![\"John](\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/John-Douglas-George-Washington-Front-page-0012.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSome believe the “father\u00a0of our country” discovered the mountain town or, at least, designed it. Others talk about his home\u00a0here or the elm he planted, a tree that towered over Berkeley Springs State Park for the next two\u00a0centuries.<\/p>\n
At The Springs With George<\/em>, the new book by John Douglas, sets the record straight on\u00a0what actually took place and whether the facts match the legends.<\/p>\n While At The Springs<\/em> is mainly concerned with Washington\u2019s activities in and around\u00a0Berkeley Springs, the story by necessity includes large chunks of history from nearby counties in\u00a0West Virginia, Western Maryland, Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \u201cSince Washington maintained contact with the Berkeley Springs vicinity and the greater\u00a0Potomac River area throughout his life, the local story provides a good picture of the man and his\u00a0interests at every stage of his career,\u201d Douglas said.<\/p>\n As former editor of The Morgan Messenger<\/em> and The Hancock News<\/em>, Douglas wrote many\u00a0historical pieces about the early days of this mountain region.<\/p>\n His newspaper articles about\u00a0Washington\u2019s area adventures were collected in a smaller book in 2002.<\/p>\n With At the Springs with George<\/em>, he presents a much fuller tale with a lot of new\u00a0information based on his later research, illustrated with more than 40 maps and pictures.<\/p>\n Included\u00a0is considerable new material about the teenaged Washington\u2019s work as a surveyor along the\u00a0Potomac and Cacapon rivers, and his exploits trying to protect the region during the French &\u00a0Indian War of the 1750s.<\/p>\n There is new material about every stage of his life.<\/p>\n At The Springs With George<\/em> presents the real story of George Washington and his love\u00a0affair with Berkeley Springs and the surrounding four-state region.<\/p>\n Douglas is also the author of A Fog of Ghosts: Haunted Tales & Odd Pieces<\/em> as well as\u00a0three mystery novels set in the Alleghenies.<\/p>\n He is a native of Cumberland, Md. and long time\u00a0resident of Morgan County, West Virginia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many tales are told about George Washington\u2019s connections with Berkeley Springs, West\u00a0Virginia, which has even been dubbed the \u201cFirst\u00a0Summer White House.\u201d Some believe the “father\u00a0of our country” discovered the mountain town or, at least, designed it. Others talk about his … Continue reading