Historical Markers and War Memorials in Bath County, Virginia
Warm Springs is the county seat for Bath County
Adjacent to Bath County, Virginia
Alleghany County(22) ► Augusta County(68) ► Highland County(34) ► Rockbridge County(46) ► Greenbrier County, West Virginia(72) ► Pocahontas County, West Virginia(62) ►
Touch name on this list to highlight map location. Touch blue arrow, or on map, to go there.
On County Route 687 at Post Office Drive, on the right when traveling west on County Route 687.
The Tidewater Hardwood Company built a lumber mill and company town here, 192–1922, naming it Bacova, a contraction for Bath Co., Va. Narrow-gauge railroads brought the logs to the mill. The company paid
workers in scrip redeemable for rent, . . . — — Map (db m70219) HM
On Cowpasture River Highway (Virginia Route 42) 5.3 miles north of Interstate 64, on the right when traveling north.
Alleghany County. Formed in 1822, from Bath, Botetourt and Monroe, and named for the Alleghany Mountains. At Fort Mann a battle took place between settlers and Indians led by Cornstalk, 1763.
Bath County. Formed in 1790, from Augusta, . . . — — Map (db m207848) HM
On Sam Snead Highway (U.S. 220) at Garth Newel Lane, on the right when traveling north on Sam Snead Highway.
Artist William Sergeant Kendall (1869–1938) and his wife Christine Herter Kendall (1890–1981) built this house soon after they arrived in Virginia in 1922. Garth Newel, Welsh for “New Home,” served as their residence and studio. A student of Thomas . . . — — Map (db m69747) HM
On Sam Snead Highway (U.S. 220) south of Main Street (County Route 615), on the left when traveling north.
Born In Thaxton, Bedford County, Lettie Pate
Whitehead Evans played a major role in the early
distribution of bottled Coca-Cola. She was one
of the first women members of the board of
directors of a major American corporation,
serving on the . . . — — Map (db m69922) HM
On Sam Snead Highway (U.S. 220) at Dunns Gap Road (County Route 618), on the left when traveling north on Sam Snead Highway.
Erected 1920 by the Virginia Hot Springs Company commemorating the planting of trees along this boulevard. A memorial of patriotism and a tribute of honor to the employees of this Company and the men of Bath County who in 1917 and 1918 served in . . . — — Map (db m69930) WM
On Indian Draft (County Route 625) at Fort Lewis Road, on the left when traveling south on Indian Draft.
Col. Charles Lewis, younger brother of Gen. Andrew Lewis, acquired 950 acres of land on the Cowpasture River in June 1750. Nearby, Fort Lewis, a small stockade, initially under the command of then Capt. Charles Lewis, was constructed by 1756 to . . . — — Map (db m30469) HM
On Main Street (County Route 644) at Church Street on Main Street.
Millboro began as a settlement around Cady’s
Tunnel, built by the Central Virginia Railroad.
By 1856 the tracks extended from Richmond
to Cabin Creek nearby. During the Civil War,
Confederate soldiers marched westward down
the old Crooked Spur . . . — — Map (db m69537) HM
On Virginia Route 39 at T. C. Walker Road (County Route 635), on the left when traveling west on State Route 39.
T.C. Walker School, which opened in 1930, was named for Thomas Calhoun Walker a former slave from Gloucester County who became the first African American attorney in Virginia. It cost $4,600, and was underwritten with $500 from the Julius Rosenwald . . . — — Map (db m69471) HM
On Maury River Road (State Highway 39), on the right when traveling east.
Bath County. Area 545 Square Miles. Formed in 1790 from Augusta, Greenbrier, and Botetourt, and probably named for the town of Bath in England. The warm springs and hot springs are in this county.
Rockbridge County. . . . — — Map (db m34304) HM
On Cowpasture River Highway (Virginia Route 42) at Mont Shenandoah Lane, on the right when traveling south on Cowpasture River Highway.
