"Dated October, 1776, in the first year of the commonwealth, we find the following in the statute-book of Virginia.
"'An Act for establishing a Town at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley.
"'Whereas, it hath been represented to the General Assembly, that the laying off fifty acres of land in lots and streets, for a town at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley, will be of great utility, by encouraging the purchasers thereof to build convenient houses for accommodating numbers of infirm, who frequent those springs yearly for the recovery of their health.
"'Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, that fifty acres of land adjoining the said springs, being part of a larger tract of land the property of the Right Honourable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding the same by a grant or conveyance from him, be and the same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin, Warner Washington, Rev. Charles M. Thurston, Robert Rutherford, Thomas Rutherford, Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel Washington, William Elbzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, James Edmondson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, to be by them, or any seven of them, laid out into lots of quarter of an acre each, with convenient streets, which shall be, and the same is, hereby established a town by the name of Bath,' &c., &c., &c.—(See Herring's Statutes at Large.)
"The town was consequently laid off, and a sale of lots made in August, 1777. Among the purchasers were Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Horatio Gates, Gen. George Washington, and many others of note and distinction.
"In the schedule to Gen. Washington's will we find this clause,—
"'Bath, or Warm Springs.
"'Two well-situated and handsome buildings to the amount of £150—$800.'
"And this note of the property appended to the schedule,—
"'Bath.