Sweet Springs

From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia

Sweet Springs, or Old Sweet Springs, is a historic resort complex located in Monroe County at Sweet Springs, WV, (Map (http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=17&n=4165008.00010465&e=567022.000000025&datum=nad83)). The spring was among the best-known resorts in the antebellum South.

Thomas Jefferson designed the resort's colonnaded main building, which contained much of the resort's dining and lodging. The main building, a large bathhouse, and several cottages, all built of red brick, are the obvious structures in the complex.

Wealthy southerners made a visit to the spring part an annual pilgrimage: summers are comfortably cool, and many guests believed the mineral quality of the water could remedy a number of illnesses. The Sweet Springs are also thermal: at 73 degrees, they are nearly 20 degrees warmer than the mean atmospheric temperature of the valley. Presidents Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), Millard Fillmore (1850-1853), and Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) were among its many guests.

Official Website: http://www.oldsweetsprings.com/

Image:Old-Sweet-Springs.jpg

Beyer print; "Old Sweet Springs" West Virginia

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