HOTSPRINGS

Hot Springs, North Carolina, a resort destination since the early 1800's, has long been renowned for its healing mineral springs and scenic mountain setting. Native Americans were the first to discover the 100-plus degree mineral water from which the Town of Hot Springs recieved its name. Traders from the colonies came next, and by 1778 the lame and sick were traveling over the mountains to the hot springs for the healing waters.

Buncombe Turnpike was completed along the French Broad River through Hot Springs (called Warm Springs at the time) in 1828, connecting Tennesse and Kentucky to the east coast. It was the superhhighway of the South at the time. Farmers drove thousand of horses, cattle, hogs and other livestock to markets in Charleston and Augusta on the Turnpike and stopped in Hot Springs to take the waters along the way.

Recognizing the potential for toursim, James Patton of Ashville, bought the springs in 1831 and by 1837 had built the 350-room Warm Springs Hotel with thirteen tall columns commemorating the first colonies. Because of its size and granduer, it was called Patton's White House. Its dining room could seat 600.

The next owner was James H. Rumbough, a stage coach operator, who bought the springs in 1862. In the hotel's ballroom, second largest in the state, Frank Johnson, son of President Andrew Johnson, met his bride, Bessie Rumbough, daughter of the hotel owner.

The railroad reached the village in 1882, and it was necessary for Rumbough to enlarge his hotel. Two years later the hotel burned. The springs and much of the town were sold to the Southern Improvement Company, a northern syndicate.

The Mountain Park Hotel was built in 1886, and a higher-temperature spring was disocvered, prompting the company to change the town's name from Warm Springs to Hot Springs. The Mountain Park was one of the most elegant resorts in the country in its heyday. It consisted of the 200-room hotel, a barn and stables, a spring house, and a bath house of sixteen marble pools, surrounded by landscaped lawns with croquet and tennis courts. The Mountain Park Hotel eatablished the first organized golfclub in the Southeast with a nine-hole course.

Bu May 1917, however, fewer and fewer people were taking the waters, and the Mountain Park Hotel and grounds were leased to the federal government as as internment camp for hundreds of German merchant saliors captured in U.S. harbors when war was declared. The internees were treated well by the townpeople, and several returned after the war.

When the war ended, the Mountain Park Hotel never regained it former glory. The hotel burned in 1920, never to be rebuilt. Two other hotels were built on the grounds of the springs during the next forty years, but neither were as grand as the Warm Springs Hotel or the Mountain Park. Both of these smaller hotels also succumbed to fire, and the Town of Hot Springs was nearly forgotten as a tourist destination. 

Today, Hot Springs is again a haven for those seeking a relaxing and healthful mountain retreat. Outdoor recreation abounds. Hikers can explore some of the scenic stretches of the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which runs down the main street of town before crossing the French Broad River and climbing back onto the ridgetops. Rafters can shoot the rapids on the French Broad River. Mountain bikers can wind along wooded paths to open meadows with commanding views of the surrounding peaks. Those seeking time for relaxation can simply savor the area's breath taking scenery while soaking in hot mineral baths in secluded outdoor tubs at the reopened Hot Spring Spa.