When driving up 802 between Mendota and Abingdon, there is a road sign that says “Alum Wells.” It’s on the right, and a friend of mine and I followed the sign to see what Alum Wells was.

We didn’t find anything except a narrow road that is no longer maintained (think private property) that goes to the river. We saw grazing land, a natural gas pipe line, woods, a swinging bridge that crossed the river, and the river.

What was Alum Wells?

While I still have this old newspaper subscription, I decided I’d look. Alum Wells was a thriving community. The community had a “stringer” who reported happenings in the area, and here is an example of just one of the reports. There was a Craig’s Mill School. This appeared in the Bristol Herald Courier on April 13, 1911.

I knew there was pottery in this area of what we now call Mendota. There was a Craig’s Mill Pottery Shop, a Wooten Pottery Shop and E. W. Mort Pottery Shop. I learned that E. W. Mort was also a Methodist minister, and as he grew older, he turned his head more toward that vocation than that as a potter. He was originally from the Shenandoah Valley (Strasburg) and when his father was killed in the Civil War, he mother moved him to her childhood home in Washington County, Virginia. I found a recurring ad in the Bristol News in the 1881+ era.

Here’s a sample of Mort’s Pottery I found in an online auction site. This was from a 4/27/19 Spring Discovery Auction. The “sold” price was $480.

Here’s another venture from Alum Wells that appeared in the March 8, 1872 Bristol News:

And another from the Bristol News April 2, 1875:

And finally, Alum Wells, apparently, had a hotel and cabins that typically were for rent. This ad appeared in the Abingdon Virginia newspaper on May 17, 1872. I wish I had a picture!

What happened to the Alum Wells Hotel? Does. anyone have any additional information on Alum Wells? Please leave a comment in the comment area below so we can all see it!

Thank you!