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The George Washington Heritage Trail -
Morgan County Section
by Jeanne Mozier
The three counties of the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia
-- Jefferson, Berkeley and Morgan -- offer a rich timeline of
American history that includes a colonial spa town, early industries
sites, railroad landmarks and Civil War locations. The footsteps of America's
first president are particularly prominent, inspiring tourism officials
to package the region's attractions in a 127-mile loop trail named for
George Washington and approved as a West Virginia Scenic Byway.
Although GeorgeWashington's footsteps are the primary
focus of the trail, more than 40 other sites make the trip one of discovery
for travelers interested in everything from architecture to scenic
wonders.
From his first visit as a teenage surveyor through the
reading of his will more than 50 years later, Washington bathed, slept,
owned land and supported industry in the Eastern Panhandle.
While there may be no designated beginning or end to a
loop trail, we focus our attention on the 75-mile western segment in Morgan
County centered around Berkeley Springs and continuing on to Paw Paw.
We'll begin the tour, which could take an afternoon or a weekend, where
George did --at "ye fam'd warm springs."
George Washington was scarcely 16-years-old in March 1748
when he began his first trip west. Delayed by the flooded Potomac River,
his suryveying party turned back to visit what appeared on their colonial
maps as Medicinal Springs. Then, as now, the waters flowed from
the ground at 74 degrees and 2,000 gallons per minute.
At the western edge of Berkeley
Springs State Park in the center of town, a stone structure identified
as George Washington's Bathtub encloses one of five major springs.
It represents the primitive bathing facilities Washington and his friends
used during the decades they visited. The brick Roman Bathhouse, where
today's visitors can soak in 750 gallon tubs of heated mineral water at
two public fountains taking advantage of Lord Fairfax's decree that the
water should always be free to the public.
When the town of Bath was formed around the spring in
1776, the charter specifically stated its purpose as caring for health
seekers. The following year, Washington and other members of the
colonial elite bought lots and made Bath the country's first spa.
Although the world now knows the town by its post office name of Berkeley
Springs, healthseekers still come to "take the waters" as well
as enjoy contemporary treatments of massage, aromathereapy and herbal
wraps.
Along the south side of the tiny park is The
Country Inn encroaching on a piece of land where once stood The
Inn at the Liberty Pole and Flag. George and Martha stayed here during
their 1784 visit. The inn's part owner James Rumsey, demonstrated his
newly invented pole boat for Washington and later enlisted his support
for a steamboat. A millstone monument in the park commemorates Rumsey's
other inventive talent -- the perfecting of mill machines.
Washington's favorite horseback ride when he visited the
springs takes the tour traveler west of town about three miles to the
panoramic overlook at Prospect Peak. The view is virtually unchanged,
with the Potomac River nearly a thousand feet below. The ancient hamlet
that Washington knew as Great Cacapon is also visible just upstream where
the wild and scenic Cacapon River joins with the stately curves of
the Potomac. Further west along the bends of the Poromac, Washington
owned riverfront acreage which he prized for its virgin walnut forests.
Washington tried to expolit the way west that he saw from
that he saw from the overlook, although his Powtomack Canal eventually
failed. The C&O Canal was successful the 19th century version and
its mule towpaths are visible along the north bank of the river in Maryland.
He never even imagined the B&O Railroad that parallels the canal on
the opposite bank in West Virginia and became the real way west.
When visitors follow the blue and white trail markers
west in to West Virginia mountains, curving through spectacular mountaim
scenery, they eventually reach the old railroad and canal town of Paw
Paw with its amazing, handcarved tunnel now part of the C&O Canal
National Park open year 'round for hikers and bikers.
Following the trail east of Berkeley Springs along state
route 9, visitors find Spruce Pine Hollow, a public roadside park. James
Rumsey had a small sawmill and bloomery on the Meadow Branch along the
boundry of today's park. Boards for Washington's summer home in Berkeley
Springs built by Rumsey may have been sawed here. Stone ruins and a flume
remain at the site.
As the route continues east into the other two counties
of the Panhandle, travelers will find homes built by Washington family
members and friends, as well as a memorial to James Rumsey's successful
steamboat trial. The most intimate connection remains Berkeley Springs
where George not only owned land, slept and ate but also bathed, leaving
his ring around the tub in the Berkeley Springs State Park.
For more information on the George Washington Heritage
Trail, call Travel Berkeley Springs at 800-447-8797.
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