BURDETTE WELLS, TEXAS. Burdette Wells (Burditt Well, Burdetts Well, and Burditt) was developed as a resort and health spa in the 1870s by Dr. H. M. Burditt of Luling. It was on the Clear Fork of Plum Creek midway between Luling and Lockhart. In 1880 the resort was becoming quite successful and shipped 1,200 gallons of water out for public consumption. According to Burditt the water contained large quantities of magnesia and sulfuric acid and was capable of "cur[ing] Liver and Spleen derangement, Bilious Fever, Hectic Fever, Debility, Rheumatism, Erysipelas, Scurvy, bad ulcers, Skin Eruptions, Dropsy, Dyspepsia, Yellow Jaundice . . . and various diseases instituted and perpetuated by a vitiated condition of the biliary secretions . . . [including] all Venereal Diseases, Acute or Chronic consumption in the early stage, where recuperative action is sufficient." The water's popularity led to the construction of a two-story hotel and bathhouse and the establishment of a whistle stop and railroad spur on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass. A local post office named Burdett Well operated in 1878-79; for five months in 1894 a post office operated under the name Burditt.

Control of the resort eventually fell into the hands of the J. H. Maulding Land Company of San Antonio, and Capt. T. P. Bishop directed the hotel and bathhouse. At one time there were plans to expand the enterprise and sell up to 1,000 business and residential lots near the wells. Eventually, the facility lost business and began to deteriorate. However, before this occurred Burdette Wells was also the site of camp meetings that drew crowds of people from a thirty-mile radius to listen to evangelical preaching for two to four weeks at a time. In 1990 there were no known remains of the community.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Francis W. Wilson, "Burditt's Well," Plum Creek Almanac, Fall 1987.