Washington began a journal ("ye fam'd warm springs") from that first big trip that would eventually expand into 20 volumes. Maps named the town as "medicinal." Health-seekers were already visiting Berkeley Springs because of tales they heard from the Indians. Washington's elite crowd called the town "Bath," established in 1776, and built it around the warm springs. For more than 40 years, Washington came to "take the waters." A great little local museum will give you details.

However, the mystery is why the mineral springs emerge only in the hundred yards around today's Berkeley Springs State Park. One issue is not in doubt: the source of the mineral content of the water is its passage through the silica sandstone of Warm Springs Ridge. This same sandstone is mined from the ridge as it continues north through town.

I not only took my personal warm water soaking in the Old Roman Bath Building at the noted Berkeley Springs State Park, but I was lucky enough to be invited to be a judge for the Annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting held at Coolfont Resort, just outside of town. This celebration of water is held during the last weekend of February each year, part of the three-month Winter Festival of the Waters that goes through the end of March.

A Town Turns to its Water
"When it was first proposed, most of the town thought water tasting was a weird and crazy idea. Now that it is the largest and longest running water tasting in the world, folks have come around," says Jeanne Mozier, a passionate booster of Berkeley Springs who has authored Way Out in West Virginia: A Must-Have Guide to the Oddities and Wonders of the Mountain State --and who runs the only movie house in town, the Star, with her husband Jack Soronen.

The water tasting brings in abundant samples of waters of all types, bottled non-carbonated and bottled sparkling, municipal and purified, from all over the world, including Bosnia, Switzerland, Romania, Russia, Korea, Croatia, Slovenia and Nicaragua. The cities and water bottling companies pay their own shipping and a small fee to enter. It is considered quite a big deal to win in any of the four categories.

The Tasting Begins
When it was time to start, Jill Klein Rone, the producer, said, "Let the water pouring begin." She presides with unique flair and stories of water lore flow. Sitting next to judge Tamara Collins, senior editor of Spa Magazine, was water judge Michael Beller, senior vice president of the National Geographic Channel, who always raised his glasses high in the air to seriously check for any flaws in the water.

We didn't know which waters we "tasted" during the different rounds. Our job was to examine, sniff and taste-and number and score the waters in terms appearance, odor, flavor and the way it feels and tastes in your mouth and whether there is an "aftertaste."

About half had already been "tasted" and eliminated a day or two earlier, but my eyes just about popped out as I stared in amazement when I saw all the glasses of water continually being set in front of me, sometimes 20 at once. It was a serious job, all for room and board. But I willingly did my job with about a dozen media and water expert judges on the big Saturday night. We sat in two rows on long tables draped in white linen on a podium with all eyes in the audience in the Coolfont ballroom on us. It was fun being a kind of celebrity for the day.

Water pourers dressed in gowns and black tie kept filling our glasses. My first round I drank up each glass in the first row and a half of shined glasses as I evaluated (in gulpfulls, pondering each one) just as I noticed journalist Deborah Fletcher do. But after a trip or two to the ladies room, I learned to take sips and make quicker judgments in each category. The water is not chilled because Arthur von Wiesenberger, the "Water Master" and emcee who trained us to taste before our big event, told us we could differentiate the "flavors" and refreshing qualities of the waters better if it was all room temperature.

"Look if the water is clear or cloudy," he told us. "If you see any color, the water should not get top marks. Some waters will be from reservoirs, others from streams. You take off points for algae. Try not to get palate fatigue. You are going to use a lot of concentration. You have 130,000 taste buds. The different tastes of water are very subtle. Roll the water over your tongue," said Wiesenberger. "Your kidneys are going to get a good workout," he noted.

Von Wiesenberger is a real water master originally from New York City who now resides in Santa Barbara, CA, and has trained judges at Berkeley Springs at each annual event since 1991. Bottled water, he said, is the fastest growing segment of the beverage industry, today earning $9 billion a year. This past year (2004-2005) is the first time soft drinks actually dropped in sales as bottled water consumption rose in popularity, he informed.

The Rush for the Water
The "water rush" closing spectacle concludes the water tasting and just before the signal was given, von Wiesenberger good-humoredly announced: "You can cut the excitement in this room with a chainsaw." One fellow in the front row braced all night for the "water rush" to collect more exotic waters to add to his collection of 200 water bottles. He had his eye on the glacial milk water as I did. "There's probably thousands of dollars of water in this room," commented Mozier. Water bottlers ship extra crates of their waters and it is a mad rush for judges and the public to grab all the water containers they can stuff into boxes and bags once the event is over and the winners announced.

Later at the Coolfont bar, Gene Ottenbreit, owner of Imibe, of Broadview, Saskatchewan, Canada, was savoring his first place win in the bottled purified water category with his wife Gaylene. "Last year, we won fourth place and just sent in our water in the mail. But this year we came ourselves with our water.

Water judge Senator John R. Unger II, chair of the Water Resources Protection Committee, smiled when water from his state of West Virginia won first place in the non-carbonated bottled category beating out more exotic waters from around the globe. "I would have taken a lot of ribbing if some French water won," he said.

People travel to Berkeley Springs for the spas, art and shopping just about anytime of the year, but especially for the festivals. Besides the International Water Tasting, several others are the Apple Butter Festival on Columbus Weekend in October and Uniquely West Virginia food and wine in mid-April. This year you can try out the smoked trout, gourmet chocolates, shiitake mushrooms, baked goods and jams and jellies in April. Hey, Girlfriend weekend takes place in early June.