Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260026
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The road to a Dec. 2 auction is paved with good intentions.
The historic Sweet Springs Resort, in Monroe County, W.Va., a home for elderly residents until a few years ago, will be sold to the highest bidder in an absolute sale, meaning the seller must take what is offered no matter how low.
The property includes a 90,000-square-foot hotel and more than 22 acres. There also are outlying buildings, such as a bathhouse built in the 1830s, where the warm mineral springs still bubble.
The resort is owned by the Bank of White Sulphur Springs, which foreclosed on it in 1992 after the Monroe County Building Commission failed to meet payments on a $1.5 million loan.
"We just couldn't make ends meet," said Sara Wickline, president of the Monroe County Commissioners. She was among the supporters who worked to keep the Andrew S. Roan Home open after the state of West Virginia decided to close it several years ago.
Roan served in the House of Representatives, and the resort sits on Roan family property. The property is across the road from the springs that provide the water bottled by Quibell Corp. of Roanoke.
When the state stepped out, local emotions were strong to keep the home open, Wickline said. But the state didn't give the group any money to run the facility, nor did it ever convey the remainder of the property - farmland and timberland - that she said was promised to the county.
After the state gave the place to Monroe County, part of the building was remodeled and turned into a drug rehabilitation center.
But the finances still fell short, Wickline said.
The only operating money was income from residents, and there weren't enough of them, she said.
Monroe County, which has a population of 12,400, is mainly a farming area, she said.
"We had to give it up," she said. The county didn't lose any money, though, because the loan was guaranteed by the bank.
The bank previously has tried to sell the property in a conditional sale, which meant it didn't have to sell if the bid wasn't high enough. This time, it goes no matter what the offer, said Jim Woltz, head of the Roanoke auction firm, Woltz & Associates Inc. His company will sell the contents, including furnishings that range from antiques to beds and wheelchairs, at 9:30 a.m. and the real estate at noon, both at the site. Previews are scheduled Nov. 15 and 18 from 2 to 6 p.m.
The resort served as a spa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The current hotel was built between 1833 and 1860 by William Phillips, who also designed part of Western State Hospital in Staunton. The hotel attracted dignitaries and tourists worldwide who sought the warm springs' health benefits and cures. The springs were believed to cure rheumatism and pain.
The first hotel was built in 1792 by William Lewis, brother of Gen. Andrew Lewis. The resort's famous guests included Patrick Henry, James and Dolley Madison and Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce.
The hotel was operated by Lewis and his family from 1792 to 1852, when it was sold to three men who formed the Sweet Springs Co., which operated the hotel until after the Civil War, when the property changed hands several times.
West Virginia bought the property in 1945 and converted the complex into a tuberculosis hospital and later into a home for the elderly.
The place has caught the eye of historians for a couple of reasons - its history and an erroneous historical marker nearby that credits the resort's design to Thomas Jefferson.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***