The Hot Springs of Virginia have been the mecca of thousands of people in every generation, people who have traveled and are continuing to travel the Valley Road to the world-famous resort in one of Virginia's beautiful mountain-bound valleys. This is the story that Fay Ingalls tells, the story of an intensely American rural district that has changed but little with the times. Thomas Jefferson came here 130 years ago to "take the water," and since then the valley has seen many famous personages and witnessed many historic events. Senators and presidents (Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in our own time) have com here. Tennis and golf championships have been won and lost on the courts and links of The Homestead. Japanese diplomats have found this hotel their extremely pleasant prison during a world war, and the same hotel was the setting for the World Food Conference. The valley has changed little although it has been touched by many phases of American and world history. Mr. Ingalls' personal association with the valley and with The Homestead has lasted nearly all his life. His frank and vivid narrative is not only an exciting story, but a collection of anecdotes and lore of the Indians, the natives, and the country which constitutes an important contribution to the literature of Americana. -- Front book jacket flap.