In today’s edition of the Appalachian Moments blog, we visit Ashe County North Carolina’s very own Shatley Springs, but not for a heaping family style helping of home cooked country food. Today, we’re all about the water.
We often talk about how times have changed, but today we’ll talk about a fascination that continues. Walk down the beverage aisle of any grocery store and you’ll find a dozen or more choices of Spring Water. In this age of technology, of filtration and reverse osmosis there is still something profound and amazing about water bubbling up out of rocks.
When municipal tap water is chlorinated, fluorinated, and possibly contaminated by corrosive pipes, and groundwater is threatened with pollution, people still seek Spring Water.
As the story goes, on a sunny summer day in 1890, Martin Shatley dipped his face and hands in a cool mountain stream. Very soon thereafter, the severely painful skin disease that had burdened him for years began improving. As word spread, folks would literally camp out around the simple but bold spring venting from an outcrop of Little Phoenix mountain.
Shatley built a small bath house and installed an iron bathtub that featured wood-fired hot water to serve the growing clientele.
When Shatley sold the spring, the new owners put up cabins, and a tearoom. They also briefly changed the name to Radium Springs because a trace of radioactive element had been found in the water that they believed to be the key healing ingredient! Now don’t throw cold water on the idea, they sold the wonder water by the truckload!
Over 100 years since Shatley’s testimony, thousands have made the road trip up to the High Country for a tall drink of the mountain water. They seek relief from a variety of ills including eczema, poison ivy, stomach problems, kidney disease and even cancer.
Nearby Healing Springs had a similar discovery and success story, only they initially promoted the presence of arsenic. As incredible as it seems now, at the turn of the 20th century there was a belief that arsenic could clarify your complexion and open up your lungs. Imagine what the side effects disclaimer might sound like today for that elixir!
Visitors will notice that the spring waters run deep in Ashe County, as the area also boasts the townships of Laurel Springs and Glendale Springs.
Today, the Shatley Springs water contains natural minerals, as do most springs, and it is always flowing. And while the bounty of the spring is free, the mouth-watering fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits might set you back a little.