Guilford Mineral Springs

A collector takes a stroll into Vermont’s history

By Richard Cofrancesco

Down a country road in Guilford, Vermont, lies an old carriage road leading to the site where people once gathered to take the waters of the Guilford Mineral Springs. Even though locals had known of the curative powers of this water, it wasn’t until 1868 that “a company of gentlemen of a scientific and business character purchased the estate within which the Spring is situated, for the purpose of bringing the water, with all its health-imparting influences, more directly before the public.” [1]

As a bottle collector, I was interested to see the site where my Guilford Mineral Springs bottle had been filled. I picked up a trail map at the head of the four-tenths mile Weeks Forest Carriage Trail, named and improved by the Guilford Conservation Commission. We strolled along Broad Brook, where carriages once passed, alongside rock ledges and the “Guilfords” constructed by local sixth graders as part of their forest study.

We came to the moss-covered stone foundation that was once part of the bottling plant. I set my bottle on the wall and photographed it next to remnants of long ago bottles (which of course the visitor would never disturb or take). Quart bottles of the mineral water once sold for $6 per case of 24 bottles and the water was also sold in 20 and 40 gallon barrels. [2]

The waters contained minerals dissolved by the acids in the water when it flowed very slowly through the bedrock and up through the wetlands over thousands of years. According to the 1869 Weeks and Potter booklet, Guilford Mineral Spring Water, “The taste is slightly ironized, with a taste of magnesia, and when drank cold is an agreeable beverage.”[3]

When I found out the Guilford Historical Society did not have a bottle from the mineral springs, I tracked another one down to donate to them. Many thanks to Linda and Steve Lembke, who introduced me to this unique natural and historic site and who worked with others to make it such an inviting place to enjoy both history and nature.

REFERENCES:

1-3 Guilford Mineral Spring Water, booklet, Weeks and Potter, 1869.