Nannie Crump West, Christian missionary and youth
advocate, founded Camp Mont Shenandoah in 1927 for
girls from Virginia’s elite families. This residential
summer camp, like others established along the
Cowpasture River early in the 20th . . . — — Map (db m107846) HM
On Cowpasture River Highway (Virginia Route 42) south of Mountain Valley Road (Virginia Route 39), on the right when traveling south.
The site was about one-half mile north of the river. This was one of a chain of frontier forts ordered erected by the Virginia legislature early in 1756. The chain extended from Hampshire County (now West Virginia) to Patrick County on the North . . . — — Map (db m77510) HM
On Virginia Route 39 west of County Route 678, on the right when traveling east.
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, seeking freedom of worship and led by the Rev. Alexander Craighead, built a log meetinghouse a mile and a half down the Cowpasture River about 1749. Indians burned it during the French and Indian War. Moving to this site . . . — — Map (db m122193) HM
On Virginia Route 39 at County Route 600, on the left when traveling west on State Route 39.
The Mountain Grove community grew up around William Gatewood’s plantation in the early 19th century. During the Civil War. Brig. Gen. William W. Averell’s Federal cavalry attacked from newly created West Virginia late in 1863 and fought with . . . — — Map (db m70233) HM
On Main Street (County Route 615) just east of Pinehurst Heights Road (County Road 616), on the right when traveling west.
Union Hurst, a school for African Americans, was built near here on Pine Hurst Heights Road between 1924 and 1925. The school was built with the assistance of the Julius Rosenwald Fund, a program that helped build some 5,000 schools for African . . . — — Map (db m70245) HM
On Courthouse Hill Road (Virginia Route 619) 0.1 miles east of Old Mill Road (Route 645), on the left when traveling east.
This 1875 law office of John W. Stephenson was moved to this site in 1907 and became the headquarters of the Bath County Historical Society in 1982 by a gift from Elaine W. Madlener. — — Map (db m172840) HM
Bath County was formed in 1790 from parts of Augusta, Botetourt, and Greenbrier counties. The county court first met here on 10 May 1791 at the house of John Lewis's widow Margaret, who donated two acres opposite the mineral baths for public use. . . . — — Map (db m21754) HM
On Courthouse Hill Road (Virginia Route 619) 0.1 miles east of Old Mill Road (Route 645), on the right when traveling west.
World War I
Harvey K. Keyser •
Charles A. Coleman •
Otis V. Long •
Frank B. Law •
Wilbur R. Payne •
★ Unknown
World War II
Mark M. Gillispie •
Elmer B. Izzard •
Frank P. Johnson •
Glen P. Hevener •
Louis O. . . . — — Map (db m172838) WM
On Sam Snead Highway (U.S. 220) at Three Hills Lane, on the left when traveling south on Sam Snead Highway.
Mary Johnston, a novelist, historian, playwright, suffragist, and social advocate, lived here at Three Hills. Born in Botetourt County, Johnston published 23 novels between 1898 and 1936 and became the first woman to top best-seller lists in the . . . — — Map (db m69596) HM
On Old Mill Road (Virginia Route 645) south of Old Germantown Road (Virginia Route 692), on the left when traveling south.
This waterwheel is known as an overshoot wheel. It is driven by the buckets at the top of the wheel.
Manufactured by the Fitz Waterwheel Co. Hanover Pa. — — Map (db m172841) HM
Nearby is the site of Terrill Hill, home of the Terrill brothers of Bath County. Brig. Gen. William R. Terrill, a graduate of West Point commanded a Union brigade and was killed in the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, on 8 Oct. 1862. His brother, . . . — — Map (db m21755) HM
On County Route 619 west of U.S. 220, on the right when traveling west.
After 112 years in buildings near the Warm
Springs mineral baths a mile northeast, the
Bath County Court moved to this site in 1908.
