t
Elegance And Change-Hot Spring's Trademark
Continued from Pige I
long with thirteen white pillars
at the front, representing the
original thirteen colonic. The
facilities could not be equalled in
many of the larger cities of the
day.
Vcteraa la A New Laa4
1
-
World's Finest MmiRHLMa-Tli.iK)
nar
no need FOR a SIGN - The sign is still up but there's no room
available at the inn. The sign does, however, point out the tem
perture of the spring's ever-bubbling mineral water.
f- 4JS
ft
1
PRESENTED TO QUEEN - So remarkable was the fame of this woman, Bessie Rumbough
Johnson Salford. daughter of Colonel J.H. Rumbough and whose first husband was the son of
President Andrew Johnson, that she was presented to the court of England's (ueen Victoria She
was noted for her elegance in fashionable taste and her unquestionable beauty. After the death of
young Andrew, who was only around 26 at the time of his death, she married a millionaire many
years her senior- The man in the picture is neither husband. He is unidentified
BATH Jh0USE
Ifi I t Ti M 1
-:m. "'-' "TV 'V - r r t- -- -
THE BATH Hoi. SK ToD XY - tocxed. out at lach with tnt wand -
that once flocked to its doors fur a dip in the water that has been ;
proven to be of healing and curative value. Testa ever a century
and a hat rrveal that the quality of the water has remained almost
By the time Madison County
was created in 1851, the Warm
Springs Hotel was a veteran, a
prosperous veteran. The healing
power of its water and the
mountain setting It provided had
flung the new county into a spot
light not known by many places
at the time.
SPRINGS
mu
t
ri
"Nowhere in America have I
found a sweeter and more
restful spot than at these
springs," asserted North
Carolina's Governor, James
Fowle, on a visit in 1860.
The Greatest Change
The Civil War brought the
greatest period of change to Hot
Springs that it had ever known
before and has known since.
That accomplishment has been
credited to a Greeneville man.
James Henry Rumbough was
a Confederate officer and, when
the war started, he realized that
Greeneville was no place to
raise a family due to the intense
feelings from both sides here. So
he went shopping for a new
home.
He had become familiar with
Hot Springs in his business-he
was a stagecoach line owner He
owned the route between
Greeneville and Greenville, S C.
He had passed the beautiful
hotel at Hot Springs many times
The Pattons were apparently
wanting to sell the hotel when
Rumbough waa wanting to buy,
the same Some reports Indicate that the water la so strong in
minerals and chemicals that persons have bee permanently
injured from prolonged stays la H. When the hotel was prupering,
a dm tor was on its sUff U advise bathers on the correct therapy.
because accounta tell of a quick
agreement. Rumbough, his
colorful wife, Carrie, and the
children left Greeneville and
moved into the hotel. It was
under Rumbough's
management that the hotel was
to reach its greatest heights of
popularity.
The hotel managed to get
through the war years in good
condition. There was some
activity there but nothing that
hindered the operation. On one
occasion, when Mrs. Rumbough
heard that the Union Army was
coming through, she burned the
bridge. The army never showed.
On another occasion, she
rebuked a Union soldier who was
trying to steal her best horse.
The Union officer In charge was
so impressed with her iron will
that she (tot to keep the horse.
After the war's close and upon
the return of Col. Rumbough,
things began to happen that
established the Rumbough name
around the globe. The coming of
the railroad through Hot Springs
in 1882 iced the Rumbough cake,
marking a peak of prosperity for
the Warm Springs Hotel.
Prosperity Interrupted
But the prosperity was in
terrupted in 1884 by another fire,
leveling the architectural
masterpiece. Rumbough, ap
parently disheartened by the
tragedy, sold the property to a
group of New York
businessmen, who called
themselves, of all things,
Southern Improvement.
The company went right to
work and built a third structure,
following the trademark with a
beautiful moutain palace. They
named it the Mountain Park
Hotel.
But Southern Improvement
soon headed back north because
they went broke. Col. Rum
bough, being in the town, with
money and with knowledge of
the business, was approached
for the purpose of buying the
Mountain Park. He did.
Through the 1880's, 1890's, and
just after the turn of the century,
Rumbough's name was iden
tified with those of governors,
presidents, European royalty
and the like. He kept the hotel
until he sold it to a son in 1912.
It's not been the same since
The German Camp
The political and ecoriornic ills
of the world just priorST World
War I moved into the mountains
of Madison County just like they
did Wall Street. The Mountain
Park felt the pinch.
In an attempt to salvage the
hotel's business during the
impending world war, the
Rumboughs negotiated an
agreement with the U.S.
government to lodge a large
number of Germans who had
been arrested upon, the arrival of
their luxury liners in U.S. ports.
German doctors, scientists,
technicians, sailors and many of
their wives, around 2,500 strong,
rode into Hot Springs by train
just after the beginning of the
war to begin a period of con
finement that was as much
unlike a prison camp as can be
imagined
The government described the
Germans as prisoners but not in
the sense that the German
soldiers were considered
prisoners. Indeed, the Germans
didn't feel like prisoners. They
liked Hot Springs and the ser
vices provided so they wouldn't
have left if they had been given
the opportunity. There was one
report of an "escape." The man
managed to get to Mexico but
reports indicate he had a
miserable existance after his
leaving Hot Springs.
The women were allowed to
board with the residents of the
town, earning money by doing
house and garden chores.
Reports say they loved it and
friendships evolved that are
still carried on.
The brass bands that had
played aboard the luxury liners
were also moved into Hot
Springs. Many residents of
today remember the melodies of
the Sunday afternoon per
formances by the German
musicians at the camp. They
had never heard anything like it.
