Pettusville was named for Dr. Thomas Coleman Pettus (1816-1890), who came from Lunenburg County, Virginia, and purchased land encompassing Bailes Hollow in the late 1840s. Deep in the hollow, he discovered seven medicinal springs, the most famous a chalybeate, iron-rich spring believed to restore the weary and cure many ailments. So many people came to drink the water that the large yellow-poplar-log home Pettus built for himself on a ridge above the spring was turned into a hotel to accommodate visitors. Beginning in the 1850s, the cool, sweet-tasting water of the chalybeate spring drew crowds to the small community. The town was incorporated and established one of the first schools in the county, and several doctors, a Masonic Lodge, and a post office served the community. After the war, the hotel and spring passed through numerous owners, and in November 1926 the old hotel building caught fire and burned to the ground.