There’s a kind of eerie beauty about abandoned places. Looking at the remains of old buildings slowly returning to nature, you can imagine what life was like there in brighter times. West Virginia was once a top destination for people seeking healing and relaxation in its mineral springs.
These old spa towns in West Virginia will haunt you with the ghosts of what used to be. These locations are now privately owned, but these photos will give you a glimpse of the past.
- Red Sulphur Springs
Wikimedia Commons/Edward Beyer
Wikimedia Commons/Historic American Buildings Survey This was a once popular resort with a hotel that could host 350 guests, and additional cottages. It suffered during the Civil War and never fully recovered. All the buildings were demolished, and today only some concrete foundations remain.
- Blue Sulphur Springs
Wikimedia Commons/Edward Beyer
Wikimedia Commons/Shawn Ullerup The pavilion here is the only Greek Revival style resort pavilion left in West Virginia. The original Blue Sulphur Springs resort included, along with the Pavilion, a three-story hotel with 200 rooms and a bathhouse. The resort buildings were used as a camp and hospital by both sides in the Civil War. In 1864, the Union Army burned the resort to keep it from the Confederate Army. Only the Pavilion survived the fire. The pavilion is now being restored by the Greenbrier Historical Society.
- Sweet Springs
Wikimedia Commons/Historic American Buildings Survey
Wikimedia Commons/Brian M. Powell There was a town was planned around this spa, but it never came into being beyond the spa, a courthouse, and a jail. Today it exists as the unincorporated community of Sweet Springs in Monroe County. The luxurious hotel was never popular due to the remote location. For a time it served as a nursing home, but it was abandoned once again. However, it is now being restored by the Sweet Springs Resort Park Foundation.
- Salt Sulphur Springs
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, WVA,32-SALSU,1B-1 Salt Sulphur Springs may be the best preserved of the abandoned spa towns, with a historic district that includes seven contributing buildings, three contributing sites, and two contributing structures related to the Old Salt Sulphur Springs Resort or “Old Salt.” This was the Episcopal Chapel. It’s located in Monroe County.
To see more remnants of West Virginia places, try taking this ghost town road trip.
Wikimedia Commons/Edward Beyer
Wikimedia Commons/Historic American Buildings Survey
This was a once popular resort with a hotel that could host 350 guests, and additional cottages. It suffered during the Civil War and never fully recovered. All the buildings were demolished, and today only some concrete foundations remain.
Wikimedia Commons/Shawn Ullerup
The pavilion here is the only Greek Revival style resort pavilion left in West Virginia. The original Blue Sulphur Springs resort included, along with the Pavilion, a three-story hotel with 200 rooms and a bathhouse. The resort buildings were used as a camp and hospital by both sides in the Civil War. In 1864, the Union Army burned the resort to keep it from the Confederate Army. Only the Pavilion survived the fire. The pavilion is now being restored by the Greenbrier Historical Society.
Wikimedia Commons/Brian M. Powell
There was a town was planned around this spa, but it never came into being beyond the spa, a courthouse, and a jail. Today it exists as the unincorporated community of Sweet Springs in Monroe County. The luxurious hotel was never popular due to the remote location. For a time it served as a nursing home, but it was abandoned once again. However, it is now being restored by the Sweet Springs Resort Park Foundation.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, WVA,32-SALSU,1B-1
Salt Sulphur Springs may be the best preserved of the abandoned spa towns, with a historic district that includes seven contributing buildings, three contributing sites, and two contributing structures related to the Old Salt Sulphur Springs Resort or “Old Salt.” This was the Episcopal Chapel. It’s located in Monroe County.
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