The Warm Springs Pools are historic

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

structures in the town of

Warm Springs, Virginia Warm Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Bath County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 121. The spa is part of The Homestead, a resort hotel in nearby

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

. The spas are naturally fed by a mineral spring. The men's spa holds of constantly flowing water. In total, the springs in Warm Springs have a flow rate of 1,700,000 gallons of water per day. The water naturally contains minerals including

magnesium sulfate Magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulphate is a chemical compound, a salt with the formula , consisting of magnesium cations (20.19% by mass) and sulfate anions . It is a white crystalline solid, soluble in water but not in ethanol. Magnesi ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant f ...

boron Boron is a chemical element; it has symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three ...

barium Barium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Th ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

, and

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

. Currently, guests can book one-hour soak sessions in the pools.

Omni Hotels Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American privately held, international hotel company based in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1958 as Dunfey Hotels, and operates 51 properties in the United States and Canada, totaling over 20,010 rooms and ...

offers family sessions where all ages, including children are welcome, or adult co-ed soaks for ages 16 and up. Keeping with tradition, there are also clothing-optional soaking times available, when the pools are separated by sex.

History

The Gentlemen's Pool House is the oldest spa structure in the United States. The octagon-shaped foundation was built in 1761. The wooden structure on top of the pool was first constructed in the 1820's. The Ladies' Pool House was built in 1836, and is a 22-sided structure. The buildings have changed little over the years, except for the 2021 rehabilitation of the pools. Warm Springs Pools Illustrated Advertising Cover

Warm Springs Pools Illustrated Advertising Cover

Famous bathers include

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, who spent three weeks in 1819 bathing three times day and described the waters in a letter to his daughter,

Martha Jefferson Randolph Martha "Patsy" Randolph (Maiden and married names, ''née'' Jefferson; September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Jefferson, Martha Wayles ...

, as being of "first merit". The site was listed as Warm Springs Bathhouses on the

Virginia Landmarks Register The Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) is a list of historic properties in the Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atla ...

on November 11, 1968, and the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on October 8, 1969.

2021 Rehabilitation

The bath houses had slowly fallen into disrepair due to many decades of use and exposure of the untreated wood to steam and mineral water. The buildings were ordered closed by Bath County in October 2017 due to their becoming a safety hazard. The owner, The Omni Homestead Resort, announced the rehabilitation of the Warm Springs Pools. Work began on the rehabilitation of the Warm Springs Pools in 2021, partnering with 3North Architects and Lionberger Construction. The rehabilitation follows the requirements of the Pools' historic site registrations. Blueprints of the new design are based on photographs and documents on the structures as the bath houses appeared in 1925. The pools reopened in December 2022 following their rehabilitation.

References

External links

Official website

"Taking the Waters: 19th Century Mineral Springs: Warm Springs."
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library,

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Buildings and structures completed in 1761 Buildings and structures in Bath County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Bath County, Virginia Hot springs of Virginia 1761 establishments in the Colony of Virginia