HIGHWAYS to HEALTH and PLEASURE: the Antebellum Turnpikes and Trade of the Mineral Springs in Greenbrier and Monroe Counties Virginia

By Lana Martindale

This book takes us back to the early 19th Century when Monroe County and adjacent Greenbrier and Bath constituted the center of tourism in the South. Mineral Springs were the big attraction and these were set in the cooler upland regions, allowing plantation owners and their families a welcome retreat from the sweltering South, well before the advent of air conditioning. Getting to these resort spas was mainly by stage coach at four miles an hour, so resort owners felt constrained to make the arduous trip as brief and comfortable as possible. The solution was to support the construction of turnpikes jointly with the Commonwealth of Virginia. The toll of 20 cents per 5 miles paid the upkeep, though local users could circumvent the toll gates with "shunpikes" by taking a more circuitous route! Learn about the Virginia Turnpike Act of 1817 and what it meant for tourism in the antebellum South. This book is nicely illustrated with vintage photogragps and maps.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1978409311
• ISBN13: 9781978409316
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.4" x 8.5"