Founding The area was originally known as Salt Lick Creek due to a
salt lick that was located approximately four miles northwest of current day Red Boiling Springs. The salt lick attracted animals,
American Indians, and other people. Among the people who came to hunt the animal trails was
Daniel Boone, who reportedly carved his name and the year 1775 into a
beech tree in a nearby community. The area was first surveyed, and
land grants were first awarded in the mid-1780s. The first post office was established in 1829 and named the Salt Lick Creek post office. In 1847, the post office was renamed "Red Boiling Springs." ''Aunt Sooky's Salve'' was a widely distributed product that was manufactured in Red Boiling Springs under the supervision of 'Aunt' Sooky Goad, who also claimed to be the original discoverer of the benefits of the Red Boiling Springs water. Early in life, she had
dropsy and claimed to be cured by drinking the sulphur water. In 1914, a Nashville man wrote an article stating that Shepherd Kiby (Kirby), the brother of Goad, discovered that washing his eyes with the spring water reduced eye irritation, but Goad's use of the water seems to have preceded that of Kirby.
Tourist attraction In 1873, a stagecoach line was established between Red Boiling Springs and
Gallatin, where there was a railroad stop. This likely led to renewed commercial interest in the springs, and by 1876, a general store owner named James Bennett had purchased the springs tract and had built a hotel. Bennett's hotel consisted of a row of log cabins flanking a central frame dining hall. In the late 1870s, Nashville newspapers first started mentioning Bennett's hotel and its guests' activities, as it was vogue during the
Gilded Age for newspapers to report on daily happenings at upper class and upper-middle class resorts. The 1880s saw a boom in the development of mineral springs resorts as "summer getaways," due in part to the publicity received by places such as
Saratoga Springs in New York. During this decade, New York businessman James F. O. Shaugnesy purchased the Red Boiling Springs tract and began development of the area as a resort. In 1889, the town first made the Nashville newspapers' front pages when former Tennessee Governor
John C. Brown died of a hemorrhage at one of the hotels. The papers emphasized that due to the isolation of the town and a lack of a telephone or telegraph, there was no way to get help. In 1905, several investors formed the Red Boiling Springs Water and Realty Company, and the following year purchased the original springs tract from Shaughnesy. By 1916, the company had replaced Shaughnesy's hotel with a lavish 64-room structure named "The Palace." During this same period, road improvements allowed the stagecoach lines to be replaced with automobile taxis, reducing the travel time from the railroad to just three hours. In 1918, there were four hotels in town— the Palace, the Cloyd, the
Donoho, and the Central Hotel; a decade later, that number doubled and soon after, over a dozen hotels and at least that many boarding houses had been erected to take advantage of tourism. The hotels all followed a similar design plan— two stories with elegant verandas spanning the facade and interiors containing large dining halls and 50 to 60 rooms (some later doubled or tripled their roomspace with annexes). The resort was visited by many famous personages in the first half of the 20th century. The hotel registers included the names of judges, lawyers, heads of business and industry, famous musicians and singers, and politicians, among them
Jo Byrns;
Al Gore, Sr.;
Nathan Bachman;
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who sent a beautiful French tapestry that hung in the main lobby of the Donoho Hotel; and most notably
President Woodrow Wilson. Although the
Great Depression destroyed many Americans' disposable incomes and hence budget for travel, Red Boiling Springs still had large numbers of visitors. The Summer of 1936 brought over 14,000 people to the little hamlet of approximately 800.
The mineral springs and daily life in the resort period Almost uniquely, five different types of mineral waters are found at Red Boiling Springs. These springs are "mineralized" by their contact with exposed black
shale, from which iron sulfate is dissolved into the waters. Some were named for the color they would turn a silver coin; two, dubbed "Red" and "Black", were from springs which were capped off and then piped throughout the town to a series of wells with manually operated pumps on both public and private property. Along with iron and sulphur, Red and Black waters both contained relatively high amounts of
calcium and
magnesium. The flavor of the "Red" water was only somewhat sulfurous and seemed to be at least slightly agreeable to many; the "Black" was very-strongly flavored, off-putting to the novice, and an acquired taste (at best) for most. "White" was used only to cure dyspepsia. "Freestone" water contained none of the trace minerals that brought the crowds to the springs but it was by far the most palatable. The most mineralized water, known as "Double and Twist," was named for the effect it had on the person drinking it. "Double and Twist" was advertised as the "only water of its kind in the United States." , formerly the Counts Hotel "Taking the waters" at Red Boiling Springs generally consisted of more than merely ingesting them; steam and tub baths featuring the waters and their alleged therapeutic properties were often featured. The bathhouses followed the
hydrotherapy regimen developed by
John Harvey Kellogg at his
Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, which was very popular at the time. The various waters contained several minerals but
sulfur was predominant, giving the waters the scent (and some would say, the flavor) of rotten
eggs. There were medical doctors on hand to prescribe which treatments would work for a particular ailment. The mineral waters, either from ingesting them or bathing in them, were touted as cures for diseases such as
dyspepsia,
hydropsy,
diabetes,
rheumatism,
neuralgia,
kidney stones,
gonorrhea, and various eye and skin diseases. As the resort grew, it became the stopping point for
minstrel shows, circuses and other entertainments to a far greater degree than typical for towns of its small size. The town boasted a number of "diversions": bowling alleys, tennis courts, shuffle board, croquet, a ballroom, swimming pools, a small golf course, theatre, and an amusement park. The hotels also provided picnics and barbecues. Dancing was the most popular nighttime activity, and many of the hotels had their own orchestras for nightly ballroom dances.
