River walks, lowing cows and mineral soaks in a centuries-old bathhouse anchored our restorative getaway in the Allegheny Mountains of Bath County, Virginia. My husband and I wanted a quiet nature retreat within a four-hour drive of the noisy politics and population of Washington, D.C. We chose Fort Lewis Lodge and Farm in Millboro. Situated in a mountain valley, the 3,300-acre cattle farm unfurls as a patchwork of grasslands and woods cut through by the Cowpasture River and partially bordered by the George Washington National Forest.
Virginia’s Bath County, long known for its healing springs, has attracted “wellness” visitors for 250 years. In 1818, Thomas Jefferson, hoping to relieve his rheumatism, spent three weeks “taking the waters” in Warm Springs. He stayed five miles away in Hot Springs at the Bullitt Hotel, the forerunner of the Omni Homestead Resort. That 483-room luxury property, Bath County’s most noted, features a waterpark, spa, multiple restaurants, and two golf courses. Lovely as the prestigious resort is, we sought simple—the other Bath County.
