The "Hot Springs" of Cottonwood, Alabama

The Story of Sealy's Hot Mineral Wells

by Dale Cox

Sealy's Hot Sale Mineral Well resort is seen here on a
popular postcard from the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Dreams of oil wealth vanished for Cottonwood as quickly as they had come (please see Cottonwood, Alabama: "Floating on a pool of oil"). 

The Sealy brothers, who invested tens of thousands of dollars of their own money during the craze, were nothing if not determined. They soon realized that their failed oil wells just might pay off after all.

Sealy Well No. 1 penetrated to depths of nearly 5,000 feet before the drilling was called to a halt. One of the last drill bits, however, struck something that proved almost as valuable as oil - hot water:

Nine years ago on the Sealy farm about three-fourths of a mile from Cottonwood, a well was started in search for oil. After almost four years of drilling and expenditure of about $123,000, at a depth of 4,280 feet, just as it had almost reached the top, the drill dropped and the terrific impact of its fall for almost three-fourths of a mile, broke the strata and immediately a powerful stream of hot salt mineral water gushed out and from then until now the hot salt mineral water has been pouring out at a rate of over 10,000 gallons per hour at a temperature of about 110 degrees. - (Mayor J.T. White of Cottonwood, "Oil Drill In Valley Fails But A Mineral Spring Is Result," Columbus Daily-Enquirer, February 13, 1937.)

A small stream of hot water flows from the former resort
grounds and under Sealy Wells Road in Cottonwood.

The artesian well or "hot spring" created a stream of water that flowed off into low spot that soon became a lake. Members of Cottonwood's African American community were the first to test the curative powers of the water. Like most Americans of the early 20th-century, they believed that hot mineral water could cure a variety of illnesses.

One man found relief from rheumatism after bathing in the water. Not long after it was noticed that a dog with the mange cured itself by swimming in the lake. This led another to dig a hole deep enough for his ailing mule to enter and soak itself. The mule was cured of sores and lameness.

These early experiments generated considerable excitement in Cottonwood and prompted a local man named Pete Lambert to see if the water could cure his broken leg. Lambert was driving a mule-team when his leg was broken in an accident. Doctors were preparing to amputate the unhealed limb, but he tried bathing in the lake for 27 straight days. The broken bones healed.

As Mayor J.T. White of Cottonwood reported in 1937, the hot spring suddenly became a sensation:

The hot water pool at Sealy Springs was a popular part of
from the days of its creation in the 1930s.
Alabama Department of Archives and History

The news of the cures began to spread. The Sealy's had the water analyzed and found it contained six valuable mineral elements, some not found in any other hot water wells or springs in America. Then it was discovered that taken internally the water was beneficial for ulcerated stomach, kidney diseases and liver complaints; and still later that catarrh [i.e., mucus buildup in the nose or throat] would be cured by snuffing the water into the nostrils and taking the baths. - Ibid.

The brothers J.R. Sealy and C.S. Sealy realized the potential of their accidental discovery. In the spring of 1936, they started building a resort around their "hot mineral well" that included 55 hotel rooms, cottages, apartments, a large assembly area, and dining rooms. Visitors could "take the waters" in 32 rooms with baths built for that purpose as well as in a 50x100 foot swimming pool. 

So many people came - more than 10,000 in 1936-1937 - that almost the entire town of Cottonwood "was turned into a big rooming house to care for the overflow of people who came for bathing and treatment in the healing waters of the well."

The resort was a stunning success. By 1938 its fame had spread across the nation, and even hotels in Panama City were advertising the fact that they were only 90-minutes from Cottonwood, Alabama:

The gates to the Sealy Hot Salt Mineral Wells resort
still retain a touch of their original splendor.

Cottonwood, Alabama, "the Hot Springs of the Southeast," has become famous the nation over within a comparatively short period of time for its hot salt mineral springs, the healing properties of whose waters are declared to have been beneficial to a great number of people. - (Columbus Daily Enquirer, March 27, 1938.)

