Healing Waters in Texas
In this age of self-care, when traveling is less often a quest for the exotic, and more a means to unplug from nagging work obligations and the siren call of social media, a quiet dip in a natural spring may be just what you're looking for on your next day off.
Resist the urge to snap a selfie. The healing properties of these historic spots depend on your undivided attention.
Touching Grass
"Her healing waters are better than the mixtures of the pharmacists. Her mud baths are more healing than the plasters of the laboratory. Her touch has virtue in it.
Scientific Germany is sending her patients out into the dew barefooted that the cooling virtue of a morning 'run at grass' may hypodermically inject strength through the pores of the sole. But scientific mind has long since discovered that nature ministers 'even more through the pores of the soul. Mother Earth is an unknown mother."
San Antonio Sunday Light, May 13, 1900
What's Old is New Again
Subject to the squeamishness of guests, public bathhouses surged or dipped in popularity depending on which plague had taken hold of the population. Even still, bathhouse patronage continued to serve as a marker of social status in Europe well into the 1700s. And while the sacred nature of springs was well established among the Native populations of North America, it was the Europeans who introduced formal bathing culture to the continent, though it was likely far more Puritan than whatever the Romans were doing.
While many springs, such as those in Texas, were well-established watering holes that had been utilized by prehistoric peoples, other springs gained their notoriety over the anecdotal evidence submitted by ordinary folks. Skin lesions miraculously healed. Stomach troubles vanished. All who indulged in "taking the waters" emerged better for having done so.
![](https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=20ea483c367b1f7792dd9b762e4f5684 320w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=e275ce09c5ceb0ea9e4cdf46df45bd49 540w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=5e9781b5cf690b04fe2e8e58d7bb8110 768w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=da9a00003e479c78c08b05e60f83b2e5 1024w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=164fe609809517ae714cef843deb9bf7 1200w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=f6f47875f7352caedea364be846b59ea 1440w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/downloads/metapth1536569_xl_ELPL_045-A4141_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=ee44348ff556544167494730dd0b80b5 1500w)
![](https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=4ab7c6bf9d9a8c96a1b6ce00cfaf9692 320w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=831dc76c0672642720a619ae4a6de637 540w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=ec210276e46b741d467485800906e490 768w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=23dd918fe357e446457d1fd0ab36e934 1024w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=4bd1b26eea5a8849eb2e47fcbf0e752c 1200w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=2b9a2234986121f6748d637e2a8bc00e 1440w, https://texas-time-travel.imgix.net/images/A-Regional-Photos/Pecos/Pecos-Balmorhea_Diving-Board-1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=ce44804f64441c2d7837f22e1bfc2206 1920w)
Is your favorite spring missing?
Several natural springs, such as Balmorhea State Park and Barton Springs Pool, were omitted from the above list due to the fact that while they are historic and bountiful in many other ways, the low minerality of their waters meant that they were never widely regarded for their curative properties and were therefore never promoted as such.
Acknowledgements
Much of the history referenced in this post was sourced from a single resource, Taking the Waters in Texas: Springs, Spas, and Fountains of Youth by Janet Mace Valenza. This book is an exhaustive and invaluable history of mineral bathing culture in Texas.