and inventions peculiar to the pastime. The more
permanent facilities carefully separated men from women. Frequently the
women's bath was located a considerable distance from the men's and
surrounded by a high fence. Female attendants were at hand to wait upon
the ladies, and private rooms were prepared for their use both before
and after bathing.
In the early 19th century the fame of Berkeley Springs was eclipsed
temporarily by the growing popularity of other springs, such as Saratoga
in the north and White Sulphur Springs in the south. The newest
facilities, however, and the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, restored Berkeley to its former prosperity in the early 1850s.
The bath houses at Berkeley Springs in the 1850s are an example of the
facilities that were considered convenient, extensive, and elegant
during this period. The gentlemen's bath house contained fourteen
dressing rooms and ten large bathing rooms. In addition to the plunge
baths, which were twelve feet long, five feet wide, and four and a half
feet deep, the men had a swimming bath that was sixty feet long, twenty
feet wide, and five feet deep. The ladies' and men's bath houses were
located on opposite sides of the grove. As if this were not reassuring
enough, we are told that the building for the weaker sex was surrounded
by several acres of trees. Thus protected, feminine bathers could choose
either one of the nine private baths or the plunge bath, which was
thirty feet long by sixteen feet wide and four and a half feet deep, as
well as use a shower or artificial warm baths.[12]
[12] Ibid., p. 264.
The differences between the two bath houses show that women were not as
active in the water as the men. Judging from the kind of facilities that
were provided at Berkeley Springs, the ladies did less "plunging" than
the men and no swimming.
Although accepted in England, bathing in =salt= water did not become
popular in the new world until some time after bathing at springs was
established.
In 1794 a Mr. Bailey announced that he planned to institute "bathing
machines and several species of entertainment" at his resort on Long
Island.[13] "A machine of peculiar construction for bathing in the open
sea" was advertised a few years later by a hotel proprietor at Nahant,
Massachusetts.[14] There is some question as to what the term "bathing
machine" describes. Existing records show that W. Merritt of New York
City received a patent dated February 1, 1814, for a "bathing machine."
Unfortunately neither a description nor a drawing can be found today.
European patents from the first half of the 19th century reveal that a
bathing machine could be a contraption in which an individual bathed in
privacy. This is what the above quotations seem to be describing. In
general usage, however, "bathing machine" could also have been a device
in which an individual removed his clothing to prepare for bathing; this
type will be described later.
[13] HENRY WANSAY, _An Excursion to the United States_ (Salisbury: J.
Easton, 1798), p. 211, as quoted in DULLES, _America Learns to
Play_, p. 152.
[14] FRED ALLAN WILSON, _Some Annals of Nahant_ (Boston: Old Corner
Book Store, 1928), p. 77, as quoted in DULLES, _America Learns to
Play_, p. 152.
By the early 19th century floating baths were established in every city
of any importance including Boston, Salem, Hartford, New York,
Philadelphia, Washington, Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah. One bath
located at the foot of Jay Street in New York City was described as
follows:
The building is an octagon of seventy feet in diameter, with a
plank floor supported by logs so as to sink the center bath four
feet below the surface of the water, but in the private baths
the water may be reduced to three or even two feet so as to be
perfectly safe for children. It is placed in the current so
always to be supplied with ocean and pure water and rises and
falls with the tide.[15]
[15] _New York Evening Post_ (June 4, 1813).
As was true at the springs, men and women were segregated; but in the
floating baths they were only separated by being in different
compartments rather than in different bath houses.
Although there were a number of these baths there were not enough to
cover all of the inviting river banks and sea shores. There are many
instances of men enjoying the water of undeveloped shores and there is
some evidence of women venturing into the bays and rivers (fig. 2).
[Illustration: Figure 2.--"BATHING PARTY, 1810," painting by William P.
Chappel.
(_Courtesy of Museum of the City of New York._)]
Nevertheless, few women ventured into the open ocean during the early
19th century. They were generally afraid to brave the force of the ocean
waves with only a female companion, since prevailing attitudes regarding
the proper behavior of a lady prevented them from being accompanied by a
man. When a few ignored this dictate, their bold actions gave rise to
"ill-founded stories of want of delicacy on the part of the
females."[16] An unbiased traveler, who gave an account of this mixed
bathing in 1833, stated that parties always went into the water
completely dressed and for that reason he could see no great violation
of modesty. Mixed bathing at the seashore (fig. 3) was gaining
acceptance, however, when it was reported only thirteen years later that
"... ladies and gentlemen bathe in company, as is the fashion all along
the Atlantic Coast...."[17]
[16] JAMES STUART, _Three Years in North America_ (Edinburgh: Robert
Cadwell, 1833), vol. 1, p. 441.
[17] J. W. and N. ORR, _Orr's Book of Swimming_ (New York: Burns and
Baner, 1846) as quoted in THOMAS, op. cit. (footnote 3), p. 270.
In place of the dressing rooms available in the floating baths, special
facilities were frequently provided. The bathing machine--in this case a
device in which one changed clothes--was used where there was a gentle
slope down to the water. This species of bathing machine was a small
wooden cabin set on very high wheels with steps leading down from a door
in the front. The bather entered and, while he was changing, the machine
was pulled into the sea by a horse. When water was well above the axles
the horse was uncoupled and taken ashore. The bather was then free to
enter the sea by descending the steps pointed away from the shore (fig.
