The Shannondale Springs resort, located in Jefferson County, West Virginia, was one of the many 19th century enterprises developed ostensibly to profit from the curative powers of mineral springs. Like its competitors, Shannondale owed its patronage as much to its image and atmosphereas to the efficacy of its waters. Its fate depended as much on the owners’ economic and political savvy as on the staff’s ability to stamp out a stray spark or sidestep the inevitable floods. This study explores the ownership, construction, and renovation of Shannondale Springs and the factors contributing to its growth, decline, and demise.

The site now known as Shannondale Springs is part of a much larger parcel of land acquired by Colonel John Colville on May 17, 1739. Acting as Lord Fairfax’s Agent, William Fairfax gave his ex-partner Colville a patent to the 29,000-acre tract called “Shannandale.” The property was “situated partly in Loudoun and partly in Berkeley county aforesaid lying upon the Blue ridge and short hill mountains and in the valley between them and bounded on the west and north sides by the Shannondoah and the Potomack rivers ...” In contemporary terms, Shannondale stretched along the Shenandoah River from Castleman’s Ferry in Clarke County, Virginia, to Harper’s Ferry in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Colville transferred the property to William Fairfax by deeds of lease and release dated January 22 and 23, 1740.1

William Fairfax conveyed the whole estate to George Fairfax by deed of gift on October 20, 1754. George in turn bequeathed the property and other substantial holdings to his nephew Ferdinando Fairfax in 1787. Use of the property was subject to the life estate of George’s wife, Sarah.2