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Bath County was created on December 14, 1790, from parts of Augusta, Botetourt, and Greenbrier counties. Due to the many mineral springs found in the area, the county was named for the English spa and resort city of Bath. In the early 1700s, before the county was formed, the area that subsequently became Bath County was settled by immigrants from England. The families who settled in what has since become Bath County came to Virginia from the English regions of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, the western portion of Sussex, Dorset, Somerset, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, Kent and Lincolnshire. This was notable because much of Shenandoah Valley region was settled by Scots-Irish immigrants and German farmers, both of whom were moving southward from Pennsylvania, whereas by contrast, what has since become Bath County was almost exclusively English. By the year 1800, Bath County was exclusively inhabited by first generation English immigrants and their Virginia-born children. This population was mostly subsistence farmers, though some were also artisans and smaller amounts were shopkeepers.
Like its namesake, Bath County's economy is focused on tourism and recreation. The county's major employer is The Omni Homestead, a resort and historic hotel built in 1766 as "The Homestead" in Hot Springs. Additional recreational opportunities are provided by camping and fishing at Lake Moomaw in the southern part of the county.
The Nature Conservancy owns more than 9,000 acres of forest habitat in the county, established as the Warm Springs Mountain Preserve, which adds additional protection to some of the most ecologically significant habitats in the Central Appalachian Mountains. Montane pine barrens are globally rare habitat, appearing as dwarfed shrublands, and only known in Virginia to occur on Warm Springs Mountain.
This project is a table of contents for all projects relating to this County of Virginia. Please feel free to add profiles of anyone who was born, lived or died in this county.