Woman's enterprise., 1922-01-13
RISE and FALL Of
GREENWELL SPRINGS

kEENW WELL SrkllVGS
CA paper read at a meeting
of the Historical Society of East and
West Baton Rouge.)
Change, eternal change,
All nature owns thy mystic touch,
But most Of all on man
Workest thou thy miracles
Fifteen miles northeast of this, our
Capital City, as the crow flies, nestled
in the pines, on the bank of the
beautiful river Amite, is what is known
as the famous Greenwell Springs.
How old these springs are, we know
not; it is fair to presume that they
have been there since "the stars sang
out on earth's glad natal morn;' it
is possible that they were used to
slake the thirst and cure the ills Of
our Indian predecessors. In fancy's
eye we may see the dusky Indian maid
drinking of the healthgiving waters
and using it's still surface as mirror
by which to make her toilet. 1t is
evident that Ponce de Leon did not
discover them, else they would have
been named Eureka, and the search
for the fountain of youth would have
been abandoned and old age abolished.
The modern history begins about
| the middle Of the last century-about
1850, as we'll as can be ascertained-
when they were discovered by accident,
as nearly all discoveries have been
Three young men, back on a bright
autumn morning, in search of game
| fish, etc., and armed "cap-a-pie.' u
They took the open road going east
ward. What else they found, we know
not, but toward night they came upor
J farm house in small clearing, anc
nearby, just under the hill, they founc
a spring. They drank the water
. using the "old gourd," (now pros
j, cribed and succeeded by the individual
: drinking cup). They found the wate7
=; good; they drank again and found i
f very good. They then approached
> the farm house, owned by Mr.. Green
we'll, and asked his kind hospitalit,
for the night. He consented to d
the best he could, but told them tha
he had no bed for them, except in tn
corn crib, which was accepted wit
grateful thanks, and they retired, bu
not to sleep. Their experience wa
exciting, and repeated now, is anus
ing. The rats, the weevils, the owl
the watch dog, ETC., made sleep in
possible. They arose early and sougf
n the spring again where they mad
their ablutions and drank the waite
:. They were very thirsty, as they ha
r. a mysterious bottle of somethin
which seemed to create thirst.
If they killed any gale or fish, v
know not. They returked to tow
filled whit the story Of this wonderf
spring-possibly exaggerated. The
wonderful stories about the wat
finally reached the ears of one W.
Pike, a young banker of Baton Roug
who investigated and became the pu
chaser of the farm and spring. T
divided portion nearest the sprir
- into lots and began to improve Il
same by building a summer cottag
At first the sale of lots was slow, b
by judicious advertising, aided by I
epidemic of yellow fever in Ne
~ Orleans and Baton Rouge, in 1858,
~, demand was created and the rush b
~ gan. Lots were bought by people
ID Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and alo1
~ the Mississippi river, in West Bat
a Rouge, Iberville, etc. Cottages ran
10 ing in price from $4,000 to $4,000 we
IA built, a large hotel was erected,
~ store was added to the colony to su
- ply the wants of the people; stree
- we're laid out and the village W
~ lighted-the streets with pine KIN
fires and the houses with tallt
~ candles. By the year 1858, VIII
~ another visit of yellow fever ocurr
- in New Orleans and Baton Rouge a
served to create an exodue to Il
- village, Greenwell Springs was i"
- the map"
~ There was no municipal governmel
lei just nice village Of about one tho,
ho and of the best people, all law-abidi
and bent only on doing right and bel
pleasant and agreeable. Promine
among the improvements were ba
houses in the river below the spri1