From the Hawk's Nest, the route is via Locust Lane, 2 miles; Blue Sulphur, 40 miles; Lewisburg, 13 miles; and to the White Sulphur, 9 miles.
BERKELEY SPRINGS.
Having described all the springs, of which we have any information, immediately on the main routes from the city of Washington to the White Sulphur, we will now give an account of all other watering-places within our knowledge. The following account of the Berkeley Springs has been furnished us; and although it is longer than the description of any other watering-place given in this work, we have been induced in consequence of their antiquity to insert the whole.
"Berkeley Springs are situated in the town of Bath, Morgan County, Virginia, 2½ miles from Sir John's Depot, a point on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 130 miles west of Baltimore, and 49 miles east of Cumberland, Maryland. A good mountain road connects with the railroad, and during the bathing season, which lasts from the 1st of June until the 1st of October, fine coaches are always in attendance at the depot. Three large springs, and a number of inferior ones, gush out from the foot of the Warm Spring Ridge, all within the distance of 70 or 80 yards, forming a bold and beautiful stream, which in its course down the valley supplies several mills and factories, and empties into the Potomac opposite Hancock, Maryland, 6 miles distant. The water of all these fountains is of the same character, light, sparkling, and tasteless, their temperatures ranging from 72° to 74° Fahrenheit, and their character and volume being in no way affected by variations of the weather or changes of the seasons. The gentlemen's bath-house, a substantial brick building, contains ten large bathing-rooms. The baths are of cement, 12 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4½ deep, filled from a reservoir by a four inch pipe, and contain about 1600 gallons each. The luxury of these capacious plunges can only be appreciated by those who have tried them. The ladies' bath-house, on the opposite side of the grove, contains nine baths of similar dimensions, and adjoining this is an establishment for shower, spout, and artificial warm baths. The whole is enclosed by a beautiful grove several acres in extent, and handsomely improved.
"The ownership of these springs is vested in a body of trustees, appointed originally by the Legislature of Virginia, and the improvements are made and kept up by means of the revenue derived from the annual visiters. The charges for the use of the baths are as follows:—Single bath, 25 cents; season ticket, $2 50. Children and servants half the above rates. Life ticket, $15 00. A season ticket entitles the purchaser to the use of the bath during the whole bathing season. A life ticket entitles the purchaser and his immediate family to the use of the bath during the life of such purchaser, with the additional fee of 50 cents per annum from each individual to the bath-keeper. Arrangements are making for extending and improving the bathing accommodation, so as to give the public the full benefit of a restorative and luxury so copiously supplied by nature. It has been estimated that these springs furnish water at the rate of 800 or 1000 gallons per minute.
"Bath is the county town of Morgan, has a daily mail, and contains about 250 inhabitants. The scenery in the neighbourhood is wild and picturesque, and the view from Capon Mountain, showing the junction of the Capon and Potomac Rivers, is quite celebrated. There are also, in the immediate vicinity, a number of fine sulphur and chalybeate springs.
"Although these waters possess considerable medicinal virtue when taken internally, yet it is to their external use that they chiefly owe their celebrity; their delightful medium temperature, in connexion with other properties, adapting them to a wide range of diseases, and giving them a decided advantage over most other waters known in this country. They have never been accurately analyzed, but the presence of purgative and diuretic salts has been ascertained, though the impregnation is not strong, and the amount uncertain.
"This water is tasteless, insipid from its warmth, and is so light in its character, that very large quantities may be taken into the stomach without producing oppression or uneasiness. Persons generally become fond of it after a time, and when cooled it is a delightful beverage. It is beneficial in a class of chronic and subacute disorders, such as derangements of the stomach, with impaired appetite and feeble digestion, and chronic diseases of the abdominal viscera not connected with a high degree of organic disease. Their salutary effects in these cases would seem to depend upon the exceedingly light character of the waters, aided by their gentle alkaline properties, neutralizing acidity, and then invigorating and soothing the viscera.
"In the early stages of calculous diseases, attended with irritable bladder, their free use internally and externally is frequently of great benefit.