University of Virginia Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Hot Springs

Bath County, Virginia

The beneficial effects of hot spouts topically applied are so miraculous in many painful and obstinate complaints that words cannot adequately describe them, therefore the prisoners of pain are strongly recommended to expose their rheumatic joints, gouty toes and enlarged livers to the comfortable outpourings of these healing streams. John R. Page

The Hot Springs resort as drawn by Porte Crayon in 1857. The large hotel, the Homestead, was built by Dr. Thomas Goode in 1846. {1}

The Hot Springs resort as drawn by Porte Crayon in 1857. The large hotel, the Homestead, was built by Dr. Thomas Goode in 1846. {1}

William Burke on the Hot Springs.

Edward Beyer’s print of Hot Springs published in 1857. {2}

Edward Beyer’s print of Hot Springs published in 1857. {2}

The Hot Springs are located in Bath County, Virginia, five miles distant from Warm Springs. Dr. Burke’s book, The Mineral Springs of Western Virginia, reported that the accommodations were suitable for 150 people and the meals were “excellent and plentiful, and served with neatness and comfort.” The property was owned by Dr. Thomas Goode who also served as the resident physician and supervisor of activities at the Hot Springs. He seemed to have a “deficiency in the art of pleasing” and was described as supercilious, high-toned, and rude. He also was the target of “complaints long, loud, and reiterated” because of his charges for board and baths. Nevertheless, Dr. Burke also stated that Goode was a well-bred gentleman, a physician of high standing based on his talent and experience, a man who would offer honest and reliable advice, and a doctor whose great goal was the physical improvement of his patients.

Burke’s Recommendations for Using the Waters at Hot Springs.

Dr. Burke urged caution at the Hot Springs not because of an excess amount of nitrogen gas like the nearby Warm Springs, but because of the high temperature of the water, “as the Hot bath is decidedly stimulating to the human system, it is always proper, if not absolutely necessary, to obtain the best advice before we have recourse to so powerful an agent.”

Thomas Goode was born in 1787 to Colonel Samuel Goode who was a member of the U.S. Congress from 1799-1801. Thomas moved to Bath County, Virginia, in 1833 and bought the Hot Springs which he built up with his wisdom and energy. He was the father of at least seven daughters and two sons, an enthusiastic politician, and buried near the Hot Springs Hotel. {Goode, 63, 122}

Six baths, each with its own spring, had temperatures ranging from 98-106 degrees. Convinced of the “high curative power” of the springs and of Dr. Goode’s skill, Dr. Burke included ten testimonial letters from patients and doctors written to Dr. Goode. These letters, nine of which were taken from Thomas Goode’s book printed in 1846, The Invalid’s Guide to the Virginia Hot Springs, claimed the Hot Springs were useful in curing or aiding patients with chronic diarrhea, painful menstruation, hemorrhoids, inflammatory rheumatism, skin ulcers, stomach and liver pain, lead poisoning, and paralysis. One of the letters that Dr. Burke included in his volume was written by H. Howard, M.D., a professor at the University of Virginia from 1839 to 1867. In late 1841 Dr. Howard wrote that for ten years, which included time at the University of Virginia as well as Baltimore, he had been sending all his patients with chronic diarrhea or painful menstruation to the Hot Springs. He claimed good results as long as the patients followed a prescribed regimen and had the advice of a physician.

I have been at the Hot Springs for six entire seasons, and have watched their effects on several thousand invalids, with all the interest which ownership could excite. Dr. Thomas Goode

Dr. Burke’s extensive quotes from Goode’s book described two baths with three to four inch columns of water falling for six feet that were beneficial to rheumatic patients. Another bath was so large that it could be used for swimming both by the sick and for the healthy simply for pleasure. Dr. Goode claimed, “These waters taken internally, are anti-acid, mildly aperients, and freely diuretic and diaphoretic. But when used as a general bath, their effects are great, and excel all expectation. They equalize an unbalanced circulation, and thereby restore the different important parts of the system, … and often relieve, in a short time, excruciating pain caused by palpable and long standing disease of some vital organ.” {Burke, p. 80}

W. B. Towles 1885 Case Book {3} for the Hot Springs

W. B. Towles’ 1885 Case Book {3} for the Hot Springs includes entries for people from at least 13 different states including Illinois, New York, and Georgia. One was for a government official who had bathed at foreign resorts before coming to the Virginia Hot Springs and was a confirmed dyspeptic. Towles’ diagnosis included malarial neuralgia, and he ordered the man to spend 15 minutes in the hot spout alternating with 8 minutes in the boiler. The account indicates a $7.50 charge for quinine, smaller charges for med, and a dollar fee for cupping.

This image of Dr. William Beverly Towles shows him several years before he compiled his 1885 Case Book. He was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Virginia School of Medicine from 1885 until his death in 1893.{4}

This image of Dr. William Beverly Towles shows him several years before he compiled his 1885 Case Book. He was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Virginia School of Medicine from 1885 until his death in 1893.{4}

Dr. William Beverly Towles

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