Graham Springs in the first half of the 1800s was considered the “Saratoga of the west.” When I was writing my story, The Pursuite of Elena Bradford, set at Graham Springs, I kept wanting to say the Saratoga of the South. But at the time Kentucky was a western state in the USA. California didn’t become a state until 1850, and other states across the country we consider western states now were admitted to the Union even later. Kentucky was on the western edge of the nation in the early 1800s.
Graham Springs was not the only springs hotel in Kentucky. There were many at the time, but it was the most well-known. Part of that might have been because the owner, Christopher Columbus Graham, was said to know the leaders and famous people in our young nation. He also established Graham Springs with confidence in the healing powers of the spring water there. Timothy Flint, in his ‘ ‘ Geography and History of the Western Country,” published in 1827, described the waters and the site. “The medicinal springs which is far the most frequented of any in this State (Kentucky) is that near Harrodsburg. The water has a slight sweetish and styptic taste. It contains sulphate of magnesia and probably a slight impregnation of arsenic. There are fine accommodations for invalids. The situation is healthy and delightful; and in the summer, it has become a great and fashionable resort for invalids from this and the neighboring states.”
Graham and other physicians claimed taking the waters could help or cure diseases of the stomach, liver and kidneys, as well as asthma, gout, dyspepsia, rheumatism, bilious disorders, neuralgia, autumnal fevers and general debility.
Graham, who had studied at Transylvania College to become a doctor, didn’t leave all the healing up to the spring water. He also saw to it that his guests had the opportunity for outdoor exercise in the daylight and dancing in the evenings. The doctor saw to it that his guests had a full measure of exercise and pleasure as well as curative waters to restore health and happiness. The grand balls held at Graham Springs before the War Between the States became a big draw to bring people to the Springs. Anybody who was anybody tried to spend time at Graham Springs during the summer season.
A guest writing about a visit to the Springs said: “The walk to the spring before breakfast was very fashionable, a long board-walk covered with tan-bark and shaded with locust trees, their branches meeting and arching overhead the whole distance. The belles and beaux walked up and down the long portico of the hotel in what seemed to me a fair procession. The ladies with their beautiful elaborately dressed hair in the New Orleans fashion, as from there we got the styles, and their organdy muslins, which were not then to be bought outside of New Orleans.”
And this July 19, 1851, note in The Courier-Journal gives a rousing description of the dance in the Graham Springs Hotel ball room. ‘What a potent charm there is in the dance, and how delightfully sounds the music!’
In an article about the Springs, a young lady, in 1829, wrote a letter to her aunt published to describe her stay. “The ballroom at night was a scene of enchantment. Old Doctor Graham, the proprietor, was the master of ceremonies, and the life of the party.”
Another letter by a different young lady, wrote that same year, saying, “We arrived here on Monday about six o’clock in the evening after a pleasant journey. The stage was very crowded, but all the passengers were agreeable acquaintances. I should have written sooner, but I have not had a moment. It is now one o’clock, and I have just left the ball-room. If I could only describe to you this lovely place, the many comforts and luxuries that we have here together with the interesting gentlemen. Very few young ladies besides ourselves and many elegant gentlemen, so you see we are belles from necessity. There are two gentlemen worth more than a million apiece, both very interesting, and divers others [very talented, but not so brilliant0.] The table is the best I have ever sat down to at any place; ice cream in profusion. The cottages are furnished prettily, all of them with large closets. A splendid band of music and a stand in the yard erected, overlooking the whole place, and the band stationed up there. Before daybreak you are awakened by the delightful music which continues until night; when it is removed to a most splendid ball room where you enter, dazzled by the glittering lights and interesting company. I have not powers of description to describe to you the one- half of the beauties of this lovely place. I have visited nearly all the springs in Virginia, but I do not think any of them half as delightful. There are daily arrivals of gentlemen, a great many from Tennessee and South Carolina and the interior of our State. There are fine baths for ladies and gentlemen, and I have said nothing of the ten-pin alley, and many other things to amuse and interest you.”
So you can see why Elena’s mother thought Graham Springs would be the perfect place for Elena to find that rich husband needed to rescue them from the financial trouble they were in. I had fun imagining the gardens and paths all around Graham Springs. The top picture is a drawing of the hotel, perhaps done by someone like Kirby in the book.
“Oh, the complicated webs we weave.” In storytelling complicating webs are necessary.
Do you like a story set in a real historical place as The Pursuit of Elena is?