User:Mangoe/Aetna Springs Resort

Aetna Springs Resort is a former spa located in Napa County, California, northeast of Calistoga. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Facilities
While the property as a whole covers 672 acres, the structures are concentrated on either side of the road which passes through the property, with almost all of the contributing buildings on the south side. On the north, there is a nine hole golf course and its clubhouse, a barn, a garage, a plumbing shop, and a spring house which sits at site of the old bottling works.

History
In the course of gold and silver prospecting, mercury was discovered in the area, and a claim was filed in 1867 by the Valley Mining Company. They sank a shaft in the creek bed, but between flooding from the springs and a collapse in mercury prices, the diggings were not successful, and the land was sold in 1877 to Chancellor Hartson, who converted the property in a resort featuring the springs. The main spring was named the "American Ems" as the water was claimed to have mineral content similar to that of the spa at Bad Ems, and water from this spring was bottled for a time. At first the surviving miner's cabins and a boarding house at the site were remodelled; other buildings were added up into the early 1900s. The design of some of the larger buildings bears a resemblance to the work of Bernard Maybeck, although it cannot be proven that he designed these buildings. The golf course dates to this period, making it one of the oldest in the state.