The small community of Ballston Spa, New York, was once a thriving center of tourism due to its healing mineral springs. Eventually tourists began visiting the neighboring community of Saratoga Springs instead, which was popularized by its hotels, casinos and horse track.
A group of surveyors discovered a mineral spring in 1771 in the area that would become Ballston Spa. Visitors flocked to the spring in the 18th and 19th centuries for its healing properties. Ballston Spa is named for early resident Rev. Eliphalet Ball.
In 1787 Benajah Douglas, father of 1860 presidential candidate Stephen Douglas, built the first tavern and hotel at Ballston Spa. It was located near the natural spring.
Ballston Spa's San Souci Hotel was the largest hotel in the United States when it was built by Nicholas Low in 1803. Presidents, senators and governors stayed there, as well as many wealthy private citizens.
Gideon Putnam built the Union hotel in Saratoga Springs in 1800. The growing community would soon eclipse Ballston Spa's slice of the tourism market.
James Fennimore Cooper wrote some of his legendary novel "Last of the Mohicans" while staying in the building that is now the Brookside Museum.
Scenes from two popular movies--"The Way We Were" (1973) and "The Horse Whisperer" (1998)--were filmed in Ballston Spa.
