Berkeley Springs State Park is situated in the center of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, USA. The centerpiece of the park is its historic mineral spa. These waters were celebrated for their medicinal or restorative powers and were generally taken internally for digestive disorders or bathed in for stress relief. Native peoples visited these springs as did George Washington. Berkeley Springs is the only state-run spa in the United States and is operated by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.
The Park is located on land which has been used as a health resort since the 1750s as the property of Lord Fairfax. On March 18, 1748, George Washington, then 16, visited the spa for the first time. An annual event is held to commemorate this historic visit, but the tub where Washington supposedly bathed was rebuilt in the 1930s. Colonial maps dating as early as 1740 credit medicinal properties to the spring's waters.
The historic Roman Bathhouse, the oldest public building in Berkeley Springs, was built in Federal-style architecture in 1815 on the site of an earlier bathhouse attributed to James Rumsey. The earlier bathhouse, built in 1784, is described as having had five bathing chambers and dressing rooms.
Water flows from natural mineral springs at a constant temperature of 74.3 degrees, emerging from the Oriskany (Ridgeley) sandstone of Warm Springs Ridge. Five major springs merge on the location of the spa. The water contains significant amounts of sulfates, nitrates, and carbonates-mostly magnesium carbonates.
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21 авг 2024