String bands also frequented the town, playing mostly at the many taverns scattered around the town's periphery.
Decline Several factors contributed to the town's decline as a major resort. One was a general loss of confidence and interest in the purportedly curative powers of mineral waters by
Americans as the 20th century progressed. A new highway system made it easier for people to travel, but it also meant they could travel to other places as well, such as the state parks that were opening. Those who had promoted tourism and the mineral resorts had retired or died and the next generation was not as interested. Some of the hotels had been left in the hands of managers that did not reinvest the profits in the upkeep of the buildings. A number of the hotels burned and were not rebuilt. The townspeople were hesitant to support tourism. The area's general remoteness began to work against it; this was greatly aggravated by
World War II and the resultant
gasoline rationing. Tourism focus shifted within Tennessee to more highly developed areas such as the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. By the time the postwar period had arrived, most of the hotels had closed and the area was a shell of its former self. There was a slight rebirth during the 1950s. The town was
incorporated on April 27, 1953. In six hours the entire Salt Lick Valley was under water. An unofficial report stated that 10 inches of rain fell in 6 hours. Overall, 15 businesses and 35 houses were either heavily damaged or destroyed, and a
Trailways bus had been swept approximately 500 feet into a steel-concrete bridge. Whole houses and many cars floated through town. Two young girls, sisters, Renah Louise Bilbrey, 8, and Jennifer Rae Bilbrey, 2, daughters of Grady and Frances Bilbrey, were killed in the flood. Both girls were found by search parties composed of their relatives and town residents. The girls' uncle was one of the members to find both bodies. One was not found until seven days later after being swept 4 miles downstream. Two songs about the tragedy were produced, one of which, "The Tragedy of Red Boiling Springs", garnered extensive airplay and resulted in a hit for the producers, artists, and writers involved. The Bilbrey family refused to have anything to do with either record and would not accept any proceeds resulting from sales. The graduating class of the elder sister, Renah, dedicated the annual yearbook to her memory. State and Federal grant money aided businesses, built watershed dams and help the townsfolk rebuild. One dam was named in memory of the young victims. By the late 1970s the town began to revisit its history in earnest with an eye to marketing it a tourist destination again, if only on a small scale. Two
covered bridges were built, and park lands were developed. Later, a
library was built on the site of a former hotel. A park was constructed in the early 2000s close to the site of the home of the young victims and was named in their memory. A dedication ceremony honored the surviving family members and rescue workers who aided in finding their bodies.
Present day At the beginning of the 21st century, a large water bottling plant was built on the outskirts of town by
Nestlé, where water is bottled from Bennet Hill Springs, a source of Freestone water. The plant removes all the natural minerals from the water by reverse osmosis and later adds a specific mixture of minerals to give it a consistent taste. The old hand pumps that stood on public land were made inoperable because of liability issues that could occur. The hand pumps can still be seen on private property around town, and some people still believe in the curative powers of the mineral waters. , three of the historic hotels were in operation, with The
Armour's Hotel still offering a full complement of steam treatment, mineral tub baths, and therapeutic
massage. One of the surviving hotels has undergone several name changes and two fires, the first fire in the 1920s completely destroyed the structure, but it was rebuilt; the second fire in the 1990s destroyed one wing, which was also rebuilt. Names it has operated under include the Cloyd Hotel, and it is currently known as
The Thomas House. The hotel gained notoriety in the early half of the 2010s when it became the subject of the popular SyFy channel television program
Ghost Hunters. Monthly "ghost hunts" have since remained a popular tourist attraction for the town. ==Geography==