Do We Run on Dunking? A Guide to the Healing Powers of H2O

Garrett Munce

January 27, 2024 at 11:39 AM·5 min read

italy hot springs — Do We Run on Dunking?Baarssen Fokke / Alamy Stock Photo

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As a kid I was desperate to go to the baths. Every summer, while visiting Bath County, Virginia, for our family reunion, we drove past a group of whitewashed buildings with a dangling sign that said warm springs pools. I had no reference for what was inside, but the pull was strong. When my dad finally agreed, I remember wading into the clear water of the octagonal pool of the Gentlemen’s Bath, the rickety wooden structure soaring above me as I floated on my back, the faint smell of sulfur in my nose. The sense of calm was immediate, but there was something more.

My roots are deep in the area (my ancestors settled nearby in 1890), and while I have no way of knowing for sure whether my great-great-grandparents ever bathed in those springs, it’s likely. The natural baths are the oldest spa in the country, predating the Declaration of Independence by 15 years.

omni homestead — The bathhouse at the Omni Homestead Resort.Courtesy Omni Homestead Resort

Five miles down the road from the Pools is the Homestead, the country’s oldest wellness resort and the owner of Warm Springs Pools. In 1766 three veterans of the French and Indian War noticed that the area was packed with natural mineral springs that drew visitors from all over the colonies. With incredible foresight they bought 300 acres that contained seven springs and built an 18-room lodge. Now called the Omni Homestead Resort, the property boasts 2,300 acres and 483 rooms, and this year it completed a $150 million refurbishment, to not only preserve its history but usher in the future of wellness—particularly the kind that comes from bathing.

There are many reasons bathing may be the oldest wellness practice in existence. Water, particularly in mineral rich natural springs, has been recognized for its healing properties for eons. The Warm Springs Pools, for instance, contain 15 minerals, including “calcium, sulfur, and magnesium,” per Holly Hicks, assistant director of the Spa at the Omni Homestead. The pools were used locally “as a treatment for almost anything and everything, but especially rheumatism.” That isn’t just folk medicine. Modern studies have shown that mineral springs, particularly those containing sulfur, can reduce inflammation within the body and treat ailments such as arthritis.

It goes beyond the minerals. Hot water releases heat shock proteins within the body that “have a wide range of beneficial metabolic effects, and it also has a cardiovascular stimulating effect,” says Dr. Tamsin Lewis, founder of Wellgevity. Moreover, the act of bathing, she says, “takes us back to the womblike sensation of being nurtured and has a calming effect on your nervous system.” Even today’s cold plunge mania goes back centuries (the ancient Romans were fans). Not only does alternating between hot and cold water increase lymphatic drainage and circulation, “cold stimulates neurochemicals like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, which have a stimulating effect on the nervous system,” Lewis says. By contrasting hot and cold water, “you’re providing minor stresses on the body so it can adapt and strengthen, becoming more resilient in everyday life.”

When it comes to bathing culture, there’s even more to it. Twenty-three U.S. presidents have visited the Homestead (their portraits, painted by my uncle, hang in the Presidential Lounge), and of those “we believe nine have soaked in the Warm Springs Pools, including Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt,” says Lynn Swann, director of marketing and communications. “People were coming from DC and New York, and it was an opportunity for them to network. This was a place to see and be seen.” There’s more to communal bathing than networking. “When you’re heated, there is an antidepressant effect on the brain,” Lewis says, and when you’re heated with others, it can increase coregulation, when “our sense of calm can be induced or enhanced by coming together as part of a group.” That communal aspect is still alive and well in Bath County: 70 percent of the visitors to the Warm Springs Pools are locals.

It’s no wonder, then, that the Homestead has invested so much in keeping the tradition flowing—and it’s just the beginning. Hicks and her team are creating new spa treatments that utilize the unique natural springs and other local ingredients, and a forthcoming product line will offer bath salts that mimic the mineral content of the Warm Springs Pools. Even with all the modern trappings, at the core of this is a history that’s impossible to replicate. The next time I sink into the Warm Springs Pools, I’d like to think my ancestors would be proud I’m carrying on the tradition.