Early Settlers Crossing the Potomac.

1681 — Colonial travelers joined native tribes in using the springs. Early maps of the area were drafted. King Charles II granted the land including the springs to Thomas Lord Culpepper, ancestor of Thomas Lord Fairfax.

1737 — Two maps noted the local springs. One named them Warm Springs; the other designated them the Medicinal Springs.

1747 — Lord Fairfax complained about squatters around the springs. He elaborated on plans to develop the town.

1748 — A sixteen year-old George Washington visited “ye fam’d warm springs” as part of the Lord Fairfax surveying party.