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The "Spirit" of Warm Springs LbNA #26004

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 1, 2006
Location:
City:Warm Springs
County:Meriwether
State:Georgia
Boxes:1
Planted by:Green Therapy
Found by: R2L2D-J
Last found:Feb 20, 2011
Status:FFFFFF
Last edited:Oct 1, 2006
This letterbox is placed at a historic location in Warm Springs, GA. Read the history of this place below, as described on its website:

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt, named by Time Magazine 'the foremost statesman and political leader' of the 20th Century, founded Roosevelt Warm Springs in 1927, but the history of the place started long before that.

In fact, the known history of the warm springs had its recorded beginnings with Native Americans, whose tribal confrontations often led injured warriors to the water at the base of Pine Mountain for what they considered its healing properties. In the years that followed white settlement, the warm springs gave rise to a spa, where water emerging at 900 gallons per minute and 88 degrees year-round helped turn the place into a well-known stagecoach stop. Influential southern leaders like John C. Calhoun of South Carolina and Henry Clay of Kentucky are known to have visited the therapeutic baths located about 70 miles southwest of Atlanta before the Civil War.

Nearing the turn of the century, well-to-do families from the area began erecting summer homes and The Meriwether Inn, a popular, 120-room facility, opened on the hill overlooking the springs. A large public swimming pool was also installed to permit better access to the warm, buoyant waters and the place became host to Georgia high society through the early 1900s.

By the time FDR, a well-known New York politician and aristocrat, arrived on Oct. 3, 1924, three years into his personal battle with polio, the Inn had seen its better days. Nevertheless, one of its owners, George Foster Peabody, a wealthy banker and personal friend, had written FDR about the substantial improvement another local polio victim enjoyed while swimming daily in the warm water, knowing Roosevelt was anxious for anything that might help him walk again.

Sparked by FDR’s legacy, the March of Dimes, one of history’s greatest fundraising efforts, led to extensive medical research and the Salk Vaccine (1954), which effectively eradicated new cases of polio in the United States by the mid-1960s.

As a result, a shifting focus evolved and the adjacent Georgia Rehabilitation Center was created in 1964 to provide vocational rehabilitation for persons with disabilities throughout the State of Georgia. Ten years later, the state assumed operation of the Foundation hospital; turning it into a medical rehabilitation facility that specialized in brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, orthopedic and general rehabilitation services. In 1980, the separate medical and vocational programs were merged into one comprehensive, state-managed rehab facility. Today, Roosevelt Warm Springs specializes in long term acute care in addition to both medical and vocational rehabilitation and offers a wide array of outpatient services."

Now that you have some understanding of the history and purpose of this place, you are ready to find the letterbox!

- Enter Roosevelt Warm Springs at its northern entrance, by the FDR Historic Pools & Springs. If you arrive between 9am and 4:45pm, walk through the pools for a free tour, learning more about the history of this site and its role in the rehabilitation movement.
- After exploring the pools, make your "fair way" up the road.
- Curve left at the club house, and pass the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit on the left. The Center for Therapeutic Recreation will soon be on your right.
- Continue straight, watching out for bouncing balls coming from the right and left.
- At the stop sign, look to the right for a large replica of this site's founder. Continue circling right.
- At the next stop sign, with a cottage named for Roosevelt's wealthy banker friend in front of you, turn left.
- Fork to the right, towards the lake where people with disabilities' dreams come true.
-Park outside the gates of the "Camp", reading the sign on the gate.
- Follow the sidewalk and wooden path around the lake.
- Walk towards the lodge and the Basil O'Connor Memorial Nature Trail.
- Face the plaque giving a history of the Trail, and read about O'Connor's victory. Turn to 300 degrees from this spot, and follow the trail through the trees.
- Cross the road, continuing on the trail.
- Look to the left of the path for three trees springing from a single trunk.
-While standing on the path facing the triple tree, look towards 140 degrees. There will be a single tree 13 paces from the path... in between the triple tree and a quadruple tree.
- Here, at the base of the tree, under some rocks, you will find your treasure.
- Please replace the letterbox and rocks when you are finished stamping.

* You will need to bring your own ink.*

Have fun!