More than a century ago, before modern medicine, Americans traveled to spring towns in search of the supposed healing powers of mineral waters. A small Mississippi town that once drew such visitors is now working to reclaim that identity, rebuilding its economy and self-image around wellness.

The town's history as a destination for health-seekers is well documented, part of a national craze for taking the waters that faded as medical science advanced. The waters themselves remain, and local boosters see in them a foundation for revival, if not for their curative claims then for their appeal.

The effort involves restoring old structures, developing new wellness-oriented businesses, and marketing the town's heritage to a modern audience hungry for exactly the kind of restorative escape the town once promised. The pitch trades on nostalgia and novelty at once.

The revival is fragile and its success uncertain, dependent on drawing visitors to an out-of-the-way place with limited infrastructure. But there is a poetic logic to it. A town built on the promise of restoration is trying, itself, to be restored, betting that an old idea about healing and rest can find a new audience.