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Shannondale Springs Shannondale Springs By William D. Theriault Like its competitors, Shannondale owed its patronage as much to its image and atmosphere as to the efficacy of its The Shannondale Springs resort, waters. Its fate depended as much on the located in Jefferson County, was one of owners' economic and political savvy as many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century on the staff's ability to stamp out a stray enterprises developed ostensibly to profit spark or sidestep the inevitable floods. from the curative powers of mineral This study explores the ownership, springs.1 The springs construction, and region ran the entire renovation of length of the Shannondale Springs Appalachian Chain and the factors from New York to contributing to its Alabama, with most growth, decline, and of the resorts being demise. located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of The site now known Virginia and along as Shannondale the Alleghenies in Springs was part of a West Virginia. much larger twenty- Springs varied in both nine thousand-acre temperature and tract called mineral content and "Shannandale" specific types were acquired in January thought to combat 1740 by William specific ills. Fairfax, nephew and Mineral springs agent of Thomas, began to gain Poster dated 1856 Lord Fairfax. In popularity in Virginia contemporary terms, during the mid-eighteenth century and Shannondale stretched along the continued to grow and prosper until the Shenandoah River from Castleman's Civil War. They began to prosper once Ferry in Clarke County, Virginia, to more at the end of the nineteenth century Harpers Ferry in present-day Jefferson and then declined again after World War County, West Virginia. William Fairfax I. Established in the early 1820s, the conveyed the whole estate to his son Shannondale Springs resort sought the George William on October 20, 1754. prominence and prosperity achieved at George in turn bequeathed the property other spas, such as the one at nearby and other substantial holdings to his Bath, present-day Berkeley Springs.2 nephew Ferdinando Fairfax in 1787.3 Although its fate often resembled that of many other spas in the region, a study of Ferdinando Fairfax (1769-1820), the Shannondale Springs sheds light on third son of the Reverend Bryan Fairfax, important social, economic, and political was just eighteen years old when he changes that occurred in the Eastern inherited the Shannondale tract as well Panhandle of West Virginia during the as Piedmont plantation and the Belvoir period. estate in Fairfax County, Virginia. Both 1 Shannondale Springs his uncle and father were good friends of his own furnace or forge at Shannondale George Washington, who had stood at this time. Nevertheless, he appears to godfather to Ferdinando.4 have been moving in this direction; Details of Fairfax's use of the property between 1809 and 1811 he purchased the before 1800 are sketchy, although he did furnace bellows, various pieces of erect a residence on it called "Shannon equipment, and available cast and Hall" across the Shenandoah River from wrought iron of the defunct Keep Triste the springs.5 By the start of the new Furnace from the armory.8 In 1811 century, Fairfax was one of the richest Fairfax sold a 1,395.5-acre segment of and most prosperous residents of the the Shannondale tract to the United area. He was one of the original trustees States government. The land was on the of the Charlestown Academy (founded east side of the Shenandoah River, in 1797), the largest slaveholder in the beginning at a point below Harpers Ferry area, and one of the original members of and running up the river. The following the Jefferson County Court in 1801. He year, he advertised for an individual to owned or leased several properties in build a flour warehouse on the Potomac Charlestown, was a justice of the peace River just below Harpers Ferry and very during this period, and played a major near Digg's Island, and he mortgaged role in the design and construction of the part of his Piedmont estate in Loudoun original Charlestown jail (1802) and County to Elijah Chamberlain. In 1813 Market House (1806).6 he purchased the 196-acre farm in Fairfax's attempts to develop the Harpers Ferry that included the Lee- commercial potential of his Shannondale Longworth House. The land was leased property appear to have begun in earnest by the United States government. That by 1808, when he gave notice of his same year Fairfax mortgaged his intent to apply to the February term of Shannon Hill tract to Charles Gibbs.9 the Jefferson County Court to establish a All of these events point to Fairfax's ferry across the Shenandoah River from attempts to find a market for his own his land to the public road opposite goods, certainly iron ore and possibly Shannon Hill.7 The Shannondale Ferry wheat or flour, at Harpers Ferry. Lacking was probably established in spring 1809. the