SPA SPOT
The resort area we now know as Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, was,in the early days, named "Bath" and it was in Virginia.
It was founded in 1776 and named after Bath England. It was hoped the area could emulate the prosperity of the ancient English city by means of its numerous springs and their curative waters.
And it did, for a time, prosper and the springs became well-known known and around them the dominant business of the a health-spa community developed gradually.
It was the post office department that changed the name, not the citizens. The new name honored the Virginia Governor Norbourne Berkeley 1768 to 1770, and recognized the importance of the springs themselves The old name caused confusion because there were other towns and areas called “Bath: The name chosen was “Berkeley Springs”, and take note, too, that the spelling includes a distinctive central “e”.
The community has had an interesting and complex history. It was situated in a vital area which was repeatedly a hotbed of confusion during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. The people were very troubled about which side to support. Many families were divided, especially, during the C Civil War when residents served on one side or the other – or, served both sides as ”sutlers” and, in some strange way, neither side as they became Zuaves - a local “army” operated by and for its own good.
My first acquaintance with Berkeley Springs came from a l938 novel written by Hervey Allen. He was the author of the leading best seller novel “Anthony Adverse”. It was the leading best seller until Margaret Mitchell's “GWTW” took over the Civil War book scene. The book about the Berkeley, still a favorite war time novel with me, was titled ”Action At Aquila. It was felt to be too grossly realistic to some squeamish readers – dealing ,in the main, with medical needs of both Federal and Confederate troops. And, The Zuaves, locally organized and controlled, in their flaming Turkish attire and turban headgear provided an unusual note to the accounts of civil war actions in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Some curious ideas where practiced by both the Zouves and the Sutlers. The area is filled with such oddities. Six areas of present day West Virginia never got to vote for separation from Virginia, for instance, the Berkeley area among them.
Berkeley Springs was, for a time, the residence of James Rumsey “ the inventor of the steamboat. If you are one of those who hold that Robert Fulton did that...listen up! It happened in 1887 when Rumsey operated his mechanically propelled steamboat on the Potomac River near Shepardstown The President of the Potomac Company encouraged him and appointed him a Superintendent of Canals and to improve the steamboat. The Potomac Company failed and Rumsey went to England where he successfully raised funds to built a better boat. He died before putting any improved model on the Potomac, so the invention of the steamboat goes to someone else everywhere except in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
The last time I visited Berkeley Springs the population was said to be about 1500 or so, and, for some reason I have not yet divined, it was prominently noted that the Court House there stands 611 feet above sea level. I have had continuing curiosity about the place ever since I read the Hervey Allen novel:”Action At Aquila” (1938)
Read it. Let's see if you get hooked, as well.
A.. L. M . March 17, 2003 [c594wds]
