Berkeley Springs State Park
downtown Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
Located in the heart of downtown and main street Berkeley Springs, West Virginia is a magnificent state park based on the town’s historic mineral spa. Since pre-contact, the waters were visited for their magical, medicinal, and restorative powers. Known to cure and heal digestive disorders, stress, skin disorders, and depression. After contact and colonization of the Americas, they were popular because George Washington spent five weeks bathing in them.
It is the only state-run spa in the United States and operates under the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Originally the site of a 1750’s health resort, they were taken over by Lord Fairfax in 1776, giving birth to the Roman bathhouses. The spring is a cool one, at a constant temperature of 74.3 degrees, originating from the Oriskany Ridgeley sandstone of Warm Springs Ridge flowing with significant amounts of sulfates, nitrates, and carbonates, especially magnesium carbonates upwards of 2,000 US gallons (2,800 to 7,600 L) per minute. Common for bathers to come and visit often as well as visitors filling up their water containers.
