In the summer of 1818, a record number visitors flocked to Saratoga Springs - 4,200 and, by 1833, more than 6,000 showed up. The village had become the reigning Queen of American resorts and, by the late Victorian, it was de rigueur for wealthy Southern belles to make the trek. They - and, as important, their mothers who protected their virtue - ostensibly came for the races and the healing waters. But they really came here for yet another, entirely different, purpose.
© 2024 John Oliver
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