Dr. Smith's Neutral Water Health Resort

[BarryC]

I just found a great article about this place in a 1973 issue of South Jersey Magazine. Sometime in the 1880s or 1890s Dr. Charles Smith supposedly had found a "fountain of youth". He claimed to have been born in 1776 and said the key to his long life up to that point was the waters of the Landing Creek in Egg Harbor City (a tributary of the Mullica). So he built this health resort there, and dug out a long winding canal about 3 or 4 feet deep for people to wade in, against the current. You were to wade in this water for a while, and then go into this little 16-sided building with lots of windows and sit in the sun. The "sanitarium" on the grounds was a big place. That was the hotel I guess. All that's left of the site today is the canal and the 16-sided building, which is today known as the "roundhouse". It's now the headquarters and museum of the Egg Harbor City Historical Society.
Incidentally, Dr. Smith died sometime between 1921 and 1926, making him nearly 150 years old, if his claims were true.
Today, where the Sanitarium was, is an open field, and next to it is the Egg Harbor City police station.
I think the average passing motorist or pedestrian probably has no idea that this resort existed.
The site is along both sides of London Avenue, between Campe and Claudius Streets in Egg Harbor City. I was just there today, and I think the sign on the door said the museum is open every Wednesday from 1 to 4, and every 2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturday, from 1 to 4. But you can walk the grounds anytime.
On page 11 of my gallery you can see a scan of an old postcard of Dr. Smith's Sanitarium, and a small section of a neat 3-D panoramic "map" of Egg Harbor City (from 1924), showing the entire complex as it might look from the air. Ben has a jpeg file of the complete map in the map archive.
Anyway, check it out. These are on page 11 of my gallery. It gives you an idea of what the complex looked like, including the canal.
Barry

 

[Tash329]

This is a bit off topic but, I live in Monmouth Co. is there a place to buy the South Jersey Magazine in the Co. area. Or perhapes Ocean. Seems up north here they've never heard of it.
Rich

 

[BarryC]

Well I think the magazine was discontinued at the end of 2001 or 2002, but I'm not sure about that. And the address for it was always
South Jersey Magazine
P.O. Box 847
Millville, NJ 08232
It used to be available in bookstores all over down here.
I'm not sure how to get back issues except to find them on Ebay, like I just did. I had a subscription from 1986 to 2001. But I just got 6 back issues off of Ebay.
Barry

This is a bit off topic but, I live in Monmouth Co. is there a place to buy the South Jersey Magazine in the Co. area. Or perhapes Ocean. Seems up north here they've never heard of it.
Rich

 

[bach2yoga]

I just found a great article about this place in a 1973 issue of South Jersey Magazine. Sometime in the 1880s or 1890s Dr. Charles Smith supposedly had found a "fountain of youth". He claimed to have been born in 1776 and said the key to his long life up to that point was the waters of the Landing Creek in Egg Harbor City (a tributary of the Mullica). So he built this health resort there, and dug out a long winding canal about 3 or 4 feet deep for people to wade in, against the current. You were to wade in this water for a while, and then go into this little 16-sided building with lots of windows and sit in the sun. The "sanitarium" on the grounds was a big place. That was the hotel I guess. All that's left of the site today is the canal and the 16-sided building, which is today known as the "roundhouse". It's now the headquarters and museum of the Egg Harbor City Historical Society.
Incidentally, Dr. Smith died sometime between 1921 and 1926, making him nearly 150 years old, if his claims were true.
Today, where the Sanitarium was, is an open field, and next to it is the Egg Harbor City police station.
I think the average passing motorist or pedestrian probably has no idea that this resort existed.
The site is along both sides of London Avenue, between Campe and Claudius Streets in Egg Harbor City. I was just there today, and I think the sign on the door said the museum is open every Wednesday from 1 to 4, and every 2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturday, from 1 to 4. But you can walk the grounds anytime.
On page 11 of my gallery you can see a scan of an old postcard of Dr. Smith's Sanitarium, and a small section of a neat 3-D panoramic "map" of Egg Harbor City (from 1924), showing the entire complex as it might look from the air. Ben has a jpeg file of the complete map in the map archive.
Anyway, check it out. These are on page 11 of my gallery. It gives you an idea of what the complex looked like, including the canal.
Barry

Thanks for emailing me about your post, you are right that I have always wanted to see this. This would make a great add-on to a trip.
I'd also like to try again to set up an inn and tavern tour.
Renee

 

[BarryC]

You're welcome.
Yes, an Inn & Tavern tour would be great. It would be fun to research where they all are and which ones still exist.
Some are listed in Absegami Yesteryear, but of course you have Boyer's book on the subject.

