Bedford Springs 6/25/22
Photo from Internet Search
In 1796, Nicholas Shauffler "rediscovered" iron, manganese, and sulfur springs on a farm of Fredrick Naugel just south of Bedford, PA. Actually, Native American people who lived in the area, long knew about the springs. They believed the waters had healing powers. A few years after Shauffler found the springs, the land was purchased by a local physician, Dr. John Anderson, who capitalized on the waters' supposed health powers by building a bathing facility. “…Thus starting the tradition of people traveling to experience the waters of the Bedford Springs and setting the foundation for what is today Bedford Springs Resort.”
Photo from Internet Search
The springs quickly became well known for its healing waters and grew from the few buildings erected by Dr. Anderson into a spacious “upscale” hotel and spa with complementary health services. By the late 1800s, wealthy and politically connected clients from along the East Coast could travel to Bedford and the resort by two different railroads. This coincided with the building of a hotel and the original golf course, both of which were expanded multiple times as business grew. The westward expansion of the original section of the PA Turnpike after WW II through Bedford opened the resort to even more clients.
Photo from Internet Search
“However, tastes in leisure travel...changed significantly over the years [of the 1960s and 70s] and the property eventually shut its doors in 1986…. Even so, the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.” In the later 1990s a business consortium purchased the property and began an extensive restoration process. In 2009, the property was sold to Omni Hotels, a luxury hotel corporation, which continued restoration of the hotel, spa and golf facilities. Concurrently, I-99 was being built from I-80, the major east-west highway across norther Pennsylvania, south to Bedford.
We were aware of the revitalization of the resort from newspaper and TV news accounts, but we had never visited. A trip down I-99 to Cumberland, MD in early June to meet friends for lunch provided an opportunity for Sue, Nagwa and I to stop. Quests were arriving for a golf tournament so parking as restricted, but we were able to talk a employee into letting us park in a restricted area for 20 minutes. Even with that time limit, the expanse and quality of the hotel, spa and golf facilities, were apparent, as captured in the accompanying photos.
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