A Nottoway Indian town stood at the springs two miles south when the English settlement was established at Jamestown in 1607, and the Nottoways named the three springs Coppahaunk, meaning "good health or healing waters." About 1825, Coppahaunk Tavern was built, and a post office opened in 1835. Before the Civil War, a spa resort operated here. Afterward, a private boys' academy opened in the former tavern, and girls were later admitted. From the turn of the century until the Great Depression, spring water was bottled and sold, and during the late 1920s the water was used in the production of ginger ale.