Places lived, places lost: Taking the waters in Texa

Throughout Texas' history, health resorts around mineral wells and springs attracted thousands of health- and pleasure-seekers. Daily life in these watering towns revolved around the waters, creating a landscape and social and economic activities distinct from those of other Texas towns. This tradition involved an intimate interaction between man and land. These places nurtured body and spirit. Experience of place suggested the symbolism of baptism and rebirth, cleansing and purification, and pilgrimage. Myths and legends of individual places added to the mystery of the waters' purported healing qualities.;Resort goers valued certain aspects of mineral waters which flowed from diverse landscapes. They sought out sites that embodied picturesque, mysterious, enchanted, and salubrious qualities. Many spas around the State expressed these attributes in different ways.;On a daily basis visitors gathered around pavilions, bathhouses, fountains, hotels or boarding houses, facilities similar to those of other spas but different from structures in other Texas towns. They created local events that fostered friendships and relieved the stresses of everyday life.;Places reflect changes in people's values and concerns. Seven characteristics depict the evolution of perception, the built landscape, and consequent activities at these spas. At most places, medicinal waters remained the primary focus, a sacred center. Few spas developed any grand resort establishments.;The waters specifically influenced the settlement of many towns. Spatial patterns of establishment are evident as developers took advantage of a trend that seemed to move west and northwest with the frontier. As settlement of Texas proceeded, earlier resort towns evolved by developing or modifying their resort images or by abandoning the waters altogether. Loss of sense of place had less to do with the erosion of the physical attributes of place than with the changing values and attitudes of society toward the health-giving properties of water. Despite recent attempts to revive these places, the tradition has largely disappeared in Texas as if it had never existed, for few vestiges remain on the landscape. In some cases, memories have completely lost their connection with place.