We live in the era of mobility, accommodation & entertainment, yet in our small rural town who can account for a single public lodging accommodation? Tourists seeking overnight housing can travel elsewhere within 20 miles and find a motel available, but in Sheldon they would find no place to lodge at except with a relative.
Now step back with me to the mid-1800s and imagine if you can the lodging establishment to the left with four stories offering guests plush accommodations and a full aray of services.
Stand with me at the corner of Shawville Road and Mill Street in Sheldon Springs and look closely at St. Anthony’s Church. Now close your eyes and imagine that this hotel sits there. Congress Hall built in 1868 and opened in 1869 stood here until in burned in 1908
A fear of disease and plague along with a hope for a cure to cancer and TB along with other diseases decimating the population lead to the “Mineral Springs” as a curative power and the flourishing of Sheldon around it many springs.
As the American Civil War was ending in 1865 and Americans returned to their “New Normal” the persistence of illness and plague, especially in larger city and most prevalently during the hot summer months, enhanced the desire for “Fresh Air” vacations. A news article of the time put it this way.
“Change of Air – Whether there is any real progress in medicine is often questioned.; but however this may be, it is certain there is progress out of it. It is being gradually replaced by other restorative agencies. The old practice of treating disease by drugs has, to a very considerable extent, given way to hygienic measures, and among them change of air is increasingly sought by invalids of all countries. This resource is becoming more and more available to the invalid classes with the multiplied facilities of cheap and comfortable travel.“
One such vacationer, C. Bainbridge Smith Esq., while traveling at the recommendation of his doctor stopped in St. Albans, VT on his was to Canada. Suffering from forms of oral cancer he sought relief. The proprietor of the Weldon House gave Mr. Smith water from the Sheldon Spring. The healing powers were such that his tongue was healed and upon returning to New York City argued a case in the courts without difficulty. Seeing the benefits of the water and sensing the opportunity to make a profit, Mr. Smith returned to Sheldon and bought “Kimball Springs” and developed what would be the Missisquoi Springs Resort kicking off a boom of development inviting tourism.
On November 7, 2017 five individuals including 2 from Sheldon and 1 front Highgate along with geologists Dallas Abbott and Bill Manke undertook the exploration of known springs in Sheldon. Following the research from the 1871 Beers map needed to locate and identify the springs , permission current land owners and directions to four existing springs. The geologist produced a professional report referred to above.
Many entrepreneurs attempted to make a profit though hospitality coupled with healing through “Mineral Water” both bathed in and consume. As a result some 11 or so hotels sprang up in Sheldon during the end of the 1900s and rivaled such well known locations as Saratoga Springs for visitors.
Significant Hotels and Springs
- The Missisquoi Springs Hotel & The Missisquoi Mineral Springs Company
- The Congress Hotel in Sheldon Springs located at the Sheldon Spring which continues to exist although not in use for medicinal purposes.
- The Vermont House and Spring
- The Central House AKA Wright Hotel and Central Spring
- The Portland House
- The Bellevue House
- The Travelers House
Other Accommodations in Sheldon Junction at the railroad junctions and near the springs
- The Missisquoi Valley House i
- The Landon Hotel renamed The Riverside
- The Goodspeed
- The Junction House
Additional reading below reveals more on the Sheldon experience as well as Vermont’s Mineral Springs
The Waters of Sheldon The Waters of Sheldon – Kimball
Vermont Historical Society – “Vermont As A Resort Area“