The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-05-12

Especial Correspondence OF The Times Dspatchl
4 WASHINGTON. May li.-Ihe meeting
of North and South in the vacation
seasons is probably doing as much az
vcstges Of differences between the
sections In the present rcjuvenation
of the old State OF Virginia, which Is
being watched with especial Interest
at the seat of governmcnt9ln the DIS
trict OF Columbia, nothing perhaps Is
more remarkable than the nationaliza-
ton Of the whole district OF world ia
nous springs, which. within a very few
years, from being resort mostly OF
well-to-do Southerners In tho summer
months when escape from the terrific
heat of the cities in the low and sandy
Atlantic and Cult coastal plain Is lnl-
perative. has now become playground
OF the whole country, winter and sum
mer.
That. of course, is only a part Of the
present revival OF Interest in the Old
Dominion. Everywhere there Is an
awakening, some OF 1t due to the
jamestown Exposition, much more to
the general picturesque and historical
interests Of the section. Across the
Potomac from washington suburban
real estate is in process of develop
ment. Thomas +. Ryan has just pur-
chased Bellevue, ono OF the most fa-
nous Of Virginia estates. Jefferson
NJ Levy owns Monticello. once Thomas
Jefferson's home Many wealthy North
crners have purchased homes in the
Oldest of American commemorative.
| For those who do not care to buy
places. tho nttractiveness of the his
toric Dominion increases year by year..
In the autumn, fall and spring months
society ut all the leading centres Of
population DEGREES that whoever
| through too intense living runs the
risk Of getting into hot water with
his constitution will not unwisely take
| tho rest and water cure In tho Vlr-
gina mountains, while the many old
| Southern families who still go to the
springs rellgiOusly In summer because
grandparents and great-grnndparents
were espouscd there. now find that not
| a few Northerners have discovered tho
warm weather charm of the mountains
and that gathering IN August on the
hotel piazzas at Hot Springs Is apt to
DO more truly representative of the
whole country than n similar gather
ling at Lenox or Bar Hnrbor.
The old life, Of course, of tho various
and others-has been materially
changed. in summer as we'll as at other
times of the year. It used to be very
much Of family affair. Practically
everybody In the States south or Mason
and Dixon's line knew everybody else,
and the summer outing In the cool Vtr-
ginia valleys helped to keep tho whole
South united. From shortly after tho
season ofl772. when the wife Of q we'll
4 to-do Virginia planter was brought
/ forty miles over the mountains to be
bathod in mineral waters heated by hot
stones and thus to loso an ailment
(which had baffled the medical skill OF
the time, the annual jaunt to the
4 Springs was reckoned conventional
part Of the Southerner's year.
l Among the earliest to be developed
|of tho many resorts OF the region werc
tho Warm Sulphur Springs. situated
five miles north of the Homestead
that George WashlngtoiC TRAVELLING
banks of tho Potomac, campcd For SIN
weeks by those springs, the virtue OF
A which had already been extolled by the
indians, Again Thomas Jefferson Wis
litcd the place in 1878. An ancient
/ hotel register contains the signatures
of Il largo number OF notables who
foound that bathing IN tho tepid water
gave appetite for cooking or the "rea
old Virginia style.
Not that the accommodations in thu
early decades Of the nineteenth cen.
tury were exactly what would nova
oven in the Warm SPRINGS valley Were
worry primitive until the enterprise o
! lup.to- date hotel men recently estab
Ilished luxurious bathing. pools, SUI
lparlors, telephone connection with tn
entire United states and special stool
market teegraphIcy connection, am
similar modern conyenlences Th
Ioriginal layout at each OF the dozen o
more Virginia springs consisted of
rude frame hotel pnd dance hall. sur
(which were. alsniHed with the name .
cottages The table set at thrse hos
telries was not always impeccahle, de
/ spite general adfnisslon that nowher
bread so readily fassmIlated The die
lat some of the rfsoFts Was, indeed. FIRE