Thanks for emailing me about your post, you are right that I have always wanted to see this. This would make a great add-on to a trip.
I'd also like to try again to set up an inn and tavern tour.
Renee

 

[Tash329]

Barry
Thanks so much for the info. The last time I was able to pick up a copy of South Jersey Magazine was the Spring addition 1997 in Cape May. Durning my summer months in the Wildwood area I would go to Cape May and pick up my covetted copy, often finding none. Finally I decided to purchased volume one of the hardbound collection from 1972-1976 with the idea of buying all six Volumes. So I contacted SJM and they brought it to my house. I met the owner, a wonderful older women, maybe mid 60's at the time. Anyway after much converstation I think I recall her telling me then, that the magazine may not continue for many more years, though it was a family run business, others didn't hold the same interest in it. So it looks like it has maybe come to pass that another fine link to the past is lost. Thanks again for helping shake the snow off the roof of this old timer.
Rich

 

[Mark W Maxwell]

Long overdue update and corrections:

The Egg Harbor City Historical Society, Inc. operates the Roundhouse Museum in the last remaining building from the Neutral Waters Health Resort of Dr. Charles A Smith. Dedicated to the preservation of Egg Harbor City history, the museum is open from 1:00 to 4:00 PM on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The first floor is handicapped accessible. (The records on the second floor may be requested and brought the the first floor for viewing.) Records include period newspapers, photographs, genealogies, a still to be completed cemetery "inventory" and we act as a depository for many unused city records dating back to the 1860s. Arrangements for alternate access days and/or times can be made by calling 609-965-4677. The museum is open to the public at no charge.

Dr. Smith, who died March 30, 1923, founded the health resort between 1905 and 1910. It included a serpentine creek, a mill-house built over the creek to use its water-wheel for power, A large multistory hotel and later an even larger two-story dormitory, an 5-story observation tower (not a windmill!!!), a round drying building with sloped glass sides, and a a6-side "vapors" building, which is now the Roundhouse Museum, and his personal home.

The location of the dormitory is presently the City Hall. The hotel is north of City Hall near the creek. The creek area is fenced in, left over from its days as the Atlantic County Juvenile Detention Center, with access through a south-side gate. The entire area has been dedicated at the PEACE PILGRIM PARK, in honor of a former local resident. This is an outdoor graphic display on the London Ave. footbridge that crosses the end of the serpentine creek where the mill-house was located.

Mark W. Maxwell
Pres., EHCHS

 

[bobpbx]

..."You were to wade in this water for a while, and then go into this little 16-sided building with lots of windows and sit in the sun."

I do this frequently, but don't go into a building. I just sit in the sun. I swear that this really is the fountain of youth!

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Mark, thanks for the info. Do you know what type of mill was established there by Dr. Smith? Also, is it true that he claimed to be born in 1776? I've heard that before, but I've had no luck tracing the claim to a source.

 

[Pan]

I googled up some relevant links, including a photo of the place and another thread about it on here:

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/dr-smiths-sanitarium-site.522/

http://mss3.libraries.rutgers.edu/dlr/showfed.php?pid=rutgers-lib:10973

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/neutral-water-health-resort-sanitarium/view/?service=0

http://landmarkhunter.com/177324-neutral-water-health-resort-sanitarium/

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM8N75

 

[Kevinhooa]

Here is a shot of the Sanitarium that Dr. Smith operated with the serpentine Landing Creek in the foreground.



That roundhouse is indeed a treasure trove of history. We used to visit my friends grandfather and his wife (Hesse's) all the time. There's a great old book in there that has almost all of the railroad history of Atlantic County. There's even some interesting stuff on my Grandfather's brother, Carl Husta in there.

Interesting enough, from what I've read, it was Landing Creek that put Egg Harbor City on the map. Since it is the only sizable creek between Ancora and Absecon, trains used to stop there to take on water when the railroad first opened in 1854. The German immigrants took a liking to this area and started a settlement. Landing Creek also has some great history at it's other end where it meets the Mullica with what used to be Gloucester Landing, Steamboat Landing, and the ghost town of the Gloucester Furnace.