capital to finance an iron furnace at Since the road to the ferry landing went Shannondale, Fairfax advertised for past the springs, this resource was partners in an 1815 prospectus published known, at least locally, by this period. in Washington, DC. His efforts to find However, no evidence has been found financial backing for the Shannondale thus far to indicate that the medicinal Iron Estate were unsuccessful. Except properties of the waters had been for a sawmill and some scattered tenant recognized. farms, Fairfax's Shannondale property, By 1809 Fairfax had extracted iron ore including the springs, seems to have samples from five sites on his property undergone relatively little development and sent them to several ironmasters for by 1815.10 conversion into bar iron and then to By 1814 Fairfax's financial empire was James Stubblefield at the Harpers Ferry unraveling. Mortgages made during the Armory to determine their suitability in last decade had come due, and he was the manufacture of firearms. These obliged to auction the ten thousand-acre activities suggest Fairfax did not have Shannondale Iron Mine tract and his 2 Shannondale Springs Short Hill property in Loudoun County to pay his debts." Even if Fairfax had known of Shannondale Springs' medicinal properties, he lacked the funds to develop a spa. In the context of all the previously mentioned financial activities, Ferdinando Fairfax "of the city of Washington" sold Thomas Griggs Jr. and Benjamin Beeler an undivided two- thirds of the land containing Shannondale Springs in November 1819. The property was described as being "opposite the Shannon Hill tract, containing by estimation about sixty acres more or less and being commonly called the Horse Shoe Tract. ." On July 1 of the following year, Fairfax sold Griggs his remaining one-third interest in the Horse Shoe Tract to secure payment for a debt. Ferdinando Fairfax, age fifty-two, died at his residence in Fairfax County, Virginia, on September 24, 1820.12 3 Shannondale Springs resort's initial success. After getting off The First Era to a good start in the early 1820s, the resort fell on hard times, lasting perhaps Shannondale Springs was not used for until the late 1830s. Until the arrival of commercial purposes until after Beeler the railroads and the Chesapeake and and Griggs had acquired two-thirds Ohio (C&O) Canal, access to the resort interest in the property. Even then, they from Washington, Richmond, or may not have recognized the springs' full Baltimore was difficult. The reputation potential. In 1821 the owners had the of the resort also appears to have water analyzed by a Dr. DeButts, who suffered during this period. Samuel pronounced it comparable to that found Kercheval noted that, when it first in the best spas in Europe.13 opened, "A few extraordinary cures were After Beeler and Griggs purchased the effected by the use of the water, of property, the winter weather would have obstinate scorbutic complaints, and it prevented work from commencing until suddenly acquired a high reputation." the following spring. There are Writing in 1838 John S. Gallaher indications that some facilities were observed, "After passing through various available by the summer of that year; vicissitudes, and encountering many Rosalie Stier Calvert reported visiting prejudices, as well as no small share of the springs on July 15, 1820. Thus, the obloquy, the most impartial, as also opening of the Shannondale Springs competent judges, have at length resort can be pinpointed with some stamped upon these waters that character confidence to the summer of 1820.14 to which they were early entitled, and During the construction of the which gives them a just claim to rank "houses" at Shannondale Springs, Beeler with the most celebrated mineral waters accumulated debts that forced him to of this country." Another writer recalled, mortgage his share in the sixty-acre "The few bilious cases that occurred parcel, the ferry, the mineral waters, and here in the summer of 1822,—a season the houses he had already erected. well remembered of general bilious Several other transactions took place in sickness throughout the country,—has August and September 1821, with James unfortunately but unfairly been L. Ranson, Thomas Brown, Samuel W. remembered to have occurred here, Lackland, and Thomas Griggs Jr. when forgotten as having happened at emerging as the new owners. The four other places." Another visitor to the men then entered into an agreement springs writing in 1838 believed which indicates Griggs erected a disagreements among the original "boarding house" (i.e., hotel) in the owners had led to the resort's being only summer of 1821, along with several partially completed and the original other structures (baths or bathhouses) buildings had deteriorated to the point where no guests could be which augmented the houses constructed 16 by Beeler the previous year.15 accommodated.
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