Each month, local historian Florine Bell provides information about prominent local individuals and places. This month features the second part of the story of the natural springs. For centuries, people have turned to natural springs of waters and pools in search of non-traditional methods to relieve themselves from pain, respiratory ailments, gout, stomach, nervousness, liver problems, and other chronic diseases.
According to many experts, the heavy concentrations of calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and other minerals contained in the water could possibly affect one’s health. Medical professionals who recognized the therapeutic benefits of drinking and soaking in the water, prescribed it for malaria and other chronic diseases. People who utilized the reddish color water often called “hot springs,” spoke of its unusual distinctive taste and invigorative experiences.
A Biblical account of the healing virtue of water occurred at the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus sent the blind man to wash and be healed. The origin and legacy of Panacea Spring’s healing waters began in 1772 in Warren County, southwest of Littleton, when Joseph John Williams I (1727-1818) acquired a 3,200-acre land grant from John Carteret (1690-1763), the 2nd Earl Granville. According to local accounts, the springs were initially discovered in 1802 by enslaved people on the property who talked of being healed of ailments after drinking the water.
However, prior knowledge of the spring’s discovery h.