Sealy's Hot Mineral Wells or Sealy Springs rivaled similar destinations by the eve of World War II. Many who had previously gone to Hot Springs, Arkansas, or Warm Springs, Georgia, came to Cottonwood instead. Even President Franklin Roosevelt expressed interest in the resort.

Campgrounds with trailer hookups were added, and the resort advertised activities and amenities for visitors to enjoy when not taking the baths. Guided quail and fox hunting expeditions became a significant part of life at Sealy Springs, with the Sealy brothers acquiring access to 43,000 acres of hunting lands.

Visitors came by the thousands. Some arrived by car from Dothan, Panama City, and other points. Others came in the comfort of passenger cars on the AF&G Railroad, which connected the town of Cowarts near Dothan with Malone and Greenwood in Northwest Florida. The doctors and nurses on staff helped those paralyzed from polio as well as sufferers of arthritis, injuries, muscular diseases, and even the measles. Most left convinced that the hot mineral waters had helped them.

Nature has reclaimed the surviving structures of the resort.

The final years before World War II marked the peak of the resort's success. And then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The country mobilized for war and trips to resorts like Sealy's Hot Mineral Wells became luxuries in which few indulged. The post-war years did not bring back Cottonwood's glory days. The central administration building of the resort was destroyed by fire in 1947, but there were no injuries as "few guests were registered."

Sealy Springs finally closed as a resort, and the facility later went through uncertain times when a much-investigated medical clinic opened there. Comedian Dick Gregory was also reportedly in negotiations to develop the site as a diet clinic in the late 1980s. A 2001 fire ended the resort's 65-year history, however, by destroying the main facilities.

The site of the hot springs is overgrown and all but forgotten today. An iron gate, dilapidated fence, and a few surviving structures are all that remain as reminders of its fascinating history.

The hot water still flows, filling the warm water lake on the grounds and then flowing away down a creek to eventually make its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Editor's Note: The grounds of the hot springs can be viewed from Sealy Wells Road at its intersection with Joe Cook Street in Cottonwood, Alabama. The site is private property and is closed to the public so please view from the right-of-way and do not trespass.

Cottonwood, Alabama: "Floating on a pool of oil"

The Cottonwood Oil Boom of 1927

by Dale Cox

The 1927 oil boom is briefly mentioned on the historical marker
that tells the story of Cottonwood, Alabama.

One of the biggest oil booms ever seen in the South hit Cottonwood, Alabama, in October 1927. It started when someone realized that water from local wells would actually fuel gasoline engines:

     There are four wells on an acre of ground near the center of town at Cottonwood that have been showing evidences of oil for several years. All have been abandoned so far as drinking purposes, but recently evidences of oil became more pronounced.
     The oil is refined to a degree, having seeped from the underground strata of oil, which geologists say comes from the north, and which, they also say, cannot be far away.      
     Sam Barker, it is said, has been running a motor which operates a grist mill, the sole fuel used is that taken from his well. 
     Several automobile owners in Cottonwood have been propelling their cars with this fuel, it is said. - Dothan Eagle, May 4, 1927.

It didn't take long for the strange discovery to attract the attention of major investors. J.R. "Bob" Sealy and his brother were convinced of the validity of the strike when Bob filled a car with water from a local well and headed off for Dothan:

Bob Sealy, accompanied by Robert Malone, Calvin Welsh, John McCardle and John Bruner, drove a Ford touring car from Cottonwood to Dothan this morning on what they said was fuel drawn direct from one of the wells at Cottonwood which have been transformed by nature from drinking wells into refined gasoline. - Ibid.

The site of the O'Henry Oil Fields as it appears today in
Cottonwood, Alabama.

The Sealy brothers immediately purchased what quickly became known as the O'Henry Oil Fields, a large tract of land south of downtown Cottonwood. They eventually expanded their holdings to include thousands of acres and mineral rights were purchased for tens of thousands. The mineral rights acquisitions extended miles across the state line into Jackson County, Florida.

