PENCE SPRINGS, W.Va. — Historians in the Greenbrier Valley of southern West Virginia are seeking clues to the history of a lesser-known healing spring on the grounds of the famous Pence Springs Hotel, a turn-of-the-20th-century resort now for sale.
William Jones and Steven Trail say the spring is a mystery because little information about it exists, even though the region’s mineral springs were otherwise well documented.
“I’ve read about the spring, but that was 50 years ago,” said Trail, who co-authored “History of the Pence Springs Hotel” in 1983.
“To the best of my recollection, it was a magnesium spring in which some hotel guests would bathe, but that’s as much as I know. I’ve once come across a mineral profile of the spring water, but I’ve seen little else.”
Jones, who lives near the resort, said he’s satisfied that the spring issued forth in a corner of the property near its entrance where a pool enclosure would have been built.
“George Malcolm Kounse, who was 91 when he passed away in 2018, told dad that is where the magnesium spring was located,” Jones said. “George was a lifelong resident of Pence Springs and was a caddie for the first golf course in Pence Springs in the 1903s.”
Jones said the pool was eliminated by a new entrance drive around 1947, when the resort became a women’s prison that operated until 1983. He thinks that spring may still exist in a rocky grotto near the entrance and suspects a concrete trough not far from the site may have been used to water horses near the spring.
Following its most recent use as a private girls’ school, the resort is for sale again, and the excitement of an ownership transfer has rekindled interest in the resort’s history and springs.
Healing spring in the Greenbrier Valley
Mineral springs are of enormous historical importance in the valley, which, in the late 1700s, became one of the most important mineral-spring regions in the U.S. Physicians and entrepreneurs alike promoted the water as a remedy for a variety of ailments, attracting visitors from across the South and Mid-Atlantic.
By the mid-1800s, a network of resorts had developed throughout what is now southeastern West Virginia. Among the best known were the resorts at Pence Springs, White Sulphur Springs, Blue Sulphur Springs, Red Sulphur Springs, Salt Sulphur Springs, and Old Sweet Springs. The Greenbrier, at White Sulphur Springs, remains one of the best-known mineral springs resorts in the U.S.
Guests often spent weeks or even months at the resorts, drinking mineral water, bathing in spring-fed pools, attending social events, and escaping the heat and disease outbreaks that were more common in lowland cities during the summer months.
The arrival of railroads after the Civil War greatly expanded access to the region’s mineral springs. Resort owners invested heavily in grand hotels, bathhouses, landscaped grounds, and recreational amenities to attract wealthy travelers.
Although advances in modern medicine gradually diminished faith in the healing powers of mineral waters during the twentieth century, many of the springs continued to draw visitors and helped establish the Greenbrier Valley’s enduring reputation as one of Appalachia’s premier travel destinations.
Pence Springs and its unique history
Unlike many of the other healing springs in the region, Pence Springs developed in the late 1800s rather than earlier in the century. The arrival of the railroad in 1878 transformed the remote spring into a destination, allowing guests to reach the resort with relative ease.
The grand Pence Springs Hotel became the centerpiece of the resort. Constructed in 1918, the imposing brick structure overlooked expansive grounds that hosted social gatherings, outdoor recreation, and the seasonal rhythms of resort life. Guests came not only for the reputed curative qualities of the waters but also for the mountain climate, elegant accommodations, and opportunities to mingle with visitors from throughout the region.
The hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. In 1986, the property was purchased by Ashby Berkley, who renovated the hotel and reopened it for guests. He and his sister, Rosa Lee Miller, sold the property in 2001. Berkley reclaimed it in 2003 and briefly operated it as an inn again.
Pence Springs for sale by Foxfire Realty
The 140-acre hotel property is now being sold by Foxfire Realty, a Lewisburg-based brokerage renowned for marketing historic real estate. According to Foxfire agent Randy S. Burdette, the property today is suitable for hospitality, retreat centers, schools, boutique hotels, recovery facilities, and corporate retreats and includes a 25,000-square-foot historic hotel, ballroom, commercial kitchen, gymnasium, educational buildings, mountain views, forest acreage, trails, and proximity to the Greenbrier, Bluestone, and New rivers.
Recent renovations, historic tax credit potential, and the property’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places offer new owners a rare opportunity to acquire a large historic resort complex with multiple future uses while capitalizing on the enduring appeal of one of West Virginia’s best-known mineral-spring destinations. Find out more about the resort: Pence Springs Resort.