The architect, Frank P. Milburn, predicted the
new courthouse would be “an honor and ornament
to Bath . . . — — Map (db m30491) HM
On U.S. 220 at Virginia Route 39, on the right when traveling north on U.S. 220.
Born in Waynesboro to former slaves, William H. Sheppard became a Presbyterian missionary to the Belgian colony of Congo Free State in 1890. He and others opposed King Leopold II of Belgium, who encouraged such atrocities as the amputation of . . . — — Map (db m5607) HM
On Sam Snead Highway (U.S. 220) at Courthouse Hill Road (County Route 614), on the right when traveling south on Sam Snead Highway.
The courthouse town of Warm Springs reflects more
than 200 years of settlement in the Warm Springs
Valley. Located near the center of Bath County,
this community encompasses a small village core
and its surrounding rural landscape. The . . . — — Map (db m208531) HM
On Sam Snead Highway (U.S. 220) just south of Mountain Valley Road eastbound (Virginia Route 39), on the right when traveling south.
The Warm Springs Baths, an example of 19th-century
medicinal resort architecture, formed the centerpiece
of a small village that served as the seat of
Bath County from 1791 until 1908. Thomas Lewis
and his son John developed a resort around . . . — — Map (db m208529) HM
On Old Mill Road (Virginia Route 645) just south of Old Germantown Road (Virginia Route 692), on the left when traveling south.
There has been a mill on this site continuously since 1771. The present mill building was erected in 1900 and now is the home of the Waterwheel Restaurant. — — Map (db m172842) HM
On Mountain Valley Road (Virginia Route 39) just west of Edgewood Lane, on the left when traveling west.
The community of West Warms Springs was settled in the 1870s by Black residents who purchased
tracts of land on the west side of Little Mountain. A road that extended over the mountain connected
West Warm Springs with the pools. Many of the early . . . — — Map (db m208526) HM
On Mountain Valley Road (Virginia Route 39) just west of Edgewood Lane (County Route 622), on the left when traveling west.
African Americans, exercising newfound autonomy
after the Civil War, purchased land here on the
western slope of Little Mountain and established
the community of West Warm Springs. Many early
residents worked at nearby resorts, including . . . — — Map (db m208441) HM
On State Highway 39 at Homestead Mountain Drive, on the right when traveling west on State Highway 39.
As early as 1880, the Hodge family was responsible for the management of the Warm Springs Mountain tollhouse. By the end of the tool road's operation in the 1910s, there were ten children living at the house "up on the mountain". Much of the data . . . — — Map (db m34299) HM
On State Highway 39 at Homestead Mountain Drive, on the right when traveling west on State Highway 39.
You are standing on the site of a tollhouse which served the Warm Springs Mountain Turnpike during the nineteenth century. This mountain gap was occupied by humans long before its use as a turnpike tollhouse. Archaeological research at the site . . . — — Map (db m34272) HM
On Ingalls Overlook Trail at Mountain Valley Road (Virginia Route 39), on the right when traveling north on Ingalls Overlook Trail.
Atop Warm Springs Mountain, one gazes across a see of ridges rolling to the horizon — an unexpected, unbroken forest in a well-traversed part of America. The view was much the same for the Algonquins, who called these mountains allegheny, . . . — — Map (db m172845) HM
On State Highway 39 at Homestead Mountain Drive, on the right when traveling west on State Highway 39.
The end of the eighteenth century saw Virginia change from an agriculture-based society to one of urban centers. Once British trade restrictions were removed after the War of 1812, river ports such as Alexandria, Fredericksburg, and Richmond . . . — — Map (db m172869) HM
On State Highway 39 at Homestead Mountain Drive, on the right when traveling west on State Highway 39.
Although turnpikes were built primarily to facilitate trade, many routes within western Virginia were improved to support recreation. Warm Springs Mountain Turnpike provided access to the Warm Springs and Hot Springs area, home of natural mineral . . . — — Map (db m34289) HM
