[4] In 1796, Nicholas Shauffler discovered a high mineral content in the natural freshwater springs located on the property of Fredrick Naugel, outside of Bedford, Pennsylvania.

According to a travelogue by Joshua Galpin in 1809, these buildings included a "large frame lodging house and several smaller ones for families – warm and cold baths and a billiard room."

In 1824, Bedford Springs was hailed as the "Montpelier of America" in a column in the July edition of the National Gazette & Library Register, which noted with praise the waters, accommodations, activities, food and wine.

In the beginning of the 20th century, as medicine and health-awareness advanced, the validity of the Springs' healing powers decreased slightly, but the hotel still flourished, and in 1905, a major renovation of the complex included a monumental double-decked colonnade, which connected the hotel's main dining room to a columned pavilion at the Magnesia Springs across Shober's Run, as well as a new building with a spring-fed indoor pool, reportedly the first such facility in the United States at the time it was built.

In the 1930s, the hotel's resident physician, Dr. William E. Fitch, established the "Bedford Cure," a health regimen that required a three-week stay at the resort, which still operated successfully throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

During World War II, the hotel and its grounds were used by the U.S. Navy as the Naval Training School (Radio) and then later as a detention center for interned Japanese diplomats.

The hotel continued to operate for the next three decades, highlighted by then California Governor Ronald Reagan's stay in 1975, making him the seventh current, former or future president to spend time at Bedford Springs.

The resort offers outdoor activities including a network of hiking trails to nearby Rainsburg and Buchanan State Forest, bicycling, off-road Segways, UTVs, cross-country skiing, fly fishing, river rafting, carriage rides and day excursions to many of Bedford's famous historic sites and beautiful covered bridges.

In 1901, head professional Charles Thorn worked to improve the course by rebuilding greens and tee boxes and installing an irrigation system using the natural springs found in the area as a water source.

The spa's signature treatment, called The Bedford Baths, is a ritual of immersing the body alternatively in hot and cool pools and soaking in herb-infused steam from the mineral-rich springs.