C. W. G. to Frederick Douglass, May 5, 1852
Dear Friend: -
Many of your readers have heard of Glen Haven, the beautiful site of the successful Water Cure Establishment of Dr. J. C. Jackson & Co. The very name is pleasant to the ear, and suggests thoughts of shady walks, cool retreats, and running waters. Nor does the reality in any respect disappoint the anticipation. Nature did her best when she made this delightful retreat for invalids. The forests are so cool and shady, the air so pure, the water so soft, the sunshine so bright, the lake so lovely, the hills so smiling, the "Cure" so comfortable, the "treatment" so agreeable, and Dr. and Mrs. Jackson so kind and attentive, that one might almost be willing to be ill for the sake of being ministered to under such favorable circumstances.
The Cure, this spring, has undergone thorough repairs. The rooms are all newly papered, painted and carpeted, and are as neat and inviting in appearance as an invalid could desire to see. The boats are furnished for the use of the patients upon the lake. - This steamboat, Homer, will, in a week, commence its daily trips from Skaneateles to the Glen.
The reputation of the Glen Haven Water Cure was never higher than now. Patients come from the east and the west, from the north and the south to bathe in its purifying waters and be healed of their diseases, and none come wholly in vain. During the entire winter, there were between twenty and thirty patients, to whom the treatment proved quite as agreeable and beneficial as during the warm season, though the prevalent opinion is that one must necessarily find it disagreeable in cold weather. The prospects for the coming season are very fair, at no time since the cure first opened have they been more so.
With the many who, like myself, have reason to bless the day on which they were led to Glen Haven, I will close by wishing long life and continued success to Dr. and Mrs. Jackson.
Truly yours,
C. W. G.
May 5, 1852