The Seven Fountains Name, from “The Claddagh”, the family newsletter for the O’Flaherty/Cullers reunion, of Jan 2004 issue.
Once called Burner’s Springs, changed to Seven Fountains in 1853 when the first post office in Fort Valley was established. It was the original homeplace of the “Combs” family and later owned by Soloman Van Meter. About 1849 this farm was bought by Noah J. Burner of Page Co. He built a hotel and cottages and ran the place as a spa or health resort.
Mr. Burner had a good friend in Woodstock who was from PA and who was a personal friend of the then President, James Buchanan and who said to Mr. Burner, “Why don’t you get a post office in Fort Valley”, saying, “I know the President and will write you a letter of reference.” Mr. Burner rode a horse to Washington, D.C. in the year 1853 and when he presented the letter, the president began to ask questions of the country and resort. Mr. Burner, saying how he had seven springs, each of a different content of mineral water and was calling it Burner’s Springs. The president is reported to have said, “If you have seven springs, why don’t you call it Seven Fountains?”, which they agreed upon and Mr. Burner was appointed Postmaster.
Daniel O’Flaherty came in 1850 and worked at the resort as an accountant when it was Burner Springs, marrying Mary Magdaline Cullers in 1852 and they lived on Woodstock Road west of the Cross Roads in Fort Valley. Just a few years before the War Between the States, Solomon McInturff, became the business manager of the resort.

Note: The above was an excerpt from Orie Munch‘s book, HOMEPLACE HISTORY, TRADITIONS AND MEMORIES. Painting from Gail Burke collection.

From "Welcome to Fort Valley" by Jeanette Conner Ritenour, James Harris Trott & Margaret Akers Trott.

Despite the resort’s considerable success, Noah Burner must have quickly overstretched his budget, for in the fall of 1852—a full year before Porte Crayon’s journey— Isaac Wilkinson and Samuel A. Danner obtained a partial interest in the resort by loaning Burner $12,000 with which to reimburse his creditors. In 1857, Noah was again in financial difficulty, having failed to pay some of his bills. The largest of these debts resulted in a July court case during which merchants Baker and Brown testified that, since July 1855, Burner and Borst (another of Noah’s partners during the mid-1850s) had not paid them.

The following month, not long after part-owner Isaac Wilkinson had died of “typhoid fever and pneumonia,” the Circuit Court ordered Noah to sell “the one undivided moiety of that valuable property, long and exclusively known as Burner’s White Sulphur Springs...” in order to satisfy the debt. The sale took place at the Springs on Thursday, 11 February 1858, with J. W. D. Allen agreeing to pay the sum of $7,100, with one-third down, “as specified.” The absence of his name on subsequent purchase orders and other documents would indicate that Allen played no active role in managing the resort. Clearly, Samuel Danner retained some authority in addition to his being the official postmaster, and Noah Burner seems to have stayed with the resort until the following year, at which time Solomon Mclnturff became the principal business manager. Noah Burner and his wife Mahala subsequently “headed west.” According to Burner’s obituary—he lived until April 1895—Noah had once owned quite a bit more property in Shenandoah County, but “...becoming financially embarrassed some years before the [Civil] War, he went west where he remained until a few years ago.”