German Enemy Aliens in the Land of the Sky

Описание: The significant influences of German diaspora communities upon the social and economic history of North Carolina have been well researched, most notably the Moravian settlements at Bethania, Bethabara, and Salem in Northwest North Carolina. However, little has been written about the existence of the German prisoner-of-war stockade in the mountain community of Hot Springs during World War I. In point of fact, the collective memory of the residents of Hot Springs regarding the presence of the prison, including oral traditions passed down from those living at the time, has nearly faded from view. The events surrounding the history of Hot Springs as a resort community, the selection of Hot Springs as a location for a prisoner-of-war camp, and the story of life within the stockade and in the community are quite compelling. Further, this story deserves to be re-documented in a form that is accessible to all North Carolinians.
The story begins at the confluence of Long Creek and the French Broad River, where bands of Native Americans, most notably Cherokee, discovered natural hot springs. White settlement along the Buncombe Turnpike, a major trade route through the Appalachian Mountains, and, subsequently, along the Western North Carolina Railroad enabled Hot Springs to grow into a popular southern resort. Hotels were built. Notable citizens came to “take the waters.” Hot Springs thrived despite a series of natural disasters that threatened its existence.
Almost immediately after the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the federal government in Washington was faced with the challenge of constructing a sufficient number of prisoner-of-war camps to house both enemy combatants and non-combatants. Hearing that the federal Department of Immigration and Naturalization was looking for a site to intern several German nationals, James E. Rumbough convinced the United States government that Hot Springs, North Carolina, with its remote location and existing facilities, was the ideal place to house the German internment camp, thereby saving his Mountain Park Hotel and resort which was nearly destroyed by the devastating flood of 1916. The Department of Immigration and Naturalization accepted Mr Rumbough’s offer, and the stockade was constructed on the grounds of the Mountain Park. In addition to the more than 86,000 North Carolinians who took up arms in the various branches of the U.S. armed services, the prisoner-of-war camp in Hot Springs can be viewed as one of the most significant chapters of North Carolina’s involvement in World War I.