Beginning around 1761, the area included in Bath County’s Warm Springs and West Warm Springs Historic District arose around and near to the natural thermal springs that drew visitors for recreational, medical and social reasons and gave the communities their name. The district includes 223 contributing historic resources—among them, buildings, estates, cemeteries, and archaeological sites—and covers approximately 720 acres near the center of the county. The district encompasses the village of Warm Springs and its one-time courthouse and jail (today’s Warm Springs Inn) and various commercial buildings and houses. Extending westward along Virginia Route 39, the district also enfolds West Warm Springs, historically an African American community settled after the Civil War, many of whose residents found work in the local resort industry.