POST MARK COLLECTORS CLUB - POST OFFICE PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION



Post Office: Valhermoso Springs, AL 35775
Date of Photo: June, 2000
Photographer: Jimmy S. Emerson

Road Sign:
"Vale of Beauty" The restorative qualities of the mineral springs here attracted settlement in the early 1800s. Variously known as Chunn Spring (after Lancelot Chunn) and Manning springs (after Robert Manning) the spot was named for early developers of the resort where a hotel and surrounding cabins were erected between 1818 and 1823. By 1834 when the first post office was established it was called White Sulphur Springs.

Jean Joseph Giers acquired the hotel and surrounding property in 1856, renaming is "Valhermoso Springs". Into the 20th century travelers from all over the world came to the hotel and springs seeking relief from rheumatism, insomnia, consumption, and ailments of the skin, kidneys, stomach, and liver. The hotel closed in the 1920s and was destroyed by a tornado in 1950. (Alabama Historical Association)