The Catawba Springs Hotel was located in Lincoln County, North Carolina, about twenty-four miles from Charlotte. As early as the 1790's, visitors were frequenting this popular mineral springs resort. Captain John Reid is the earliest known proprietor of Catawba Springs. He was an outstanding man in Lincoln County, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, a state legislator and an elder in the Unity Presbyterian church. Captain Reid died in January of 1821 at the age of sixty-five. On the death of Captian John Reid, "Catawba Springs" was put up for sale. An accurate description of the resort at the time of sale can be found in the South Carolina Gazette and Columbian Adverser (Columbia, South Carolina) of February 20, 1821. In 1825, Mr. Charles Jugnot took over Catawba Springs as proprietor. His proprietorship brought a period of great prosperity for the resort. Prominent visitors at this time included James Chestnuts of Camden, Dr. Elisha Mitchell of Chapel Hill, and Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Connor. In 1835, the resort was sold once again, although its doors did not reopen until 1838. Joseph W. Hampton had purchased Catawba Springs and had "fitted it up at considerable expense and in a superior style." In the register book from the years of Mr. Hampton's proprietorship, the names that occurr frequently inlcuded the Grahams, Brevards, Guions, Ramsours, and Shipps from Lincoln; the Chambers and lockes from Rowan; and the Alexanders, Caldwells, Davidsons and Polks from Mecklenburg. Students from Davidson College also appear in the registrey. There were frequent guests also from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Peter Stuart Ney set up an academy at the Catawba Springs in the early 1840's. His name appears in the guest book. In the column alloted to home addresses, Ney wrote next to his name "An atom floating on the atmostphere of chance." With the Civil War came an end to the prosperity of Catawba Springs. Its doors finally closed for good in the mid-1860's.