"'Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, that fifty acres of land adjoining the said springs, being part of a larger tract of land the property of the Right Honourable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding the same by a grant or conveyance from him, be and the same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin, Warner Washington, Rev. Charles M. Thurston, Robert Rutherford, Thomas Rutherford, Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel Washington, William Elbzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, James Edmondson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, to be by them, or any seven of them, laid out into lots of quarter of an acre each, with convenient streets, which shall be, and the same is, hereby established a town by the name of Bath,' &c., &c., &c.--(See Herring's Statutes at Large.) "The town was consequently laid off, and a sale of lots made in August, 1777. Among the purchasers were Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Horatio Gates, Gen. George Washington, and many others of note and distinction. "In the schedule to Gen. Washington's will we find this clause,-- "'_Bath, or Warm Springs._ "'Two well-situated and handsome buildings to the amount of £150--$800.' "And this note of the property appended to the schedule,-- "'BATH. "'The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost me, to the best of my recollection, between fifty and sixty pounds twenty years ago. Whether property there has increased or decreased in its value, and in what condition the houses are, I am ignorant, but suppose they are not valued too high.' "The sites of these houses are still pointed out. In the Memoirs of the Baroness de Reidesel (wife of the German General who was taken prisoner at the surrender of Burgoyne), she speaks of having passed part of the summer of 1779 at these springs with her invalid husband, and mentions having made the acquaintance of Gen. Washington's family there. She devotes a page or two of her most interesting work to the narration of quaint and pleasant incidents, illustrating their mode of life at the springs, and at the same time illustrating (though unintentionally) the excellent and amiable character of the authoress.