DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Robertson County, there's a place called Wootan Wells — and if that name sounds like it belongs in a tall tale, well, friend, just you wait. It all started in 1878, when a landowner by the name of Francis Wootan put a shovel to the earth and dug himself a well.
Now the water that came up tasted just fine going down — but it turned dishes yellow and clothes red. Most folks would've filled that hole back in and walked away. Not Francis Wootan.
Because here's the thing: that peculiar, color-changing water seemed to possess amazing curative properties. People started paying attention. Word travels fast when someone thinks they've found a remedy.
Wootan built a hotel. Then, in 1879, a whole resort town made its debut — just like that, rising up out of Robertson County on the strength of some very opinionated water. Wootan wasn't done.
He formed a promotion company with a man named T. W. Wade, and together they watched more hotels spring up, a bottling works, a dance pavilion, a school.
Leading socialites came from miles around just to, as they put it, take the waters. Picture it — dancing, socializing, bottles being filled, the whole enterprise humming along. Then 1915 arrived, and disaster struck.
Fire swept the town. Whatever the flames left standing in 1915, the years wore down — and in 1921, the last buildings also burned. Wootan Wells, that famous early health spa and resort, was gone.
All that yellow-stained crockery, all those red-tinged shirts, all those socialites seeking a cure — reduced to memory and one marker standing out on a Robertson County road.
What the marker says
Famous early health spa and resort. First well was dug 1878 by landowner Francis Wootan. Water tasted good, but turned dishes yellow and clothes red. Even so, it seemed to possess amazing curative properties. Wootan soon built a hotel and in 1879 a resort town made its debut. He formed promotion company with T. W. Wade and more hotels, a bottling works, dance pavilion, and school sprang up. Leading socialites came for miles to "take the waters." Disaster struck in 1915 when fire swept the town. In 1921 the last buildings also burned.