The spa is reputed to have healing properties and attracts visitors from all over Jamaica to ameliorate ailments such as rheumatism, gout and lumbago.
The waters have radioactivity of 16m curries per litre (which is about 50 times as radioactive as the waters of Vichy in France and 54 times as radioactive as the waters of Baden in Switzerland).
According to legend, the baths were first discovered by a slave who worked for Jonathan Ludford. Mr Ludford had beaten the slave severely so the slave went to hide in the woods and bathed in a salty natural spring which he found. The slave’s wounds were rapidly healed, he then returned to Mr Ludford who was so shocked at the recovery that he made a deal to never punish the slave again if he shared the secret of the spring’s location.