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George Washington Trail In West Virginia
SITE V:
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BATHTUB -- BERKELEY SPRINGS
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George Washington's bathtub monument in Berkeley Springs State Park highlights the intimate relationship Washington sustained with the springs and town that grew up around them. According to his journals, "ye fam'd warm springs" was the first West Virginia stop on his first surveying trip into Lord Fairfax's wilderness in 1748 at the age of 16.
George Washington returned to the rough spa town with his family several times over the next two decades and valued highly a large tract of land about 12 miles west of town along the Potomac River in an area today known as the Paw Paw Bends. He would ride daily to Prospect Peak and use the panoramic view to fuel his dreams of a way west. When Lord Fairfax's domain was "liberated" in 1776, Washington's family and friends established the town of Bath around the springs as the country's first spa and George bought two prime lots. After the Revolutionary War, he resumed his pre-war habit of "taking the waters" at Bath and contracted with James Rumsey to build him a summer house there. Two wooden shacks resulted, hyped during the 20th century into "the first summer white house."
Today's visitor can bath in George Washington's mineral water in historic Roman Baths and modern spas, walk the town Washington walked, and easily drive to the same panoramic overlook. Berkeley Springs marks young George Washington's first visit with the on spring weekend in March.
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