George Washington's Bathtub Celebration
March 16-18, 2007

Mini Washington Heritage Trail Tour

ð Fairfax and Mercer Streets. When a town was laid out around the warm springs in 1776 and named Bath, General George Washington purchased the two lots on this corner. He contracted with steamboat inventor James Rumsey to build him a summer house. The two buildings Rumsey completed were reportedly shoddy. Washington never stayed there.

ð Berkeley Springs State Park. Washington first visited the warm springs at the west side of the park in 1748 as a 16-year-old surveyor. He returned two years later with his brother to take the waters. This was the first of more than a half dozen family trips to the springs. When the Town of Bath was established in 1776 -- with George's brother Samuel as one of the trustees -- the springs and surrounding park area were designated for public use.

ð The Throgmorton Inn, at the Sign of the Liberty Pole and Flag, was owned in 1784 by a Washington relation (Mrs. Throgmorton) and inventor James Rumsey. Washington stayed there, saw Rumsey's boat trials and gave him a certificate supporting his invention. Today, it's a vacant lot just south of The Country Inn on Washington Street.

ð Congress and Wilkes Streets. Washington also stayed in this building when it was a tavern. From 1792 to 1814 it was called At the Sign of George Washington. Today it is the law office of Richard Gay.

ð Panorama Overlook. A daily ride from town to Prospect Peak (above today's overlook) was a Washington favorite during his visits to Bath. The view remains the same: the mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia (now West Virginia) and the joining of the Cacapon and Potomac rivers. The tiny hamlet of Great Cacapon is visible upstream. Washington highly valued the 240 acres he owned a few miles further west along the Potomac. 3 miles west of Berkeley Springs on SR9.

ð About the bathtub. The spring that empties in this area was one used for bathing during George Washington's early visits. The first bath house was built on the site of today's Roman Bath House in 1784.