Red Boiling Springs, TN

Red Boiling Springs built its early identity on mineral water. A stage line to Gallatin began in 1873, and by 1876 James Bennett had bought the springs tract and built a hotel. The resort era grew quickly: four hotels stood in 1918, the number climbed above a dozen, and the town reached its height in the 1920s and 1930s before medical opinion turned against the healing claims attached to mineral springs. Armour's Hotel and the Thomas House still mark the historic district, while old pump houses and annual events keep the springs in the local conversation. Red Boiling Springs is a Macon County city whose history bubbles up from the water.