Blue Sulphur Springs

DateSeptember 15, 1843

Possibly by Eliza Howard Simms Burd 1793 - 1860

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Greenbriar County

MediumWatercolor and ink on wove paper.

DimensionsFramed: 8 5/8" x 13 1/4". Unframed: 7 3/8" x 11 11/16. (18.7 cm. x 29.7 cm.).

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1961.302.3

DescriptionFrom an elevated perspective, viewer looks parallel along a line of roofs with brick chimneys toward a 2 1/2 story frame building set into a hillside on brick pillars; white columns across main story; yellow door leading onto ballustrade roof at second story level. Dirt roads run parallel to the roof line down which the viewer sights (one on each side of the roof line). White fences criss-cross the scene. Yellow barn at far left with semi-attached shed. Yellow outbuilding between it and white frame building. Trees dot landscape, rolling hillsides dotted with trees beyond. Pump to left of roof line.Label TextThis watercolor was originally part of a group of thirteen depictions of various springs in the Virginias; all of them were fashionable resorts in the nineteenth century, although most have ceased to function as such. Sadly, nothing remains of Blue Sulphur's glorious past except the small Grecian temple that once sheltered her widely-touted waters.

The museum owns two views of Blue Sulphur, both taken at right angles to one another, the lowermost probably having been sketched from the end of the second-or third-story porch on the main hotel, which is shown head on in the center pictureMark(s)In ink in script in the lower right corner of the secondary support of no. 2 is "Blue Sulphur Springs September 15th 1843."ProvenanceMay B. Foell (?); Old Print shop, New York, NY.