Old Sweet Springs, in Monroe County, West Virginia, is one of America’s oldest mineral water resorts, as it stands today, better than any other complex reflects the vacationing aspect of the country’s fashionable society just as it functioned almost two hundred years ago.Īs early as 1760, a man named James Moss is believed to have built a cabin at Sweet Springs, but was forced to vacate the property in 1774 when King George III granted these lands, and others, to the prominent Lewis family. Looking back at the background of the below photo, if you take the intersection at upper right, turning left, it takes you over Peters Mountain and into Paint Bank, Va., and then eventually on to Salem, Va. Or, if you take the intersection at Crows, you head towards I-64 and White Sulphur Springs, W. If you follow it the other direction, it takes you to Crows, Va., and then on to Covington, Va. If you follow the road into the background, it takes you to Union, W. Obviously the postcard has been colorized.īelow is the drone view of Sweet Springs, from about 350 feet up or so, looking at the front side of the old hotel, facing roughly west (so the hotel faces roughly east). This looks like the same photo as the above postcard, but it’s actually different. was actually Monroe County prior to its formation). Here is the Old Sweet Springs Resort, in the Sweet Springs Valley, which begins in West Virginia, flowing into Alleghany County, Virginia (and much of that portion of Alleghany County, Va. The resort was auctioned to Ashby Berkley on November 12, 2015, along with equipment and facilities to bottle the famous Sweet Springs mineral water, for $560,000.This past Saturday I finally got the ‘ole drone working again, and set out to hit some local spots I had been wanting to photograph from above. In 2005, Sweet Springs was sold again, and the new owner hoped to restore the resort to its former glory but sadly passed away unexpectedly before being able to accomplish the restoration. The project failed, and in 1996 the former resort was sold into private hands. The Rowan Home was closed in 1991, and the state turned the facility over to Monroe County to establish a rehabilitation center for substance abuse treatment. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.Ī major renovation was undertaken from 1972 to 1975. In 1945, the state of West Virginia purchased the property and established the Andrew S. Sweet Springs continued to attract guests after the Civil War, but many vacationers preferred to go to resorts that were more convenient to the railways.įrom 1902 to 1920, the Lewis family owned the property again and it operated under several different owners until it went into receivership in 1930.įrom 1942 through 1945, Old Sweet operated as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. His troops camped in the vicinity of the resort, but there is no record that the buildings were harmed. In June 1864, the resort was visited by Union forces under the command of General David Hunter. Old Sweet was operated by William Lewis, and in turn his son and grandson, until 1852, when the financially distressed property was acquired by Allen T. Guests would often visit several mineral springs resorts during the busy summer season to enjoy the water and social life at each. During this time, Sweet Springs was a day’s carriage drive from eight other mineral spring resorts known as the “Virginia Springs’’ of pre-Civil War Virginia.
A second large building and five cottages were erected in 1857. In the 1830’s, the present large brick hotel was constructed with columned porticos and was often referred to as The Jefferson Building because of its Jeffersonian design. The resort flourished from 1820 until the Civil War. The jail house still stands on the property and is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, jail building west of the Alleghenies.
A courthouse and a jail were constructed and the court met here for eleven years. In 1795, he was able to get the circuit court of Kanawha, Botetourt, Greenbrier, and Montgomery counties to meet at the springs. He began to develop the place as a resort in 1786. William Lewis acquired the Old Sweet Springs in 1774.
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