Capon Springs & Baths, Hampshire County, W. Va / by W.H. Sale.

  • Sale, W. H.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Capon Springs & Baths, Hampshire County, W. Va / by W.H. Sale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    If you seek the finest IRON WATER in the mountains, it is found at Capon. some years with the leading and best known chalybeate fountains of Virginia and West Virginia, I do not hesitate to say that no finer or richer iron water than flows from this spring, has yet been found in either State, nor probably elsewhere. Such has been the verdict of many visitors who have had ample opportunities of comparison and intelligent judgment. There are other iron springs quite near the Hotel, which, in the absence of this one, would be esteemed very good iron water; but they cannot come in competition with this most su- perior Chalybeate. All who can walk that distance (through a beautiful shady foreat) will of course prefer to drink it immediately from the fountain. But it will also be brought fresh every day into the House for the guests. , HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS. The Mountain House is one of the largest structures in the Southern country. It is four stories high, fronting north 262 feet, and west 196 feet—altogether 458x40 feet. The Portico, 175x16 feet wide; its ceiling, 35 feet high, supported on ten massive pillars of the Doric order—affords one of the most spacious and elegant promenades to be found at any watering place. The Dining Hall, 230 feet in length, and the Ball room, 80x40 feet, are capacious and elegant. The Parlors are spacious and neatly furnished. The Chambers (are for a watering-place) more than commonly large, airy and well ventilated, and every floor will be found laid with Canton mattings. Every bedstead in the house is furnished with a new Tucker Spring Bottom. The bedding is good. CLIMATE AND SCENERY. These Springs gush forth in bold streams from a gorge in North Mountain, and are surrounded by picturesque scenery, presenting on every hand varied and striking views. Aside from the known medicinal value of the waters, there is a cool, dry and most salubrious climate. The ordinary range of the mercury throughout the day, in the summer months, is between 60 and 75 degrees, contrasting delightfully with the hot air of the cities and lowlands, in fact, there is a charm about the air of this region, that none can fail to appreciate and enjoy. The attractive walks and rambles, amounting in the aggregate to several miles in extent, cannot fail to add to the enjoyment of guests. I can hardly imagine anything more delightful to the lowlander or the denizen of cities, than a climb to theheights of the White Cliffs above the spring, or a ramble down Brent's leafy Avenue, or a stroll to Point Lookout, or along the crest of Ward's Ridge, or a horseback ascent to Eagles' Rock, on the summit of the great North Mountain. ■ a From some of these the view is limited to the little vale at your feet, embosoming the Moun- tain House and its surroundings, or to the winding valley of Cacapon River beyond. From others the scope of vision reaches westward to the Alleghanies, and embraces scenes of wild and varied beauty, but it is from the grand elevation of Eagles' Rock that the outlook grows sublime. One seems to stand on an island peak, surrounded on every hand by a boundless ocean, whose green waves, in the near and middle distance fade into azure hues, where the far-off horizon melts into the sky. The view from this point is bounded only by the Blue Ridge in the east, and the countless spurs and ranges of the Alleghanies in the west, and thus includes within its scope a coup d'oeil of almost the entire breadth of the great Appalachian chain. On closer inspection the beholder looks down into the far-famed Valley of the Shenandoah the Great Valley of Virginia, as designated in geography. And if the day be propitious and the atmosphere transparent, he will descry Winchester to the north-east, Kearnstown and Strasburg, and other villages of the Valley before him and off to the south-west; and then turning his gaze to the setting sun, he will behold the vast expanse of mountain and valley and primeval forest bathed in floods of violet and purple light, through which the wavy outline of the earth is dimly drawn against the evening sky. A more social, refined and delightful company of guests never assembled at any watering place in Virginia. The new walks and rides opened up for the guests afforded great satisfaction and delight • specially was the splendid view from Eagles'Rock admired and enjoyed. Ladies' and gentlemen of extensive travel abroad, as well as in America, pronounced it, in some of its features, unsurpassed, if equalled, by anything they had seen. I have also opened up a horse- back route to the <:Pinnacle, via Eagles' Rock, a still loftier peak of the North Mountain Range, which, in addition to the Buperb panorama spread from Eagles' Rock, commands views of Harper's Ferry and regions of the upper Potomac, also one to Potter's view to the south of these two points, commanding a splendid view of the Capon River Valley many miles away. First rate Hunting and Fishing at Capon.