The old Tatum Springs Hotel

I LOVED YOU ONCE ©Tammy Sullivan Poem and Photo

The Tatum Springs hotel was once a thriving vacation spot.  It catered to the elite and wealthy patrons.  I had a neighbor, who told me that, when she was a child, they would travel by horse and carriage to the hotel and spring.  The springs were told to  have healing waters.  That is why In its heyday they would have thousands of visitors.

Later the hotel became a 4-H camp.  Also churches would have church camp here, for the children..  There was a lot of  laughing and playing.  If you listen real close you can still here the laughter ringing out.

Time would take its toll on the old hotel.  The flood waters from the Chaplin river, would invade the structure many times.  The destruction left behind was unimaginable.  The owners no longer, wanted to spend the money to repair this old, historic site.  I guess you could say it became a money pit.  The skeleton of it, set beside the river for quite some time, after the flooding.  On foggy nights she looked like a ghost from the past.  Surrounded by the mist.  It was a little eerie, on these foggy nights. I loved her. 

When I first saw what was left of, the once famous Hotel and spring, It reminded me of a place right out of a western movie.  I could picture women standing on the balcony’s, yelling to the men below.  It could have been a brothel, right out of any John Wayne movie. The gingerbread trim in the eves, and the porches wrapping around the face of the hotel.

I made many trips, to this spot.  Taking pictures and connecting with it’s originality and beauty.  I had never seen a place, as beautiful as here.  I had a connection to it , and its old fashion charm.  The first time that I saw her, it touched my soul.  It was as if, I had been here before. I felt like, I had spent some time here.  I cannot explain why this was, but I was connected.  I always felt like the people from many years ago, were here with me.  The ones who had come by horse and buggy, to visit the healing spas.  I felt them, heard their chatter.  Maybe not literally but I could feel their presence all around me.   I was not afraid of them.  I longed to connect with them. 

 I longed to see the hotel restored.  I loved her.  And I was heart broken when I heard it had burned to the ground.  Rumors had it, that arson, had taken it from us. The only thing that remains now, are the chimneys.  It is so sad to loose this beautiful peace of history.
photo of the winding staircase inside the hotel.
 ©Tammy Sullivan photo

I loved you once © TammySullivan
I LOVED YOU ONCE ©Tammy Sullivan
(I wrote this about Tatum Springs hotel. The pic was taken, inside the hotel around 1989)
I loved you once, a long time ago.
What has happened since? I don’t know.
I was in a trance, captured by your spell.
The most breathtaking, haunting, magnificent hotel.
You stood like a ghostly, spirit in the evening haze.
Leaving me consumed, excited and dazed.
This is where it all started, My love for the abandon.
It started with you my, wonderful, mansion.
The porches were crumbling, the windows were gone.
I was dreaming of the times and things forgone.
Taking a peek inside, a wonder I saw.
The winding staircase that was about to fall.
Inside this secluded, lonely château.
The connection I felt, that no one would know.
©Tammy Sullivan 2015