The Furious George ale with a side of delicious tater tots – smothered with queso, guacamole and sour cream – are curatives for many ills. Too bad Bacova Beer Co, in nearby Hot Springs, wasn’t around. Four natural springs, rich with 15 minerals, feed the translucent blue waters.Ĭheck out the beers on tap at Bacova Beer Co © Amy Balfour Eat and drink at Bath County's very best bars and restaurantsĪccording to lore, and Jefferson’s own grumpy letters, the president felt out of sorts during his visit to the Warm Springs Pools in 1818. Thomas Jefferson also visited, and the baths have been informally known as the Jefferson Pools for years. Presidential bathers here include Martin van Buren, John Tyler and Franklin D. “Because they are, of their era, the lone survivor.” And their bathhouses? “Those that existed are almost completely erased from the landscape, which makes those in Warm Springs, I think, nationally significant,” said Julie Langan, Director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Most of the other grand resorts in the area were destroyed by fire or closed after years of neglect. The 22-sided Women’s Bathhouse opened in the 1870s. Its octagonal frame was completed in the 1820s. The Gentlemen’s Bathhouse surrounds a stone basin constructed in 1761, making it the oldest spa structure in the US. In the village of Warm Springs, two large, wood-frame bathhouses are photogenic portals to this aristocratic past. Traveling by horse and buggy, and later by train, they descended on the region and its numerous resorts to “take the waters” – a fancy term for soaking up the reputed curative powers of the springs. The bathhouses of Warm Springs Baths have reopened following a $4.6-million rehabilitation © Amy Balfour Take a soak in the bathhouses of Warm Springsįrom the late 1700s until the early 20th century, a strand of mineral-filled springs drew high-society vacationers to Bath County. Here are the best things to do in Bath County, Virginia. Bath County is a four-season destination, but spring and summer are especially lovely, with wildflowers blooming and temperatures a few degrees cooler than the rest of the state. Here, the corrugated Allegheny Mountains break free from the Appalachians, leaving trout-filled streams, verdant valleys and a slew of thermal hot springs in their wake.Īn influx of new residents and entrepreneurs, many with local ties, are infusing this bucolic scene with a fun, see-me-now joie de vivre where hospitality and outdoor adventure abound. The historic pools, which reopened in 2022 following a $4.6-million rehabilitation by the Omni Homestead, are a marquee attraction in Bath County in the far western fringes of Virginia. And a frozen-in-time setting that would be recognizable to a long line of presidents, socialites and mineral spring devotees – and maybe a few nude bathers, too. Drifting on a float noodle in the Gentlemen’s Bathhouse at the Warm Springs Pools is the best kind of time travel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |