Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-07-26
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.
The White Sulphur has been for
the better part of a century, as ev-
erybody knows, the typical southern
resort, the rendezvous of all that
was most characteristic in the socie-
ty of the whole south, the meetlng-
place of it's politicians, the haunt of
its bellies, the arena of gayety, in
trigue and fashion. If tradition is
to be believed, here in years gone by
were concocted the measures that /
were subsequently deployed for the |
government of the country at Wash
ington, here historic matches were
made, here beauty had triumphs that
were the talk of generation, here
hearts were broken at ball and
mended in lovers walk, and here
fortunes were nightly lost and won.
1t must have been in its material
conditions primitive place in the
days of its greatest fame. Visitors
came to it in their carriages and un-
wieldly four-horse chariots, attended
by troops of servants, making slow
but most enjoyable pilgrimages over
the mountain roads. journeys that
lasted a week or fortnight, and
were every day enlivened by jovial
adventure. They came for the sea-
son. They were all of one social or
der, and needed no introduction
those from Virginia were all related
to each other, and though life there
was somewhat in the nature of pic
mic, it had Its very well defined and
ceremonious code of etiquette. In
the memory of its old habitues it was
at once the freest and the most aris-
tocratc assembly in the world. The
hotel was small and its arrangements
primitive good many of the visit
ors had their own cottages, and the
rows of these cheap structures took
their names from their occupants.
The southern presidents, the senators
and statesmen, the rich planters, liv-
ed in cottages which still have his
tolic interest in their memory. But
cottage life was never the exclusive
affair that it is elsewhere the socie-
ty was one body, and the hotel was
the center.
Time has changed the White Sui
| phur; doubtless in its physical as
pect it never was so beautiful and
attractive as it is to-day, but all the
modern improvements have not de
stroyed the character of the resort.
which possesses great many of it's
primitive and old-time peculiarities.
Briefly, the White is in an elevat-
ed and charming mountain region, so
cool, in fact, especially at night,
that the "season' is practically linn
tied to July and August, although I
am not sure but quiet person, who
likes invigorating air, and has no
daughters to marry off, would find it
equally attractive in September and
| October, when the autumn foliage is
in its glory. In green rolling in
terval, planted with noble trees and
fianked by moderate hills, stands the
vast white caravansary, having wide
galleries and big pillars running
round three sides. The front and
two sides are elevated, the galleries
being reached by flights of steps,
and affordlng room underneath for
the large billiard and bar rooms.
From the hotel the ground slopes
down to the spring, which is sur
mounted by round canopy on white
columns, and below is an opening
across the stream to the race-track,
the servants quarters, and fine
view of receding hills. Three sides
of this charming park are enclosed
by the cottages and cabins, which
back against the hills, and are more
or less emhowered in trees. Most
of these cottages are built in blocks
and rows, some single rooms, others
large enough to accommodate a fam
lily, but all reached by flights of
steps, all with verandas, and most of
them connected by galleries. Occa-
sionally the forest trees have been
left, and the galleries built around
them. Included in the premises are
two churches, gambling house, a
couple of country stores and post
office. There are none of the shops
common at watering places for the
sale of fancy articles, and, strange
to say, flowers are not Systematically
cultivated, and very few are ever to
be had. The hotel has a vast din.
ing-room. besides the minor eating
rooms for children and nurses, a
arge ballroom, and drawing-room
Of imposing dimensions. Hotel and
cottages together, it is said, can
lodge fifteen hundred guests. The
natural beauty of the place is very
great, and fortunately there is not
much smart and fantastic architec-
tnre to interfere with it.-HdTper's s
Magazine.
THE TWO SANS.
IL L. L.