Fauquier White Sulphur Springs

Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, just west of here, was among the most prominent mineral water resorts in the South before the Civil War. Developed in the 1830s to accommodate hundreds of guests, the resort attracted U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, foreign visitors, and elite families seeking medicinal waters and fashionable society. The Virginia General Assembly met here in 1849. The resort employed free white and African American workers and also relied on enslaved laborers. A Civil War battle in Aug. 1862 left the facilities in ruins. Rebuilt after the war, the resort closed in 1901 when its main hotel burned. Fauquier Springs Country Club opened here in 1957.