The Pavillion - Yesterday
This photograph was taken around the summer of 1959 by my mother, Florence GUNTER Forren. Special thanks to Joseph W. Forren for providing us with this picture!
"Within the precincts of the springs stand groves of sugar maple, interspersed with other forest trees, in all the beautiful irregularity of nature; under their luxuriant foliage, is spread a verdant carpet, inviting the weary to rest, - the seekers of health and pleasure to recline, and inhale the pure breeze that passes by, and taste the salubrious fountain that bubbles beneath. Nature has performed her part and it remains alone for the hand of enterprise and industry, to develope the beauty and utility of this highly favored spot. The proprietors, sensible of its value and advantages, are now engaged in erecting upon it improvements comensurate with the utmost demands of the public. The buildings are planned and commenced upon an extensive scale, uniting elegance, convenience, and durability. The grounds within the precincts of the establishment will be so laid out as to promote the ease and enjoyment of the visitor, and at the same time, add to the convenience and embellsihment of the premises. From 20 to 30 thousand dollars will be expended as soon as practicable; and other additional improvements made as interests of the public may require. The day is not distant, when the Blue Sulphur Springs will be brought into successful competition with any other watering place of fashionable resort in Western Virginia." - Joseph Martin, 1835, New and Concise Gazetteer of Virginia.
The Blue Sulphur Springs Resort was visited by then President Martin Van Buren in 1838.
“On the thoroughfare leading from the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs to Guyandotte, twenty-two miles from the former place, and within the limits of Greenbrier county, are the Blue Sulphur Springs.”
“The water is found to contain of solid ingredients - sulphate of lime; sulphate of magnesia; sulphate of soda; carbonate of lime; carbonate of magnesia; chloride of magnesium; chloride of sodium; chloride of calcium; hydro-sulphate of sodium and magnesium; oxide of iron, existing as proto-sulphate; iodine, sulphur, organic matters. Gaseous ingredients - sulphuretted hydrogen; carbonic acid; oxygen and nitrogen.”
“It is classed among the sulphuretted waters; and as a therapeutic agent it is reported to be highly valuable in chronic hepatitis, in jaundice and enlarged spleen, in chronic irritations of the kidneys and bladder, and in some diseases of the skin. There is also an establishment of baths here, medicated and vapor. The situation is one of great natural beauty, and the hotel accommodations are beyond the average of those of Virginia watering-places. The hotel is a spacious brick building, while architectural effects appear to have been studied in its composition, and in that of an imposing temple which covers the spring, and rises in the centre of an extensive and beautiful lawn.”
- Edward Pollard, The Virginia Tourist, published 1870.
Visit the White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia
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Copyright Valerie F. Crook, 1998, all rights reserved.