Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

“About 1828, a sulphur spring was discovered (on property belonging to Mr. William Greene) (…) by Nathan Mills Banfill, who was working in the field below.  Desiring a drink of water, he started to look for some and found near where he was working a little rill of water with a peculiar odour and taste.  He followed it up the hill until he discovered that the water emerged from a crevice in a huge rock.  He took an iron bar and dug from the soft rock a cavity deep enough to permit him to take up water by the cupful. ”  Thus begins Taylor's description of “Potton Springs” in Volume II.  He goes on to say that people came from far and wide “to drink of, and bathe in, this famous water and many received benefit therefrom.  Accommodation in the nearby farm homes was taxed to the utmost.  The McMannis Hotel, which was then situated at the entrance to the Bolton Pass, daily ran a two-horse coach accommodating about ten people down to the Spring. ” 

On July 11, 1862, there was a celebration about the naming of the spring, which, for some time, had been thought to be located in Bolton and had thus been called “The Bolton Spring”.  When that error was discovered, the party was on!  Imagine guests arriving by horse and open carriage.  Ladies garbed in the latest velvet and lace with fine bonnets, swirling parasols.  Perhaps a sip of elderberry wine to slake the thirst!  Ah, the pomp and circumstance!  Smiles and benevolence all 'round.  Rumours of a railway were surely in the air.

This was a large celebration “ when addresses were delivered by prominent men (…) of the Townships.  (…) A Mr. Haskell from Stanstead was selected to give a name to the Spring.  He announced the name as ”Mount Pleasant Spring”, which name however never received very wide acceptance as, by its location in Potton, it is generally knows as the ”Potton Sulphur Spring”. »

In the spring of 1875, a hotel was constructed near the Spring by Nathaniel H. Greene, the owner's son.  It would seem that Mr. Greene was something of an early environmentalist for he found it necessary to post the following: “request that visitors will be so kind and considerate as not to mar any of the Trees and Shrubs in the surrounding forest.  About thirty of the Birches protecting and adorning the Spring have already been destroyed, by cutting the bark with knives.  Regret cannot restore them (…)”^[1].

“In 1870, the Missisquoi and Black River railway was chartered to build from Potton, south of Bolton mines (near Eastman), to, at or near Richmond on the Grand Trunk line.  In the ensuing years, the Company constructed the rail grade between Melbourne and Potton Springs. (…) The Belden Atlas of 1881 noted the construction of a spur line extending from Dillonton (also near Eastman) to Potton Springs on the border of Bolton and Potton – the only part of the Missisquoi and Black River Railway yet built. ”^[2]  Later, the MBR railway was taken over by the Orford Mountain Railway.

The place was later sold to J.A. Wright who enlarged the hotel to contain twenty-four bathrooms, each supplied with water from the Spring.  A publicity brochure dated May 15, 1917^[3] advertised the luxuries of the Potton Sulphur Springs Hotel.  Testimonials by doctors proclaimed the therapeutic and medicinal qualities of the waters containing sulfur, iron and magnesium.  Excellent for the cure of liver, kidney and stomach problems, as well as for skin problems were the declarations.  The Potton Sulphur Springs Hotel could provide food and lodging to 175 guests – all for $2.00 a day. 

“A station of the Orford Mountain Railroad was established between the hotel and the Spring, to better accommodate those wishing to visit this popular spot.  It is a regrettable fact that this fine hotel was burned to the ground about two years ago, and has not been rebuilt to date (1936)”, said Mr. Taylor in his History of Brome County.

An interesting article, authored by Gérard Leduc, is to be found on the townshipsheritage.com website.

The site of Potton Springs is now private property and is open to the public only when activities are organized by the current owner, la Fondation PJY, that operates under the name of Centre de santé et de ressourcement spirituel Potton Spring.  Each year, this center organizes an open-air family fête champêtre to which the public is invited.