"So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and behold, they were written
in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon
for their transgression." 1 Chronicles 9:1
Wilson's Springs is in itself not much different from other places where people have congregated, but it has over the years acquired the distinction of having a history behind it. For this reason, the old farmhouse at the base of the mountain has a more significant meaning than as just a collection of bricks and board. It is an entity in itself, an island of isolated occurances and long forgotten memories. For this it deserves to be remembered.
My earliest recollections of the house and farm revolve around family. They are a vaguery of sight and sound, all shrouded in an envelope of the past come present. It was a personal experience then, and the world of our Grandparent's home revolved around a close group of familiar faces and welcomed events. Later on there came the realization that others had come before. All about the place there was a feeling that we were not the first to walk those halls, not
the first to occupy rooms that seemed more suitable to accommodate the many rather than the few.
The past is never lost, however, though the evidence of it is sometimes elusive and hard to detect. The imprint left by the hundreds who visited the old hotel is still visible to those who are sensitive enough to discern it. It is evident in the echo of voices carried on the breeze of a still, summer night and in the floorboards worn smooth by the passage of many feet passing from room to room.
It seems that people leave a reflection of themselves in each place that they occupy, a kind of slow erosion of self from birth to grave. Wilson's Springs was a place where many came to share a brief portion of their lives with others and then continue on. Some returned time after time, and others did not, but whether frequent visitor or one time guest, I suspect that happy times were spent pursuing the simple pleasures of summertime in the country. The hotel and grounds are of course much changed from the way that they appeared a century ago, but perhaps if those who are since gone could return for a brief while they would be pleased that the old house still stands.
