"These springs were resorted to by invalids at a very early period, and
had great celebrity throughout the colonies. Hundreds annually flocked
thither from all quarters, and traditional accounts of the
accommodations and amusements of these primitive times are calculated
to excite both the mirth and envy of the present age. Rude log huts,
board and canvass tents, and even covered wagons, served as
lodging-rooms, while every family brought its own substantial provision
of flour, meal, and bacon, trusting for lighter articles of diet to the
good will of the 'Hill Folk,' or the success of their own foragers.
"A large hollow scooped in the sand, surrounded by a screen of pine
boards, 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 from the rustic bath-house, and woe to
any unlucky wight who might afterward be found within the magic circle.
The whole scene is said to have resembled a camp-meeting in appearance,
but only in appearance. Here day and night passed in a round of eating,
drinking, bathing, fiddling, dancing, and revelling; gaming was carried
to great excess, and horse-racing was a daily amusement.
"Dated October, 1776, in the first year of the commonwealth, we find
the following in the statute-book of Virginia.
"'_An Act for establishing a Town at the Warm Springs, in the
County of Berkeley._
"'Whereas, it hath been represented to the General Assembly, that
the laying off fifty acres of land in lots and streets, for a town
at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley, will be of great
utility, by encouraging the purchasers thereof to build convenient
houses for accommodating numbers of infirm, who frequent those
springs yearly for the recovery of their health.
"'Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, that fifty acres of land adjoining the
said springs, being part of a larger tract of land the property of
the Right Honourable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, or other person or
persons holding the same by a grant or conveyance from him, be and
the same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin,
Warner Washington, Rev. Charles M. Thurston, Robert Rutherford,
Thomas Rutherford, Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel
Washington, William Elbzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, James
Edmondson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, to be by them, or any
seven of them, laid out into lots of quarter of an acre each, with
convenient streets, which shall be, and the same is, hereby
established a town by the name of Bath,' &c., &c., &c.--(See
Herring's Statutes at Large.)
"The town was consequently laid off, and a sale of lots made in August,
1777. Among the purchasers were Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Horatio
Gates, Gen. George Washington, and many others of note and distinction.
"In the schedule to Gen. Washington's will we find this clause,--
"'_Bath, or Warm Springs._
"'Two well-situated and handsome buildings to the amount of
£150--$800.'
"And this note of the property appended to the schedule,--
"'BATH.
"'The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost me, to the best of my
recollection, between fifty and sixty pounds twenty years ago.
Whether property there has increased or decreased in its value, and
in what condition the houses are, I am ignorant, but suppose they
are not valued too high.'
"The sites of these houses are still pointed out. In the Memoirs of the
Baroness de Reidesel (wife of the German General who was taken prisoner
at the surrender of Burgoyne), she speaks of having passed part of the
summer of 1779 at these springs with her invalid husband, and mentions
having made the acquaintance of Gen. Washington's family there. She
devotes a page or two of her most interesting work to the narration of
quaint and pleasant incidents, illustrating their mode of life at the
springs, and at the same time illustrating (though unintentionally) the
excellent and amiable character of the authoress.
"After the revolutionary war, the accommodations at the springs were
greatly improved and extended; but as the States progressed in
population and prosperity a host of other bathing-places and mineral
springs were discovered and improved. Saratoga at the north, and the
great White Sulphur at the south, began to rival Berkeley in the race
for public favour; and from the superior spirit and enterprise shown in
their improvement soon left her far behind. Her register of thousands
was reduced to some five or six hundred per annum, and her hotels and
bath-houses seemed destined to decay. In 1844 a fire accomplished in
one night what time was doing gradually. Fourteen buildings, including
the court-house and half the hotel accommodations, were destroyed.
Colonel John Strother, lessee of this property, made immediate
preparation for the erection of a hotel on his own ground, and by the
next season (1845) the west wing, two stories high, was ready for
company. The year following the east wing, three stories high, and part
of the front was erected, and in 1848 the whole building was completed.
The erection of this hotel, and the completion of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad to Cumberland, have restored Berkeley almost to her
former prosperity, and from twelve to fifteen hundred persons annually
register their names there, and enjoy the unrivalled luxury of her
baths.
"Prior to the year 1772 these springs were called the Frederick
Springs, from Frederick County, and frequently the 'Warm Springs;' but
after the creation of Berkeley County, in 1772, and the discovery of
the Warm Springs in Bath County, they were called the Berkeley Springs.
In 1820, Morgan County was created from Berkeley, including the
springs, but the post-office still retains the old name, and letters
should be directed to Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, Virginia."