BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — A 24.5% income increase over eight consecutive quarters is helping a historic West Virginia spa town bring its 250th-anniversary tourism campaign to Philadelphia during the nation’s own 250th year.
Travel Berkeley Springs has launched a $36,000 campaign that will put 10 wrapped rideshare vehicles on Philadelphia streets for 12 weeks, according to Dusty Martin, executive director of the Morgan County tourism organization.
The W.Va. Department of Tourism is sharing the cost through its cooperative advertising program, with Travel Berkeley Springs and the state each contributing $18,000, Martin said.
The campaign also includes targeted digital advertising to reach people more likely to encounter the vehicles, according to Martin.
“We saw a 24.5% increase in income during those eight quarters,” Martin said. “We reinvested that money into this powerful campaign in Philadelphia.”
Berkeley Springs and the nation share a 1776 anniversary
The timing gives Travel Berkeley Springs an unusual historical theme for its out-of-state campaign.
Berkeley Springs is the commonly used name for the “Town of Bath,” formally established by the Virginia legislature on Dec. 6, 1776, five months after the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia.
The mineral springs had drawn visitors long before the town existed. George Washington first visited the springs in 1748, at age 16, while working as a surveyor for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Washington returned repeatedly in subsequent decades and acquired property in Bath after the town was established.
Founders Online, a project of the National Archives, confirms that the settlement at Warm Springs was formally established as Bath in 1776 and continued to be known by names including Warm Springs and Berkeley Springs.
The town’s connection to prominent Revolutionary-era figures extended beyond Washington. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a Maryland signer of the Declaration of Independence, was among the early visitors associated with the springs.
That overlapping history became the basis for Travel Berkeley Springs’ 2026 campaign.
“We wanted to make a big impact this year as the Town of Bath shares such an important birthday as the nation,” Martin said.
“While America was being founded in Philadelphia by people like George Washington and Charles Carroll, those same colonial leaders were founding America’s First Spa Town right here in Berkeley Springs.”
The Town of Bath describes itself as “America’s First Spa Town,” a designation also recognized in a 2026 proclamation from West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
Campaign puts Berkeley Springs on Philadelphia streets
The 10 vehicles carry images promoting Berkeley Springs and the slogan “Historic Roots, Healing Waters,” along with branding for Travel Berkeley Springs and West Virginia Tourism.
Photographs from the tourism organization show the vehicles operating at prominent locations in central Philadelphia, including Independence Hall, Philadelphia City Hall, and LOVE Park.
The $36,000 campaign will run for 12 weeks, Martin said.
In addition to the vehicle wraps, the campaign uses cellphone-based audience data for digital advertising aimed at people likely to have seen the vehicles.
According to Martin, the strategy is designed to reinforce the physical advertising with subsequent digital exposure.
Philadelphia was selected as a market where the organization believes Berkeley Springs can compete for short leisure trips.
“We want people to see Berkeley Springs not just as a place they’ve heard about, but as a place they can realistically escape to for a weekend,” Martin said.
“Thanks to West Virginia Tourism’s cooperative advertising campaign, we have the opportunity to tell that story on a much larger scale.”
Tourism income increased 24.5% over eight quarters
The Philadelphia campaign follows eight consecutive quarters of increased income for Travel Berkeley Springs, according to Martin.
Over the eight-quarter period, the organization’s income increased by 24.5%, he said.
Martin said the organization has reinvested the additional funding in tourism promotion, including increased marketing expenditures in the quarters preceding the Philadelphia campaign.
The $36,000 Philadelphia investment represents the latest expansion of that strategy.
Travel Berkeley Springs began concentrating its 2026 marketing around the shared 250th anniversaries in April. The organization said the effort has earned coverage in Islands Magazine, Baltimore Magazine, PhillyBite Magazine, and West Virginia Explorer Magazine.
An America 250-focused segment on Berkeley Springs aired July 3 during prime time on NBC4 Washington’s “Through the Marble.”
The Philadelphia campaign is intended to extend that exposure into a metropolitan market while national attention is focused on the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Wrapped vehicles are expected to circulate during several Philadelphia-area events over the 12-week campaign, including America 250 activities around Independence Hall and the Doylestown Arts Festival.