An oil geologist named R.G. Worthington was brought in from Oklahoma to inspect the site. He was reportedly a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines and visited Cottonwood in June 1927:

...He expressed his opinion that, beyond a doubt, the product coming into these wells is coming from crude oil. He made the statement that he had seen the same product coming out of the ground in other territories. Mr. Worthington has had eight years of field geology. Part of this time was spent with the Gypsy Oil Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma. His opinion is considered very valuable and correct. The opinion of many other geologists who have visited the O'Henry Oil Fields. - Dothan Eagle, June 17, 1927.

The opinion of Worthington was all it took. J.R. Sealy sent a petition to the Alabama Public Service Commission seeking permission to sell 750 acres of land. Each purchaser would gain one-acre of property and a "unit interest" in Sealy Well No. 1, the oil well that the Sealy brothers planned to drill.

This early Fire Protection Map shows many of the
buildings built during the Cottonwood oil boom.
Courtesy of Troy University.

At the same time, business interests in the community exploded. A committee of investors quickly committed to open a bank in Cottonwood:

The bank will be located next to the Cottonwood post office, on the site where the Rose Team room now stands. The tea room will be moved one lot south. This bank will be Spanish type, stucco building. The interior finish will be of Pecky Cypress, the same finish which has recently been used in the construction of the Cove Hotel at Panama City, Florida, and the dining room of the New Albany Hotel, Albany, Georgia. - Ibid.

Public excitement over Cottonwood oil reached its peak in late September and early October 1927. The Public Service Commission approved the planned land sale, and the town was deluged with people:

During the day Sunday, several thousand automobiles visited the Cottonwood section. In every instance, Bob said, these people were thoroughly sold on the merits of his proposition. They got out of their automobiles and looked into the wells, saw the oily film that covered them, smelled of the water drawn from them, and did every other thing that a curious throng is expected to do.
They were convinced, even as I was convinced last week, that something strange was happening in Cottonwood. In some instances they were ready to place bets that oil would be found. In others they admitted their ignorance even in the face of the things they saw but were filled with hope that oil would be found in commercial quantities. - Dothan Eagle, September 27, 1927.

A barbecue sponsored by the Sealy Brothers attracted 15,000 people to Cottonwood on October 6, 1927. They stood witness as the drill bit of Sealy Well No. 1 bit into the earth and started its way down. A second derrick - Sealy Well No. 2 - was already under construction by then. So high was the demand for information that Bob Sealy opened an office on North Foster Street in Dothan:

The oil boom led to a rush of commercial construction in
Cottonwood, as investors poured into the town.

As all this goes on, the people of Cottonwood continue with their program of building. Stories are being told of the opening of tea rooms, drug stores, warehouses, and various other forms of business...And while all this goes on, nine shallow wells in and around Cottonwood continue to flow a product so pure that it runs automobiles and gasoline engines. - Ibid.

By early October the Sealy brothers invested $40,000 of their own money in the belief that Cottonwood was about to become one of the wealthiest towns in America. In fact, Sealy Well No 1 did strike oil:

At 180 feet, Mr. Sealy said, salt water was struck. At 120 feet and also a depth slightly greater than 180 feet, fine oil showings were found. The oil showing shown at these two depths were similar to the oil in the nine surface wells in the Cottonwood community. - Dothan Eagle, December 13, 1927.

The well eventually reached a depth of nearly 5,000 feet, but the expected gusher never came. There was oil under Cottonwood, and it was from a natural deposit, not a leaky fuel tank as some like to claim today. The Sealy brothers just were never able to find it in a sufficient quantity to pump up for commercial purposes.

The oil boom faded as quickly as it had started and was over by the time the Great Depression hit two years later in 1929.

Despite its failure as an oil well, however, Sealy Well No. 1 did prove profitable. The water struck at 180 feet was not just salty, it was warm, and when the derrick was moved, it continued to flow up from the pipe in artesian style.

Dreams of oil wealth faded, but the story of Cottonwood's famed hot mineral well or "hot springs" was just beginning. More on the Sealy Hot Mineral Wells is coming in the next article!