Bath (Berkeley Springs), West Virginia

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Bath (Berkeley Springs), West Virginia
settlement_type = Town
nickname =
motto =

imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Downtown Berkeley Springs


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = West Virginia
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Morgan

government_footnotes =
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leader_title =
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established_date =

area_footnotes =
area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 0.6
area_land_km2 = 0.6
area_water_km2 = 0.0
area_total_sq_mi = 0.2
area_land_sq_mi = 0.2
area_water_sq_mi = 0.0

population_as_of = 2000
population_footnotes =
population_total = 663
population_density_km2 = 1044.8
population_density_sq_mi = 2706.0

timezone = Eastern (EST)
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m =
elevation_ft =
latd = 39 |latm = 37 |lats = 32 |latNS = N
longd = 78 |longm = 13 |longs = 37 |longEW = W

postal_code_type =
postal_code =
area_code = 304
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 54-04876GR|2
blank1_name =
blank1_info =
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Bath is a town in Morgan County, West Virginia. It is incorporated as Bath, but is referred to by the name of its post office, Berkeley Springs. The population was 663 at the 2000 census. The town is within the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Berkeley Springs was a popular resort area during the early years of the United States. The mineral springs drew many visitors from metropolitan areas. Notable visitors to the area included George Washington and James Rumsey. Berkeley Springs is a sister city to Bath, Somerset, England; "Berkeley Castle" overlooks the town (see photo below). The area continues to be a popular resort area with tourism the main industry in the county and four full service spas using the mineral water. It is the home of the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, longest running and largest in the world.

Berkeley Springs is a noted arts community with working artists accounting for approximately 1% of the county population of 15,000. Since 1994, the town has been listed in all four editions of John Villani's "100 Best Art Towns in America," one of only 11 towns so rated.

History

In 1748, George Washington, then just 16 years old, was part of the survey party that surveyed the Eastern Panhandle region for Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He later returned several times over the next several years with his half-brother, Laurence, who was ill and hoped that the warm springs might improve his health. The springs, and their rumored medicinal benefits, attracted numerous Native Americans as well as Europeans to the area.

While vacationing in the area in 1767, Washington made note of how busy the town had become. Lord Fairfax had built a summer home there and a "private bath" making the area a popular destination for Virginia's social elite. With the advent of independence, the Virginia Legislature established a town around the spring in December 1776. The town was officially named Bath, in honor of England's spa city of Bath. George Washington, his family members and several of the colonial elite were among the town's first landowners. The town's main north-south street was named Washington and the main east-west street was named Fairfax. Also, foure acres were set aside for "suffering humanity." The park was made part of the West Virginia state park system in 1925.

Bath's population increased during and immediately after the American Revolutionary War as wounded soldiers and others came to the area believing that the warm springs had medicinal qualities. Bath gained a reputation as a somewhat wild town where eating, drinking, dancing and, gambling on the daily horse races were the order of the day.

Bath became known to the world as Berkeley Springs in 1802 when the Virginia postal system was established and there was already a Bath, Virginia in Bath County. The waters were known as Berkeley Springs because the protocol was to name springs after the county in which they were located. At that time, Bath was part of Berkeley County named after colonial Governor Norborne Berkeley.

Geography

Bath is located at coor dms|39|37|32|N|78|13|37|W|city (39.625562, -78.226862)GR|1 in the Appalachian Mountains. The town lies in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia 26 miles NW of Martinsburg, West Virginia and 36 miles W of Hagerstown, Maryland.

The main road through town is U.S. Route 522.

The town has a total area of 0.2 square miles. [ [http://www.city-data.com Stats about all US cities - real estate, relocation info, maps, race, income, photos, education, crime, weather, houses, etc ] ]

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 663 people, 331 households, and 160 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,023.9/km² (2,706.0/mi²). There were 379 housing units at an average density of 585.3/km² (1,546.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.13% White, 1.66% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.30% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.60% of the population.

There were 331 households out of which 20.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.6% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.4% were non-families. 46.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 25.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.98 and the average family size was 2.85.

The age distribution is 19.5% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 23.4% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 23.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 80.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $24,934, and the median income for a family was $33,333. Males had a median income of $25,156 versus $23,611 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,917. About 13.4% of families and 18.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.8% of those under age 18 and 15.7% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents and natives

* James Rumsey, early steamboat inventor
* [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/belt_tone00.html Tone Belt] , former Berkeley Springs High School Basketball, Football, and Track star. Now a track star at Louisville. Ranked second in the world for long jump at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.berkeleysprings.com/ Official Website of Berkeley Springs]
* [http://www.berkeleyspringssp.com/ Berkeley Springs State Park]
* [http://www.berkeleyspringschamber.com/about.html Berkeley Springs - Morgan County Chamber of Commerce]
* [http://www.morganschools.net/bshs/ Berkeley Springs High School]

* [http://www.bigeast.org/sports/c-otrack/spec-rel/081606aaa.html IAAF World Junior Championships - Tone Belt]