4). Machines of the 18th and early 19th century were frequently equipped
with an awning which shielded the bather from public view as she or he
descended the steps to enter the water. These awnings were left off the
bathing machines during the last half of the 19th century. Such machines
were used to a great extent in Europe during the 18th and 19th
centuries. In the United States, however, they were used only to a
limited extent during the first half of the 19th century. By 1870 they
had practically disappeared--being replaced by the stationary,
sentry-box type of individual structure and the large communal bath
house.
"Sentry-boxes" were used before the 1870s at beaches where the terrain
did not encourage the use of the bathing machines. At Long Branch, New
Jersey, and at one of the beaches at Newport, Rhode Island, lines of
these stationary structures were available to the bather for changing,
one half designated for women and the other half for men. Hours varied
but it was the practice to run up colored flags to signal bathing times
for the ladies and then the gentlemen. A male correspondent wrote from
Newport in 1857:
If you are social and wish to bathe promiscuously, you put on a
dress and go in with the ladies, if you want to cultivate the
"fine and froggy art of swimming," unencumbered by attire, you
wait until the twelve o'clock red-flag is run up--when the
ladies retire.[18]
[18] "Life at Watering-Places--Our Newport Correspondent," _Frank
Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (August 29, 1857), vol. 4, no.
91, p. 197.
From its early beginnings, in the late 18th and early 19th century, the
summer excursion to the resorts and spas grew in popularity. In 1848, a
writer of a Philadelphia fashion report explained that
Very few ladies of fashion are now in town, most of them being
birds of passage during the last of July and all of August. Most
Americans seem to have adopted the fashion of visiting
watering-places through the summer.[19]
[19] "Chit-Chat upon Philadelphia Fashions for August," _Godey's
Lady's Book_ (August 1848), vol. 37, p. 119.
As the summer excursion became a social event, the recreational
possibilities of bathing overshadowed its earlier therapeutic function.
Bathing became part of an increasingly elaborate schedule of activities
where each event--bathing, dining, concerts, balls, promenades, carriage
rides--had its appointed time, place, and proper costume.
[Illustration: Figure 3.--"SCENE AT CAPE MAY," _Godey's Lady's Book_,
August 1849. (_Courtesy of The New York Public Library._)]
In addition to stiff ocean breezes, seaside resorts had an extra appeal
that beguiled visitors away from the spas--namely mixed bathing. For
during the bathing hour at the seashore all the stiffness and etiquette
of select society was abandoned to pleasure.
Again and again I try it. Deliriusm! I forget even Miss ----,
and dive headforemost into the billows. I rush to meet them. I
jump on their backs. I ride on their combs, or I let them roll
over me.... I am in the thickest of the bathers, and amid the
roar of waves, am driven wild with excitement by the shouts of
laughter; burst of noisy merriment, and little jolly female
shrieks of fun. All are wild with excitement, ducking, diving,
splashing, floating, rollicking.[20]
[20] "My First Day at Cape May," _Peterson's Magazine_ (August 1856),
vol. 30, no. 2, p. 91.
Thus bathing was transformed from a medicinal treatment to a pleasurable
pursuit.
Excursionists had to be hardy individuals, firm in their resolve to
complete their trip. Although many railroad lines had been completed
by the 1850s, transportation problems were by no means solved. For
example, a New York tourist who planned to enjoy a summer at Lake George
had to travel by boat from New York City to Albany and Troy, then by
railroad to Morean Corner, and, finally, by stage to the lake. After
listing the difficulties endured by excursionists, a particularly
embittered correspondent commented in 1856, "... we envy these happy
people in nothing but the power to be idle."[21]
[21] _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (July 26, 1856), vol. 2,
no. 33, p. 102.
[Illustration: Figure 4.--"THE BATHE AT NEWPORT," by Winslow Homer,
_Harper's Weekly Newspaper_, September 1858. (Smithsonian photo 59665.)]
By the 1870s, travel facilities were rapidly being improved and many new
summer resorts were established which appealed to a larger segment of
the population.
Comparatively few can stay long at one time at the springs or
seaside resorts, and hence the peculiar value of arrangements
like those for enabling multitudes to take frequent short
pleasant excursions down the New York Bay and along the Atlantic
coast, as well as up the Hudson, and through Long Island
Sound.[22]
[22] "Summer Recreation," _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (June
18, 1870), vol. 30, no. 768, p. 210.
Beaches that catered to a large cross-section of the population provided
a wide variety of informal activities that replaced the established
functions found at the more select bathing resorts. For example, the
illustration of Coney Island in 1878 (fig. 5) shows a puppet show; pony
rides for children; a hurdy gurdy; vendors of walking sticks,
sunglasses, and food; and guide ropes in the water for timid bathers.
[Illustration: Figure 5.--"SCENES AND INCIDENTS ON CONEY ISLAND,"
_Harper's Weekly Newspaper_, August 1878.
(Smithsonian photo 59666.)]
In the 1890s foreign visitors were impressed by American concern with
finding opportunities to play; early in the century they had remarked on
the apparent lack of interest in amusements. The term, "summer resorts,"
no longer referred to a relatively small number of fashionable watering
places. The _New York Tribune_ was running eight columns of summer hotel
advertisements aimed directly at the middle class. The popular _Summer
Tourist and Excursion Guide_ listed moderate-priced hotels and railroad
excursions; it was a far departure from the fashionable tour of the
1840s.
Thus, as economic and technological factors changed, bathing was
transformed from a medicinal treatment for the leisure class to a
recreation enjoyed by a large portion of the population.