The Warm Springs are located in Meriwether County, Georgia, about half a mile from the town of Warm Springs. The springs are located along the north base of Pine Mountain, and are in the Piedmont region of Georgia. Several other warm springs and some cold springs are also found in the area.
The springs have always been of interest for the above-average temperature of the waters at about 88ºF. United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt first visited the springs in 1924 after a polio attack and continued visiting over the years. He even maintained a residence in Warm Springs, called the Little White House, which was his place of death in 1945. Before he died, Roosevelt created the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation to help treat other polio victims; the nonprofit ran an entire medical facility on-site. The pools Roosevelt swam in are now empty, and the Roosevelt Historic Pools & Warm Springs building is a museum and historic place. The drained pools are on display. The modern Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation Facility, a vocational rehabilitation center adjacent to the Little White House, still uses water from the springs for its rehabilitation pools.
FDR swimming in the warm springs, 1929.
Image taken from U.S. National Archives.
One of the warm springs pools, 1928.
Image taken from U.S. National Archives.
The water for the warm springs falls as rain on the crest of Pine Mountain, and then infiltrates and becomes groundwater. The water is then carried to a depth of around 3,000 feet. The temperature underneath the Earth’s surface increases with depth, and as the water travels deeper, it heats, then eventually travels back to the Earth’s surface. Although it loses some heat as it ascends, the water remains warm, and is delivered to the springs at 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The rocks the water is carried through are a metamorphic, Precambrian formation called the Hollis Quartzite. Faulting allows water to percolate through the cracks.
Post written by Penelope Helm.
Sources/Further Reading:
National Park Service. (2020, August 11). Georgia: Warm Springs Historic District. https://www.nps.gov/places/georgia-warm-springs-historic-district.htm
United States Department of the Interior. (1937). The Warm Springs of Georgia: Their Geologic Relations and Origin. https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/0819/report.pdf