The Town of Bath Historic Landmark Commission

The Town of Bath has a rich history of more than 250 years as the country’s first spa and notable resort area. Not only does it possess one of the most prominent colonial histories in West Virginia, it is also prominent on the national level.

The Town of Bath in 1893

About the Historic Landmark Commission

The State of West Virginia is mandated to carry out Historic Preservation by the National Historical Preservation Act of 1966, which authorizes identification, evaluation and preservation of our Historic resources.

We, the members of the Historic Landmark Commission, seek to preserve the historic sites of the Town of Bath. In 2006, we received a grant from the WV State Historical and Preservation Office to conduct a survey of the existing historic structures of the Town of Bath. They survey was completed with 154 structures identified. The survey will assist in the development of detailed historic preservation plans for the municipality. This is the first time that we have recorded our town’s historical buildings on a formal state-sponsored survey. We were recently awarded a Certified Local Government (CLG) designation. One of the benefits of a CLG is that at least 10% of each state’s annual Federal Historic Preservation fund must be delivered to CLGs (typically in the form of grants).

The grant that the Landmark Commission applied for naming the Town of Bath as a historic district has been awarded. When we received this designation, commercial qualifying sites became eligible to apply for grants and both federal and state tax credits; additionally, residential owners of qualifying sites became eligible to apply for state tax credits. The historic district designation will increase tourist visitation, increase property values and preserve our heritage for future generations.

Greg Paxton, President of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation writes: “The economic benefits of Historic Preservation are enormous—the knowledge of the economic benefits of Historic Preservation are MINUSCULE. This website has been online for over 10 months and there has been very little response. Please let the stakeholders in the district know about this site.”