Bathsheba's spring and bower, also known as Bathsheba's bath and bower, was the name of a well-known eighteenth-century property in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center City District dates the Free Soc ...

neighborhood and said to be the first

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

of the area. It had a

natural spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...

well with water that was considered to be of exceptional quality and to have curative properties.

Owner

Bathsheba Bowers Bathsheba Bowers (June 4, 1671 – 1718) was an American Quaker author and preacher. Her only surviving work is the spiritual autobiography ''An Alarm Sounded to Prepare the Inhabitants of the World to Meet the Lord in the Way of His Judgments' ...

, whose grandparents arrived at Plymouth during the Great Migration from Yorkshire, England, purchased the Second Street property around 1690 from the Free Society of Traders. It was next to a natural spring at

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There she built a small house of unusual design. Bowers was a recluse and considered an eccentric. Her religion was sometimes that of a Quaker and other times a mix of other religions.

Description

The property had an elaborately designed garden around the house that Bowers maintained. It was called by many "Bathsheba's bower" and the spring was known as "Bathsheba's spring." The property at Society Hill was also known as "Bathsheba's bath and bower." The spring well water was known as the best quality in the city and said to have curative properties. The

bower Bower may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Catherine, or The Bower'', an unfinished Jane Austen novel * A high-ranking card (usually a Jack) in certain card games: ** The Right and Left Bower (or Bauer), the two highest-ranking cards in the g ...

that was next to the house was surrounded with shrubbery. According to architect

Ieoh Ming Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

, the 1700s property was set up as a business and said to be the first spa in the Society Hill area. She provided a drinking cup for use by anyone to drink some of the spring water. The property was located near the

Benjamin Loxley house Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's th ...

on the west side of the street where General Cadwallader constructed a large home. When others tried to construct houses near Cadwallader's they found the ground to be soft from an underground spring. They had to drive piles down into the ground to make a foundation. A local Philadelphian by the name of Alexander Fullerton, when in his mid-seventies around the year 1840, spoke of a property with a spring he remembers as a boy called "Bathsheba's spring and bower" in the Society Hill area. He knew of a village pump near there that drew water from this spring source and that the quality of the water was excellent.

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Sources

* * * * * * * {{Philadelphia , state=collapsed Springs of the United States Spas