Taking the Waters by Ann H. Gabhart

When I began thinking about a Kentucky setting and interesting background history for my story, The Pursuit of Elena Bradford, I decided to let my characters “take the waters” at one of the over seventy mineral springs health resorts in Kentucky in the 1800s. I settled on Graham Springs because of its national reputation at the time as the Saratoga of the West. The resort was known for the beauty of its grounds, the variety of entertainments, the healing powers of its spring waters, and its owner, Christopher Columbus Graham, known nationally for his extraordinary life and accomplishments. 

The resort had two springs bubbling up from the ground that were considered good for the bowels, kidneys, liver, digestion, appetite, and skin, as well as being a laxative and sedative. Those who came to take the waters for their health were looking for cures for indigestion, urinary disorders, skin diseases, dropsy [edema], rheumatism, and bone and joint inflammations. 

The waters were not only touted for health cures but were also thought to improve a person’s mood and strengthen the sick. That gave my character, Andrew, who suffered from melancholy due to a broken heart, a reason to be there. 

Another thing mentioned was a cure for “female weakness.” No doubt that was a common problem at the time due to fashions that dictated a very tiny waist for a lady. Women trying to have “wasp” waists, as they were called, sometimes suffered broken ribs. No wonder, fainting couches were a common piece of furniture. 

Since the waters were both a laxative and a sedative, ladies may have used it to keep from gaining weight and perhaps to mask the pain of their stays. I feel sure that if the ladies loosened their corset stays and stopped worrying about having impossibly slim waists, that might have done more for that “female weakness” than the spring waters. So, of course, Elena, in my story, hated the restricting corsets but bent to fashion demands when wearing the beautiful ballgowns for the evening entertainments.

The patrons of the resorts had various ways to “take the waters.” Treatments included douches, tub baths, steam baths, enclosed immersion pools, and drinking the spring water. Some doctors suggested up to twenty glasses a day while others argued for a more moderate amount of the healing waters.

The various springs contained different minerals, the most common being salt, sulfurs, chalybeate (iron salts), vitriol, alum, copperas, iodide, and Epsom. Any of those could give the water an unusual taste. The spring water at Graham Springs was described by writer Timothy Flint in his 1827 book, Geography and History of the Western Country, as having “a sweetish and styptic taste. It contains sulphate of magnesia and probably a slight impregnation of arsenic.” 

My grandfather’s farm had a well fed by a sulfur spring. Concrete covered its top, and the water was drawn up with an iron handpump that was still in working order when I was a child. My aunt would sometimes pump out some water and offer me a taste, but the rotten egg scent was enough to make me turn my nose, not up, but away. Quickly. I think they did use the water for the stock during dry times.

When the springs resorts were popular, perhaps those who went to “take the waters” believed medicine should have a vile taste. The taste didn’t appear to bother a young woman during a stay at a competing resort, Blue Licks, when she wrote her father about her mornings. “Margaret and I are getting the full benefit of the water. We rise a little after four o’clock and walk two miles drinking the water both going and returning; besides taking it occasionally through the day.” (Wickliffe-Preston Papers)

With so many springs resorts in the state, the competition for guests was highly competitive with promotional tracts and advertisements which included testimonials of people miraculously made well by drinking or bathing in the waters. That fact worked well for my story since my character, Kirby, an artist, hoped to make money illustrating some of those promotions. 

However, what was more of an attraction even than the spring waters was the social interaction, the beautiful grounds, and the entertainments the resorts provided. Since staying at these resorts wasn’t cheap, they attracted a wealthy clientele where business deals were struck and as I suggest in my book, a cure for spinsterhood could also be found. The resorts were ripe for romance with the continuous music and the fancy balls. The ladies dressed in their loveliest gowns, and the men wooed those ladies by whirling them around the dance floor.

The last stanza of a song written in 1869 at Highgate Springs, Vermont, captured well the life at these resorts. 

“In short–as it goes in the world–

They eat, and they drink, and they sleep; 

They talk, and they walk, and they woo; 

They sigh, and they ride, and they dance; 

They pray, and they play, and they pay,

 And that’s what they do at the Springs.”

While so doing, some found various types of healing by “taking the waters.” My characters in The Pursuit of Elena Bradford search for whatever healing they need as they chase after their dreams.

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The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

Nothing would please her family more than her securing an admirable match, but true love and loyalty are harder to come by than she imagined.

At twenty-two, Elena Bradford has never met a man who made her consider marriage. But when her father dies and leaves the family deeply in debt, Elena becomes their only hope. Her mother uses their last funds to take Elena and her younger sister to Graham Springs, Kentucky, where people find healing by drinking the mineral spring water and healthy recreation through the many daily activities–including dances almost every evening.

As her mother schemes to find Elena a wealthy husband, Elena finds herself drawn to two men her mother would never consider. Charming artist Kirby Frazier spends his days drawing and painting the guests, but his real mission is to find a wealthy bride to finance his dream to go west. Melancholy Andrew Harper has come to Graham Springs in need of healing after a broken heart.

When a beautiful young lady shows up at the Springs with no chaperone and a story that seems suspicious, nearly everyone is charmed and intrigued. But when an unexpected tragedy occurs, Elena, Kirby, and Andrew will all be faced with decisions of life, love, and loyalty.

Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of many novels, including The Song of Sourwood Mountain, In the Shadow of the River, When the Meadow Blooms, Along a Storied Trail, An Appalachian Summer, River to Redemption, These Healing Hills, and Angel Sister. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm’s fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. Learn more at AnnHGabhart.com.

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Category: On Writing