Draft:Fauquier White Sulphur Springs

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Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, Virginia

Fauquier White Sulphur Springs
Resort
An image of the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs resort before the American Civil War.
Fauquier White Sulphur Springs Location within the state of Virginia
Coordinates: 38.805°N 77.675°W / 38.805; -77.675
Country	United States
State	Virginia
County	Fauquier

Fauquier White Sulphur Springs was a resort area located in Fauquier County, Virginia. Established in the 19th century, it was renowned for its mineral springs, which were purported to cure many diseases. An 1882 pamphlet published by the proprietors listed a large number of diseases the water of the springs was supposed to cure:

The Spring is a chalybeated sulphur water, alterative, diuretic and tonic, and for many years has been known to be particularly beneficial in the varied forms of Dyspepsia, Diseases of the Bowels, Liver and other Organs of Digestion, such as Chronic Catarrh of Stomach, Constipation, Chronic Diarrhœa, Jaundice, and all those errors of secretion of digestion produced by a residence in a miasmatic climate. Its diuretic properties are most happily shown in Diseases of the Urinary Organs and Dropsical Affections, such as Albuminuria, Diabetis, Chronic Catarrh of the Bladder, and all Dropsical Swellings. Its alterative and tonic effects are most marked in the large class of disorders due to Anemia (impovishment [sic] of the blood) and in female diseases when associated with Anemia, such as Amenorrhœa, Dysmenorrhœa, Leucorrhœa, etc. In that nervous condition known as Neurasthenia, or more popularly loss of nerve power, from over work or other causes, its action has been wonderfully prompt and permanent.

Drawing from the frontispiece of Six Weeks in Fauquier, depiciting the grounds as they would have appeared in 1839.

Temporary Residence of Virginia Legislature

In 1849, an outbreak of cholera in Richmond led to the entirety of the Virginia legislature being displaced to Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, the only time that legislative body met outside of Richmond:

The General Assembly has met here every year up to the present (2019) excepting only 1849 when a cholera epidemic in the Tidewater led to the decision to meet elsewhere that spring. They convened on June 1 in the ballroom of the luxurious Fauquier White Sulphur Springs Hotel near Warrenton. While cholera raged downriver and while economy-minded newspaper editors fumed, the legislators had a splendid opportunity to combine business with pleasure.

Mary Chesnut’s Diary

Mary Chesnut, well-known diarist whose writings describe the American Civil War, mentions the springs at several points. She reported (1861, p. 77):

July 7th.—This water is making us young again. How these men enjoy the baths. They say Beauregard can stop the way with sixty thousand; that many are coming.

During the American Civil War

During the American Civil War, the area served variously as a camp and hospital for Confederate and Union troops. Despite its historical significance and popularity, the resort eventually declined. The site remains a point of historical interest.

References

• Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, Virginia. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
• Visitor, pseud (1839). Six weeks in Fauquier : being the substance of a series of familiar letters, illustrating the scenery, localities, medicinal virtues, and general characteristics of the White Sulphur Springs, at Warrenton, Fauquier County, Virginia : written in 1838, to a gentleman in New England. New-York : Published by Samuel Colman. Retrieved 2023-12-28.

Category:Defunct resorts Category:Fauquier County, Virginia Category:Resorts in Virginia