Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-06-20
49, coRREspoNpRNoK
sun.uaer Resorts In Virginaa---Eeausy Of
she seenery, &c,

g Is my design to give herein some observations
ia 8 recent passage from my New Hampshire home
to these celebrated springs
Imprimis, must admit that there was q time in
my lfe-preyious to ten consecutive voyages along
the Pacific boundary Of our Continent where
gazed upon those great western mountain ranges
when it seemed to my mind there could be no such
scenery Of mountains as among my own Granite
Hills especially in the regions Of the Coos, where
loom up in bleak and hoary majesty into those
Northern skies the glorious and sublime peaks Of
the White Mountains.
First in eublirnity and grandeur Of form and fig
ure, and in imposing dignity Of mien and presence
like the great and GOd-ike VirgianRn, whose name
crowns with an immortal halo its grand and e0nse-
Grated summit, stands Mo1ua Washington. Next,
ncolossal array around their imperial Chief typical
Of that steady, strong united and answering sup
port accorded to the great Commander in Halls Of
Independence and on battle fields by those Statesmen
and warriors there stand ADAMS, JEFFERSON, MoNEoE
and LAFAYETTE The first the truculent, high tenn
psred and sometimes wrcngheaded, buthonest, bold,
unfinching, powerful patriot aud statesman of the
old Bay State The next two ilustrious sons of that
Parent Of Presidents and statesmen and ever firm |
in her support Of the Constitution and the Union
Those names constitute glorious triuDe, and with
the noble and revered foreigner, whose memory is
enshrined in every American heart, they form
renowned and cherished galaxy, kept in familiar
and hallowed remembrance by their transfer to
those stately Granite peaks.
But the transit of the Isthmus Of Darien by rail
car near the very mountain whence DEBALBoA in the
sixteenth century, made the discovery of the meas
ureess Pacific sea, and near and distant views of
the grand Mexican ranges at Acapulco, Manzevilo
and Mazatlan, and along our entire Western limits
have weakened the pride of my conceit
For in the presence of those vast, infinite noun
tains-those giant members Of the Northern Cordll-
leras-Our little White and Green rows Of noun
tans shrink into mole hills and but ripples and
undulations upon the earth's surface.
And when. the other day, my eyes beheld distant
views Of the great Blue Ridge the lofty and magni-
feent chain which divides this State whose peaks
Of Otter, in Southern Virginia, have by actual
measurement, wrested the palm of altitude from
our Northern Hills; between whose long line of
noble peaks and the grand Allegheny range lies
spread out before an admiring gaze the justly cee-
brated VALLEY Of Virginia" confess to feeling,
that there was still something for me to outside
my native mountains.
and as the labOring ascending train winds in
among those noble SUBMITS, the grandeur of the
view is certainly most imposing. Mountain after
mountain blue as the vault of Heaven, and between,
embosomed like tropical islands in mid ocean, are
farms and hamlets, which cannot but be abOdes Of
happiness and plenty.
/ Those North American Andes mentioned in pre-
vious paragraph, are higher and vaster mountains.
But their rugged sleeps inaccessible to the foot
| of man. broken into deep ravines and gorges, and
covered with the consuming lava, or a stunted,
| sicEly growth of scrubby trees. Those soaring
heights look towering and grand in their vast sublime
| solitude and have faDcied when borne past them
two hundred miles away at sea, on looking up
towards their cloud capped-peak, from near the
shores that might, if standing IN their midst, al
most hear, amid their awful hushed stiffness, the
| great globe itself turn upon its axis.
ButI would rather gaze upon these glorious peaks
! of the Blue Ridge, whose sides are covered with
vast and beautiful forests, whence are hewn the
great masts for our SHIPS and the helve for the
woodmaa's axe whose friendly forms shield and
protect from northern blasts the jewellers in those
rich vallies and plains and when all else fails, will
form barrier to the raging tide of fanateism and
bigotry, which has so long surged against, and now
threatens to submerge, this fair and sunny land.
The rocky bed of the James river, along whose
wild banks we passed, was boiling and foaming with
the mad rush of its turbid mountain waters for
the majestic storm clouds which Swallowed our path
way across the Blue Rid genOw scattering their trea
sures of rain and hail far away the great plains
hundreds of feet below and anon wheeling in then
course, sweeping up the mountain sides, and dash
ing their crystaled drops evanescent and Aeetng
the dew, in pattering showers upon those moving
roofs and windows did not pass over the present line
of travel without disbursng literally from their
charged reservoirs.
But, please consider your correspondent arrived
at the White Sulpher.
The visitor to this noted watering place-if i'm
bued with any love for the beautiful in NATURES
impressed with the varied beauties and attractions
of the surroundings The eminence one-half mile
east, is densely covered with the monarch oak
reigning regal splendor, with almost undisputeC
sway. and gorgeous in his summer robes of bright
est green. Stripes or veins of black some running
horizontally and others in an oblque direction from
to apex conspicuous along the entire length
of this detached and strayed member of the grea
range. These singular and rare interpretations o
lines or channels of black in an otherwise UNMARRIED
foliage of oak are caused by ridges swells upor
the surface of the mountain, on which the growth
is the cloud seeking pine, though here the tree is
less towering in its ambition. And the effect of those
dark and sombre trees in q sea of green oaks is in
describably beautiful But it is such weird group
ing of forest drapery of opposite colOrs, that you
need the touches of master hand to enable you tC
form conception of this strange but charming
mountain view. 1.-THE inducements for resort to these
mountain springs from far and near, regard al
many and various Like all institutions of the kind
these claim to be grand curative for the complex
legacy of ills bequeathed to mankind by Pandora:
last viii and testament. My own experience and
observation have been limited but 1 am confident
that in humors and cutaneous diseases in rheumatic
and neuralgia affections, and purifier and cor
receive of the vital currents, the specific of these
highly charged suphuric waters. is strongly RENE
dial But, were there no virtue in these celebrated
mineral springs there is enough in the scenery Of
those great southern mountain ranges in their invig
Grating and energsing air to attract hither the
ervated and depressed invalid and the man of leisure
seeking new pleasures AID scenes alike from the
pine clad plains that skirt the Penobscot and Ken
nebec and the torpid and sultry valleys of the Rio
Grande-frOm the prairies of the great west and
the bayOus and torrid heats of the farthest south
And the ponderOus registers of past years in the
Office of the great hotel at this place, with their
pleted pages of thousands on thousands of arrivals
from every State in the Union, but especially from
the sunny south, whose planters and professional
men, whose politicians and statesmen, whose high
officials and thriving men of trade, whose refined
and beautiful women perform their annual pilgrim
up these great mountain slopes and thrOng these
valleys-attest the fact, that the White Sulphur
Springs of the Old Dominion, have attained celeb
rity and achieved success, second to no kindred
institution on this continent. TRENACAN.
Magazines and Newspapers.