Armour's Hotel, formerly the Counts Hotel, is a historic hotel on East Main Street in Red Boiling Springs,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Built in 1924, this is one of three hotels remaining from the early-20th century resort boom at Red Boiling Springs. In 1986, it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

along with the

Donoho Hotel The Donoho Hotel is a historic hotel in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1916, the Donoho is one of three hotels remaining from the early-20th century resort boom at Red Boiling Springs, and the last of the great white fram ...

and the Thomas House. Armour's Hotel is the only Red Boiling Springs hotel still offering the mineral springs services that made this area an attraction in the 1890s and early 20th century.

Description

The hotel is an example of

colonial revival architecture The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

, constructed of locally produced brick. Although at its peak there were additional buildings to boost occupancy, the original structure has only 24 guest rooms. The hotel was built in a T-shape, featuring a full-length two-storey porch facing northeast along the 61-foot front of the building, with two-storey columns of brick and wood. It has a metal gable roof, with wide eaves supported by vertical wood brackets, and wood shingles decorating the gable ends. Eleven guest rooms are on the first floor. There is a

cherry wood A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

stairway to the second floor, which includes 15 guest rooms. Access to the upstairs guest rooms is from an interior hallway, and only one downstairs guest room has an external door, which allows access to a southeast-facing sun porch. Each guest room has an individual bathroom. In addition, there is a bathhouse with twin claw-foot bath tubs for mineral water baths.

History

The 1880s saw a boom in the development of mineral springs resorts as summer destinations, inspired by the success of

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...

. Early in this decade, New York businessman James F. O. Shaughnessy purchased the Red Boiling Springs tract and began development of the area as a resort. Counts Hotel was built on a bank overlooking the creek in 1924. The Red Boiling Springs resort was at its peak, with six hotels each having about 50 or 60 rooms, and all including three Southern-style meals each day with the price of the room. There were also at least nine boarding houses. The hotel was first called Smith's Brick Hotel, being the first brick hotel in the area. It gained the Counts Hotel name when it was purchase by Henry Counts in the 1940s. Counts installed modern luxuries: plumbing, electricity, and ensuite bathrooms for each room. Of the original five types of mineral water available at the resort, three types were available on the Counts Hotel property: "white," "red" and "black." One of the two doctors in the town would prescribe the appropriate water and dosage to each guest. The "white" water was recommended to aid digestion. The sulfurous "red" water was said to be helpful for the

bladder The urinary bladder, or simply bladder, is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination. In humans the bladder is a distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor. Urine enters ...

and for

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...

. The sulfur and magnesium "black" water was claimed to treat the stomach and liver. It remained open in 1952, when only Cloyd Hotel and Counts Hotel were still operating, and has been open almost continuously. Today, it is the only hotel which still offers the traditional mineral water baths.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Macon County, Tennessee Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Macon County, Tennessee