LESS KNOWN SPOTS
Much is made of the history of well-known spas and springs which dotted the sprawling Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Many were casualties of the Civil War, of course, and some just ceased to exist.
Wilson Springs was such a place, but instead of ceasing to exist during wartime, it prospered. It was located thirteen miles northwest of Lexington,Va. in Rockbridge County and, thus, not too far from the celebrated Natural Bridge of Virginia. It could be said to have been a strong contender among the smaller and less know spa locations. It was started around 1840.
The spring itself is an unusual one. It wells up from the middle of a small island in the Maury River . A Strickler family owned the site and they built a wooden footbridge from the river bank to the island so visitors could get to the springs. As with all springs in that era, it gave forth waters of medical excellence, although I find no evidence of any such claims being made. The Strickler's must have anticipated what could become of such a location, because they increased the size of their home to accommodate seventy persons.
A Wilson family purchased the 465-acre estate in 1843 and by the time the Civil War got underway records show there were at least thirty cabins nearby, in addition to the old house which became the Hotel center. Many of the cabins had been erected by residents of Lexington as “summer” places. Exact ownership was rather vague, records suggest, because all that was business transacted in a time when a man's word was the same, or better than, a written contract. Exactly who owned the cabins built on Wilson land was to be perplexing problem for many years.
Wilson Springs continued to operate until 1920. The old home then became a private home for many years a long, white columned building clothed in a growing cover of ivy covering upstairs and downstairs porches. Guests were few, however, and said never to have exceeded 250 during its best days. Many of the cabins were torn down when State Route 39 was cut through the area.. Those portions which remain are said to stand guard over the entrance to Goshen Pass.
As so often happens,, in 1857, a larger pavilion with more facilities was built down the road a few miles. It was named Jordon”s Spring, and later renamed Rockbridge Baths. After the war Gen. Robert E. Lee was a frequent visitor from Lexington and in 1875 a Confederate Army Doctor Samuel Brown Morrison, rented the place and used it as a sanitarium. In 1921 VMI held summer classes there, and in 1926, it followed the path of so many of the old spa hotels when it burned and was never rebuilt.
` Enough evidence is still seen to constantly revive memories of what it must have been like to visit the The Valley's “smaller places” each summer.
. A.L.M May 14, 2003 [c770wds]
