An early 1900’s resort springs back to life in Stokes County, North Carolina. Originally discovered for the Mineral Springs, where it was advertised that if you drink of the water from the springs you would be cured of any ailment, Vade Mecum Mineral Springs Resort was added to Hanging Rock State Park in 2014. Vade Mecum was once a destination for the newly moneyed elite of the early 1900’s, who were wealthy workers in the booming North Carolina Furniture, Textiles, and Tobacco industries. The workers were looking for a place to go with family for vacation and in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, developers found the Sauratown Mountains in Stokes County.
The mineral content at Vade Mecum included Itacolumite a flexible sandstone found only in the Sauratown Mountains of Stokes County and McDowell Counties in North Carolina. Even in the early 1900’s Stokes County and the Mineral Springs Resorts were heavily advertised across the state and the country as a destination for travelers to visit. Stokes County held a unique classification at the time having three mineral springs within a few miles of each other. The hotel at Vade Mecum built in 1902 is the only wood frame resort hotel still standing in Stokes County.
Vade Mecum is Latin for "Come With Me" and at the time a romantic love story was crafted, as advertising means for the resort, telling of a Native American Princess who had been kidnapped by her lover, after he said the words "Come With Me to the Mineral Springs" of Vade Mecum.
Vade Mecum hotel was developed by partner investors Cisero Tise a prominent business man in Winston-Salem and John Sparks who owned a Traveling Circus out of Pennsylvania. It was said that John Sparks would often keep some of the Circus animals at the resort. Various advertisements and publications reported the area as "having Hills resounding with the roar of jungle animals". Vade Mecum later was sold off in 1927 to the Episcopal Dioceses who built Tise Hall Gym and the Chapel of Thanks which still stand today.
In January of 2017 the Friends of Sauratown Mountains, a non-profit support organization for Hanging Rock State Park, held an open house weekend, welcoming more than 1000 visitors to the property for a presentation of history and information on Vade Mecum. The Friends of Sauratown Mountains manage and maintain the property hosting open house weekends on the first consecutive Saturday and Sunday from 9-5pm each month, May to September. Guests begin their venture at a renovated 4-H camp cabin, turned Visitor Center, where an interactive video presentation is shown. After the video presentation guests are allowed to explore the property at their leisure, or on guided tours.
At the Visitor Center guests are able to view historic pictures and artifacts from the history of the property. For a $5 donation to renovations of the property visitors enjoy tours includes the historic hotel built in 1902, Tise Hall Gym built in 1929, and Chapel of Thanks built in 1932. Visitors can also visit the site of the mineral spring house where guests once came from all over the country to drink the water for medicinal purposes. The Friends of The Sauratown Mountains We invite you to come the first full weekend of any month from May – October from 9am-5pm and take our historical tour, walk the trails, see the old dam with its beautiful buttresses intact, and walk down a lovely trail to the Mineral Spring itself.
This year Vade Mecum will be open for reservation of the chapel, gym and property to host events, conferences, reunions, and weddings. Although there isn’t currently any overnight lodging on the property, folks visiting the area are invited to make reservations at the Hanging Rock campground or nearby vacation rentals and lodges within 5 miles of Vade Mecum and Hanging Rock State Park.