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For 2,000 years the reputation of Bath
has come from its hot mineral springs.
Everything started around 850 B.C., or so the legend goes, when King Bladud contracted leprosy, was exiled to the English countryside, and became a swineherd. There, on the future site of Bath, he observed his itching pigs wallowing in warm, muddy springs and thereby healing their skin ailments. He followed suit -- and was cured himself.
Whether this tale is fact or fancy, Romans arriving in A.D. 44 did find the local folk enjoying Bath's hot mineral waters. The Romans founded the town of Aquae Solis.
Over the next four centuries, they transformed the natural hot springs into a bathing complex and a temple devoted to Sulis Minerva, the Romano-Celtic goddess of healing. The springs still feed the baths today, gushing a quarter of a million gallons of water daily at a steaming 116 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Romans left, and during the Middle Ages the town became a church center and wool market -- the baths were allowed to languish. But in the early 18th century, fashionable English society began coming to Bath to "take the waters" as a health cure.
A gambler named Richard "Beau" Nash became the town's master of ceremonies, the social arbiter of style and arranger of entertainments. For the smart set, Bath became the place to meet and greet, flirt, enjoy concerts and balls -- and gossip.
In Georgian times, Bath grew into an architectural masterpiece. A father-and-son building team, both named John Wood, used honey-hued stone from a nearby quarry to put together an elegant city whose Palladian style harked back to classical Roman days. Their famous
Visitors now get a taste of those days at the famously elegant Pump Room, which still serves tea while musicians play. Guests who are brave (or just historically curious) can sample the natural mineral water -- which, according to one report, tastes "faintly of eggs, soap, and metal."
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr., has worked with the National Geographic Society for more than 20 years, starting as a staff editor, writer, and columnist at Traveler magazine, then writing travel guides. His latest work is National Geographic Traveler:
