National Republican., 1876-07-07
KIRKW0ODs AT BERKLEY.
The Improved Management-Expscted Influx
Of Celebration Of the Fourth-Porte
Crayon's Address, &c,

Crayon's Address, &c.
BERKLEY SPRINGS, w. VA, July 1, 1873.
To the Editor of the National Republican,:
SIR: am sure this is q hot day in Washington
and that If 1 could send you q morsel OF the re
freshing breeze that comes this afternoon sweep
ing through this sequestered valley it would be
more welcome than any words that can be put in
the form of hasty letter. But you are so philan-
thropic as to be glad to know that others are en-
joying themselves, even while you are bound to
the 1xionic wheels of a daily newspaper, and so
am encouraged to say a word Of the delicious COM
fort which some hundred or more guests, with
QUITE sPRINKLING OF wAsHINGToNIANs
among them, are enjoying at this summer resort
which, in years gone by has been in great repute,
and will, believe, under Its present improved
management, grow into new favor.
For two or three years past have seen and
heard compliments of the manner in which this
principal hotel, the PcvIliOn, has been kept, but
this year quite a change has come over TIE spirit
of its dreamy life, and Mr.. A. W. Kirkwood, for
merly so we'll and favorably known in Washing
ton, has taken It in charge, with his two young
sons, (nOt mentioning Uncle john and his
g0ut,) are bent upon contributing every thing in
their power to give il q new reputation by assidu-
ous attentions to the comfort and pleasure of its
guests.
Tomorrow the band will arrive to enliven us
with its strains, and to ma ke the cool and ample
bGllToom a scene of 'reyelry by night for those
who constitute the beauty and the chivalry' of
this resort. The attention of the proprietor,
clerks and servants Is unstinted and the table is
more than good and all that could be asked. 4
large influx Of guests during the present week is
Indicated by the numerous letters being received
making inquiries and engaging rooms. The hotel
contains two hundred fifty rooms, and its appoint
ments are good and being still improved. You
must not think that
THE GIoRIoCS FOURTH
has been forgotten here on this Centennial epoch,
nft1 Er.t In,iv nft hn
at the springs, for from early morning until long
past noon the streets and an adjacent grove have
presented and unusual scene. Though without
loud-mOuthcd cannon to wake the echoes Of these
mountain sides, haven't we fire crackers and the
'Ecrkley band, improvised within week or
two so as TO lie ready for this special occasion?
Hail Columbia" from This same band was the
first sound to greet my ears this morning, in
token of the day we celebrate" and then .'Od
ebration Of the day. Soon crowd on foot ard on
horseback. in mountain wagons and every Kind of
curious vehicle, proceeded to the grove where the
citizens held their celebration.
At eleven o'clock all the guests at the springs
convened in the ballroom, appropriately deco
rated; and listened to an address by Gen. D. II,
Strother, ("Porte Crayon,' which, In well-chosen
language, and in judiciously- elected anecdOte
and Incident, gave succinct but most interesting
history of the settlement and growth of Morgan
county and especially Of these springs located at
the county seat.
A brief but beautiful exordium showed how
natural and proper 1t is for nations we'll as in
dividuaIs, when they have reached certain points
which stand like milestones in their journey, to
take good look in retrospect before girdiDg up
their Oips for the long and arduOus way thai still
lies before them. Among the interesting poinss
in the address were the facts that Washington, as
member Of one Of Lord Fairfax g surveying par
les, visited these springs in Ills, and has lett
q bIiet account Of his visit;
THAT s:sIR JOHNS RUN
the nearest point to Berkley, on the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad, was so named after Sir John
Sinclair. the chief quartermaster of Braddock's $
army, which passed that point on its way to meet
the French, and that IL was at the mouth OF Sr
Johns Run that James Rumsey tried his model
of a steamboat, which Washington saw during
of its experiments in 1854, and aftor seeing it
gave a certificate as to its being new and Won
dGrful invention; but carefully concealing the
fact of steam being the new and powerful agent;
that Rumsey destroyed bis model and went to
England in search Of greater encouragement in
bis experiments, where he died in l7eS after bay-
ing Corresponded on the subject with Robert Full
steamboat, which successfully demonstrated the
art of steam navigation.
We learned from the address that the Indians,
long before the first white man disturbed these
haunts with his "cOurse of empire" resorted to
these warm springs for their medicinal and cura-
I'VE pr0Pefnes even hOse @ iiI triTes rec
BILE, purposes. In October, lI76, the Assembly OF
Virginia passed the act incorporating this town,
so that this Is
BERKLEY's vERITABLE CENTENNIAL YEAR.
At the first sale of lots Washington, Charles Car.
roll and sthers distinguished in colonial annals
became purchasers, doubtless through agents. as
they themselves were then amid buster Lcenes,
and Washington's family resided here during the
summer that followed 17I6.
There was some of Porte Crayons rich and Pc
clliar humor in the address which my pen tails to
catch, and while he mentioned the fact that dur
ing the late war Berkeley wal. the scene Of many
interesting and exciting incidents, and which
am aware no one is more competent to relate than
himself, and to which no one would be more glad
to listen than the writer of this yet he udciously
passed them by rather than reopen any OF the
wounds that time alone can heal.
=As conclude this hasty letter we are having a
shower worthy Of the occasion" and which
hope extends cs far as the capital city to cool its