The Saratoga County History Center (SCHC) at Brookside Museum announces a virtual presentation by Theodore Corbett on “The Rise and Fall of Ballston Spa as Resort”. This will be the 24rd presentation in the Center’s popular speaker series “Experts Next Door” and will take place at 7pm on Thursday, March 21st through Zoom.
After the Revolutionary War, the new nation’s earliest resorts were spas, following the tradition of those in England. Ballston Spa was one of the earliest and soon eclipsed its rivals in terms of springs, hotels and amenities. New York City’s Nicholas Low was the most enterprising of the Spa’s developers. By the 1830s, however, Saratoga Springs’ resort had surpassed Ballston Spa, which continued, using its water power and railroad to establish the mills of the Industrial Revolution.
The event is open to the public. It is free for SCHC members, and $5 for non-members. Pre-registration is required through the website https://brooksidemuseum.org/event/end-24-the-rise-and-fall-of-ballston-spa-as-a-resort-ted-corbett/www.brooksidemuseum.org .
Ted Corbett grew up in upstate New York, an area which has been his life-long interest. He has taught at several universities and colleges, and is the former director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation and the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies. He has published a dozen books including the award-winning No Turning Point, The Saratoga Campaign in Perspective and The Making of American Resorts. Recent research has taken him to the Caird Library, National Maritime Museum, UK and the New-York Historical Society as a Gilder Lehrman Fellow. He resides on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
