A Guide to the Cove Lithia Spring Records, 1888-1948
A Collection in
Special Collections, Kegley Library
Collection Number 2008.1
![[logo]](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/logos/wcc.jpg)
Special Collections, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College
Special CollectionsKegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Wytheville, Virginia 24382-3308
USA
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745
Email: gmattis@wcc.vccs.edu
URL: http://kegleylibrary.wcc.vccs.edu/
© 2011 By Wytheville Community College. All rights reserved.
Processed by: Cathy Carlson Reynolds
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Cove Lithia Spring Records, Mss. Collection 2008.1, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA
Acquisition Information
Donated by Mary B. Kegley in 2008; part of the Mary B. Kegley Collection.
Historical Information
Heralded as a late nineteenth century source of medicinal water, Cove Lithia Spring, a tract of sixty-nine acres in Crocketts Cove, Wythe County, was initially owned by William G. Crockett and his sons. Crockett marketed the water through pharmacist A. S. Haller in 1884. In October 1888 William G. Crockett sold the property to Crockett, Thomas and Company.
In April 1890 the Cove Lithia Spring Corporation was formed with R. E. Withers as president and Charles Benton Thomas as secretary/treasurer. The company bottled, shipped, and distributed water from the spring, touting is as "Nature's Specific Remedy." A few months later in August 1890, the property was sold to R. D. Bohannan and G. V. Litchfield by William G. Crockett and Emily Crockett, Charles B. Thomas and Elizabeth Pierce Crockett Thomas, A. G. Crockett and Mary Crockett, and Crockett, Thomas, and Company.
In 1903, Bohannan purchased the interests of G. V. Litchfield. According to Rush Crockett, from his collection at the Wythe County Historical Society, Bohannan paid $5000 for the spring property and erected three buildings at the cost of $10,000, and never realized a profit. On 2 April 1908 the property was deeded to his widow, Florence Short Bohannan and his step-daughter Mary M. Bohannan. Florence and Mary Bohannan resided in Columbus, Ohio.
Judging from a 1935 lease agreement with F. M. Crockett of Glade Spring, Florence Bohannan and her daughter perhaps leased the property between 1908 and 1935. By 1941, however, Bohannan was losing money from the property and asked Thomas about selling the property. Thomas replied that the property was overgrown, the road impassable, the spring weak, and the water contained sediment.
Bohannan continued her efforts to sell the property in 1942 and 1943; she sold the property to G. C. Roberts for $703.70 in June 1948.
Scope and Content
The Records were found amongst papers of Wytheville attorney William Crockett Thomas. They are arranged in two folders, correspondence and deeds.
Contents List
- Folder-item 1:1
Letter. William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia to Florence Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio. 7 August 1935.1 p.; carbon copy; enclosure.
Re: 1908 deed for property and draft contract of agreement for lease of land to F. M. Crockett of Glade Spring, Virginia. Photocopy of agreement attached; original is filed in Folder 2.
- Folder-item 1:2
Letter. Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 4 October 1941.2 p.
Re: condition of road from Wytheville to the Cove and any variation from his 1930 report and possibility of selling the property. "As the matter now stands, we are paying money in taxes, year after year, without any prospect of returns."
- Folder-item 1:3
Letter. William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia to Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio. 14 October 1941.1 p.; carbon copy.
Re: condition of the road from Wytheville to the Cove, "macadamized and can be traveled during all times of the year." He also suggests that there is no market for the property because of inaccessibility, and the "spring is weak and a sediment seems to form in the bottom of a bottle when it is shipped and people seem to object to this."
- Folder-item 1:4
Letter. Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 9 October 1942.2 p.
Re: possibility of selling property if price was "cheap enough." She also writes that tax appraisal is $300 and that "taxes are now $6 a year."
- Folder-item 1:5
Letter. Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 20 November 1943.1 p.
Re: her decision not to pay future taxes on property "but just let the property go."
- Folder-item 1:6
Folder 6. William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia to Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio. 10 December 1943.1 p.; carbon copy.
Re; his recommendation that she not pay taxes on property that "is steep, rough land that is worth nothing as a mineral spring proposition."
- Folder-item 1:7
Letter. Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 23 January 1948.2 p.
Re: possibility of local sale of property and tax appraisal of property of $160.
- Folder-item 1:8
Letter. G. C. Roberts to William C. Thomas, Attorney. 20 May 1948.1 p.
Re: offer for Cove Lithia Spring property at price of $670.
- Folder-item 1:9
Letter. William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia to Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio. 22 June 1948.1 p.; carbon copy; enclosure.
Re: offer of G. C. Roberts; enclosure of deed, photocopy attached, original in Deeds folder.
- Folder-item 1:10
Letter. Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 25 June 1948.1 p.
Re: signed deed and appreciation for "happy ending to what seemed an almost hopeless situation."
- Folder-item 1:11
Letter. Mary McDonald Bohannan Chubb, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 19 July 1948.1 p.
Re: receipt of two checks for the sale of the Cove Lithia Spring property for $282.10 each.
- Folder-item 1:12
Letter. Florence Short Bohannan, Columbus, Ohio to William C. Thomas, Wytheville, Virginia. 4 October 1948.1 p.; enclosure.
Re: tax bill for property of $11.70.
- Folder-item 2:1
Typescript. Deed, W. G. Crockett et al to Crockett, Thomas & Company, Inc. 15 October 1888.Deed Book 35, p. 387.
For Cove Lithia Spring land. Crockett, wife Emma, and family and boarders retained right to use water from spring.
- Folder-item 2:2
Typescript. Deed, William G. Crockett et al to G. V. Litchfield and R. D. Bohannan. 8 August 1890.1 p. Deed Book 37, p. 552.
Deed between William G. Crockett and Emily Crockett, Charles Benton Thomas and Elizabeth Pierce Crockett Thomas, A. G. Crockett and Mary T. Crockett, and Crockett, Thomas and Company, Inc. to G. V. Litchfield and R. D. Bohannan. Price for property was $5,000.
- Folder-item 2:3
Typescript. Deed, R. D. Bohannan and Florence Short Bohannan and Mary McDonald Bohannan. 2 April 1908.7 p. Deed Book, 53, p. 466.
Re: transferral of Cove Lithia Spring property, 69 acres. Also included is description of spring, chemical analysis and lithia water, and two testimonials by Thomas M. Jackson, Wythe County, and Isaac F. Stower, Bland County.
- Folder-item 2:4
Typescript. Agreement, Florence Short Bohannan, Mary McDonald Bohannan Chubb and F. M. Crockett. August 1935.2 p.
Agreement between Bohannan and Chubb for F. M. Crockett of Glade Spring, Virginia to lease Cove Lithia Spring property.
- Folder-item 2:5
Typescript. Deed, Florence Short Bohannan, Mary McDonald Bohannan Chubb, and G. C. Roberts. June 1948.2 p.
Re: purchase of Cove Lithia Spring for $703.70.