Editing Bath County, Virginia (section)

== History and economy ==
Bath County was created on December 14, 1790 from parts of [[Augusta County, Virginia|Augusta]], [[Botetourt County, Virginia|Botetourt]], and [[Greenbrier County, West Virginia|Greenbrier]] Counties. Due to the many [[mineral springs]] found in the area, the county was named for the English [[spa]] and resort city of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Salmon|editor-first1=Emily J.|editor-last2=Campbell|editor-first2=Edward D.C. |title=The Hornbook of Virginia History : A Ready-Reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past|date=1994|publisher=Library of Virginia|location=Richmond|isbn=0884901777|page=161|edition=4th}}</ref> In the early 1700s, before the county was formed, the area that subsequently became Bath County was settled by people with ancestry principally in [[England]], [[Scotland]], [[Germany]], [[Wales]], [[Ireland]] and [[France]]. The families who settled in what has since become Bath County that came to Virginia from England predominantly came from the counties of Derbyshire,[[Hampshire]], [[Wiltshire]], [[Gloucestershire]], [[Northamptonshire]], the western portion of [[West Sussex|Sussex]], [[Dorset]], [[Somerset]] (where Bath in England is located), [[Norfolk]], [[Suffolk]], [[Surrey]], [[Kent]] and [[Lincolnshire]]. Like much of the [[Shenandoah Valley]] region, Bath had a relatively large share of residents descended from  Scots-Irish immigrants and German farmers, both of whom were moving southward from [[Pennsylvania]].By 1800, Bath County's population was mostly subsistence farmers, though some were also artisans and smaller amounts were shopkeepers.<ref>A Brief History of Bath County, Virginia by Jean Graham McAllister pg. 29</ref>

Like its namesake, Bath County's economy is focused on tourism and recreation. The county's major employer is [[The Omni Homestead Resort|The Omni Homestead]], a resort and historic hotel built in 1766 as "The Homestead" in [[Hot Springs, Virginia|Hot Springs]].<ref name = "About">{{cite web|title=About Bath County|url=http://www.bathcountyva.org/about-bath-county.html|publisher=County of Bath, Virginia|access-date=August 1, 2014}}</ref> Additional recreational opportunities are provided by camping and fishing at [[Lake Moomaw]] in the southern part of the county.