A Guide To The Virginia Springs Part 6

"'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 pa.s.sed 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, ill.u.s.trating their mode of life at the springs, and at the same time ill.u.s.trating (though unintentionally) the excellent and amiable character of the auth.o.r.ess.

"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 c.u.mberland, 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."

FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.

This very celebrated watering-place is in Fauquier County, 6 miles southwest of Warrenton. The improvements are very extensive, and the grounds beautifully adorned. The accommodations are perhaps sufficient to entertain as many visiters as almost any other watering-place in the State. Had it been in our power, we should have given a fuller account of these springs, together with an a.n.a.lysis of the water.

Beside these springs, there are numerous others of less note scattered through the State, among which are

GRAYSON WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,

Formerly in Grayson County, but now within the limits of Carroll.

"They are located immediately on the west side of the Blue Ridge, on the bank of New River, about 20 miles south of Wytheville, in the midst of scenery of a remarkably wild and romantic character, similar to that of Harper's Ferry, in a region perhaps as healthy as any in our country; abounding with fish and a variety of game. The a.n.a.lysis of this water, by Professors Rogers and Aiken, is as follows:

"Carbonate of soda, 4-1/2; carbonate of magnesia, 3; carbonate of lime, 8; sulphate of lime, 2; sulphate of magnesia, 3; chloride of sodium, 2; chloride of calcium, 3; chloride of magnesium, 1-3/4; sulphate of soda, 4-1/2; sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid gases.

"The waters are said to be efficacious in dyspepsia and rheumatism."

The Hygeian Springs, in Giles County, are highly spoken of.

Botetourt Springs, in Roanoke, 12 miles from Fincastle, were formerly quite popular.

CURIOSITIES.

Among some of the natural curiosities, not immediately on the route to the Springs, we find in Hampshire County, within reach of visiters to the Capon Springs, the "ICE MOUNTAIN."

"It rises from the eastern bank of the North River, a branch of the Capon, and is 26 miles southwest from Winchester, and 16 miles east of Romney. It is about 400 or 500 feet high.

"The west side of the mountain, for about a quarter of a mile, is covered with a ma.s.s of loose stone, of light colour, which reaches down to the bank of the river. By removing the loose stone, pure crystal ice can always be found in the warmest days of summer. It has been discovered even as late as the 15th of September; but never in October, although it may exist through the entire year, and be found, if the rocks were excavated to a sufficient depth. The body of rocks where ice is found is subject to the full rays of the sun from nine o'clock in the morning until sunset. The sun does not have the effect of melting the ice as much as continual rains. At the base of the mountain is a spring of water, colder by many degrees than spring water generally is." There are several other natural curiosities in this county.

"CAUDY'S CASTLE, the fragment of a mountain in the shape of a half cone, with a very narrow base, which rises from the banks of the Capon to the height of about 500 feet, presents a sublime and majestic appearance. The 'TEA TABLE' is about 10 miles below Caudy's Castle, in a deep ragged glen, 3 or 4 miles east of the Capon. This table is a solid rock, and presents the form of a man's hat standing on its crown.

It is about 4 feet in height and the same in diameter. From the top issues a clear stream of water, which flows over the brim on all sides, and forms a fountain of exquisite beauty. The HANGING ROCKS are about 4 miles north of Romney. There the Wappatomka River has cut its way through a mountain of about 500 feet in height. The boldness of the rocks, and the wildness of the scene, excite awe in the beholder."

THE NATURAL TUNNEL.

This great curiosity is in Scott County, about 12 miles west of Estillville, the county seat. The following description of it is from the "American Journal of Geology."

"To form an adequate idea of this remarkable and truly sublime object, we have only to imagine the creek, to which it gives a pa.s.sage, meandering through a deep narrow valley, here and there bounded on both sides by walls or revetements, rising to the height of two or three hundred feet above the stream; and that a portion of one of these chasms, instead of presenting an open thorough cut from the summit to the base of the high grounds, is intercepted by a continuous, unbroken ridge, more than three hundred feet high, extending entirely across the valley, and perforated transversely at its base, after the manner of an artificial tunnel, and thus affording a s.p.a.cious subterranean channel for the pa.s.sage of the stream.

"The entrance to the Natural Tunnel, on the upper side of the ridge, is imposing and picturesque, in a high degree; but on the lower side, the grandeur of the scene is greatly heightened by the superior magnitude of the cliffs, which exceed in loftiness, and which rise perpendicularly--and in some instances in an impending manner--more than three hundred feet; and by which the entrance on this side is almost environed, as it were, by an amphitheatre of rude and frightful precipices.

"The observer, standing on the brink of the stream, at the distance of about one hundred yards below the debouchure of the Natural Tunnel, has, in front, a view of its arched entrance, rising seventy or eighty feet above the water, and surmounted by horizontal stratifications of yellowish, white, and gray rocks, in depth nearly twice the height of the arch. On his left, a view of the same mural precipice, deflected from the springing of the arch in a manner to pa.s.s in a continuous curve quite to his rear, and towering in a very impressive manner above his head. On his right, a sapling growth of buckeye, poplar, lindens, &c., skirting the margin of the creek, and extending obliquely to the right, and upwards through a narrow, abrupt ravine, to the summit of the ridge, which is here, and elsewhere, crowned with a timber-growth of pines, cedar, oaks, and shrubbery of various kinds. On his extreme right is a gigantic cliff, lifting itself up perpendicularly from the water's edge, to the height of about three hundred feet, and accompanied by an insulated cliff, called The Chimney, of about the same alt.i.tude, rising in the form of a turret, at least sixty feet above its bas.e.m.e.nt, which is a portion of the imposing cliff just before mentioned."

THE BUFFALO k.n.o.b.

"This is a very lofty eminence, in Floyd County, from the top of which the view is sublime. On the north, east, and west, the beholder is amazed at the boundless succession of mountains rising beyond mountains--while far away to the south, the plain seems to stretch to an interminable length. On the east, The k.n.o.b is accessible on horseback, being two miles in height from the beginning of the ascent to the highest point; on the west it breaks off precipitately, and presents the shape of the animal whose name it bears. This mountain is seen sixty or eighty miles, towering above all others. On the highest point is a s.p.a.ce of about thirty acres, which is so elevated that not any trees grow there; and in the warmest days of summer, the visitor requires thick clothing to protect him from the cold. The spot is covered with fine gra.s.s, strawberry-vines, and gooseberry and currant-bushes. The fruit upon them is of superior flavour, but it does not ripen until two or three months later than upon the low-lands."

THE MAMMOTH MOUND.

This curiosity is in Marshall County, about a quarter of a mile from the Ohio; it is 69 feet high, and 900 feet in circ.u.mference at the base, and has a flat top about 50 feet in diameter.

"A few years since a white oak, of about 70 feet in height, stood on the summit of the mound, which appeared to die of age. On carefully cutting the trunk transversely, the number of concentric circles showed that it was about 500 years old."

CAVES.