The city lights faded behind me as I headed west, bound for the hardwood forests, big skies and rolling hills of West Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains. Unlike the 18th- and 19th-century socialites and wellness seekers who once arrived by carriage, stagecoach or train, I traveled by car; yet, like those early visitors, I also sought The Greenbrier Resort’s famed therapeutic waters.

Known in select circles as simply “America’s Resort,” The Greenbrier first opened in 1778, predating the U.S. Constitution by nine years. At the time, the sulphur springs proved the resort’s main draw, offering visitors relief from rheumatism and other common ailments through the high mineral content and naturally warm temperatures. The ritual became known as “taking the waters,” and it soon became a symbol of status to soak and lounge among the most prominent travelers in the country.

The ritual today is called The Greenbrier Treatment, and I couldn’t think of a better choice for myself since I had come to soak in the resort’s rich legacy. Aside from the spa’s updated facilities and amenities (like plush bathrobes, a complimentary snack bar and its signature peach tea), not much of this ritual has changed since those early years. On paper the experience could be written off as simply a bath, a shower and a massage, but, like all things at The Greenbrier, there’s always something deeper than what meets the eye.

© Greenbrier Spa

I started off in a private bathroom, dimly lit with candles beside a pre-heated tub bubbling with jets and spring water.

My therapist guided me through what to expect from my 20-minute soak in the tub, treating it more like a guided meditation than a bath. She explained the benefits of water — not only its calcium-, magnesium- and sulfate-rich mineral content which the body soaks in like a giant multivitamin but also the way water provides a weightless environment that allows the body to fully relax and the pain to release. She left me alone with my iced peach tea and my thoughts, allowing me to disconnect and just be.

She returned just as I sipped my last drop of tea and helped me into a bathrobe and slippers before walking me to an ancient-looking room with a Swiss Shower sporting 17 separate shower heads from head to toe. She stood behind a control panel on the other end of the room with two firehose-like nozzles aimed at my body, the same system once used to help those early spa goers increase their circulation. The hoses turned on, and she maneuvered the single-streamed spray with a finesse that transformed the pressure into a relaxing water massage, targeting my sore muscles and reenergizing my tired joints.

In all my spa experiences in more than 88 countries, this was the first time I’d ever experienced anything like what happened in that shower. As the warm water washed over my body from all directions, I started to fully relax. My shoulders lowered naturally and my feet rested softly below. No tension remained, inside or out. I was standing up, but I felt fully supported by the water in a way that allowed me to surrender to the experience.

The water shut off, and I smiled to imagine how forward-thinking those early wellness seekers had been to develop a circulation massager from fire hoses yet also how even more incredible it was that such a basic system designed centuries ago could still provide such powerful results to this day.

© Greenbrier Spa

I stepped into a fresh bathrobe and slippers before transferring to the final room of my Greenbrier Treatment: the massage room. My skin already glowing and muscles at ease as I lay down face-first onto a warmed, pillowtop massage bed, the treatment could have easily ended there, but the warm oil massage that followed felt strategic in ensuring my full relaxation and release.

I rose from the table refreshed, feeling both strong and yet somehow softened through the process. I’ve heard many quotes throughout my life that liken water to a healer, a purifier or even as a path toward joy. Each poetic word came back to me as I made my way to the relaxation room, water glass in hand. I came to learn at The Greenbrier “taking the waters” wasn’t as much a treatment as it was a journey. As those early visitors discovered long before me, it was a way to feel connected — both to myself and to others — while letting go of the dehydrating stressors of daily life.

THE GREENBRIER SPA
The Greenbrier Resort
101 Main St. W.
White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986
tel 844 837 2466