Cabbage For The Germans
J. J. Moore, soon to be M, a
Greeneville transplant from the
Spring Creek section of Madison
County, well remembers the
wagons he filled with cabbage,
potatoes and apples and hauled
into Hot Springs for sale to the
Germans.
He remembers a German,
named Pinard, as the "boss",
the man responsible for the
spending of the money. It was
Pinard who decided how much
cabbage was to be bought.
"Them people loved cabbage
best of anyone I have ever
seen," Moore remembers.
A Time To Go
Near the close of the war, the
Germans were shipped out of
Hot Springs the same way they
came. Reports say they were
taken to a midwest Army post
and the men used in the harvest
of grain. Other reports indicate
they were released immediately
and went back to Germany.
Their confinement at the springs
had lasted just under two years,
according to stories now told
around the village.
After the Germans left,
business continued to be slow.
The Mountain Park was not
prospering as it once was. Roads
were made better, services were
better than they had ever been
but the people still didn't come
like they did in days of old.
Fire Causes Death
The death of the Hot Springs
success story happened in 1920.
Once again, fire destroyed it.
The Mountain Park was forever
gone.
The property stayed in the
Rumbough family for a number
of years following and a building
was erected but it has never
been successful by any measure
as compared to the past. It is the
one that still stands near the
springs.
The Springs Have Stayed
In all the activity, the springs
alone have proved infallible.
Their waters are still flowing
after many have come and gone.
They created a market that
made families very rich. They
appear just as refreshing as the
day they were discovered by
white men in 1778.
The Pattons, the Rumboughs,
the Germans, and those that
followed have left behind a
chapter of Hot Springs history so
prominent that seldom a history
of North Carolina is completed
without it.
Hundreds of newspaper and
magazine stories have been
written on the subject. It has
served as themes for college
students at nearby Mars Hill
College to write about. It has
appeared in medical journals
over the world.
Yet, its gone. Nothing
remains but the ruins of a
decaying group of buildings.
Unless something is soon done,
they too will go the way of all the
earth.
But the springs will stay.
If you think
you'd like to make
more ol your skills,
think about
the Army Reserve.
1 i
rttu-kai
Bath House
Swimming Pool
MAGAZINE PUBLICITY - These three pictures, along with many others, appeared in a travel and
health magazine when the hotel was at its peak. At top is the dining room, seemingly matchless in
elegance for the turn of the century. In the middle is the bath house and drinking spring with well
kept, graveled walkways and a neat lawn. The buildings were kept in expert repair. At bottom, the
swimming pool, supplied by the mineral water from the springs.
U S POSTAL SERVICE
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIR ,'ULATION
(At tof Augvtt 12. 1970 Stctiofi J6S5. Til iV Vntua SlaMI Codt )
1 TITLE 01- PUUUCAriON " ' "
The News-Record
5 FBEaOEWCV bf iSSuE
Weekly
ON OF KNOWN OFFICE OF
Main Street, Marshall, Madison County, N. C. 28753
5 LOCATION OF THE HEADQUARTERS OB SEMEBaL BUSINESS OFFICES OF THE PUBLISHERS (Not rttri)
P. O. Box 7606 - Asheville, N. C. 28807
6 NAMES And ADbheiSES OF uBLlSHgS. gDiT6fl, Mb mAna6In6 efilTOR
FUBLISHE B INanu and adtktu)
Coranunity Newspapers, Inc., 20 N. Spruce
EDITOR ISvnt XKf aJJnH
James I. Story, Marshall, N. C. 28753
MANAGER EDITOB (Nam ana aaartu) '
None
T'uWNEn OMid by aorporartan. Hi nam and addrtat mutt b rtatad and atao tmmadUtaly rharatndar tha mmmat and addraaaal of
nockhoidara owning or holding I percanl or mora of total amount of nock If nol ownad by a corporation, tha mmmaa and addnaaaa of tha
Indtaldual oynutrt murt b giyan If ownad by a portnarahlp or othar untneorporaaad firm, to rmma and addram. at wall aa that of aach
Indtvtdual must ba ainm l
Community Newspapers", Inc.
N. J . Babb
8. knoWn bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders
James I. Story Marshall, N. C.
d fob optional completion bv publishers maium at the secular aates ifaaion iM.ii,oM.isvtoraiS5l
39 U S. C. 3fl?6 provldM In partlnanl pan. "Ho parao wrto would naa bamn anttttod M malt matm undw tormaa aacVt 43M a thai trda
anan mail aoeh marar at Via raM provldad undar ittli tubaactlon uraam ha fttaa annuatty am asa Panran tarvlaa anteaan raai'a" ur
parmlaalon to fr,all mattar at aueh raaaa "
In aouofdatna with tha provlalona f &iH Matuw. I Itarabv raquaal paunlwlpw to maN tfta oubHeaOft nawtad bt Itam I itt ndallB pnalaai
ratal praaanttv authortaad bv 39 U. t. C. 962
10 FOR eOMPLEION 8V NOKPOPIT OBgANIZATloW ALm40HI7ED To MAIL AT IfESAL RATES tiacttoa. liuiiTl
IChaokomal
Tna iwigioai. njnetlon. and nonproH
oraanliatran and ia aaompt ttaaua
II. tXTINT AND NATURE Of CIRCULATION
A. TOTAL NO. COH PRINTED (Nat t
I AI6 eiRtUUTIdH
I. SAL1S THPIOLK3H MALUM AND CARKIIRfi, BTRIfT
VENDOW1 A NO COUNTER SALES
I. MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS
C TO-TAL RAID CI RCUl-ATION
O. ! OfCTa)l9JUTIOt tV MAIL.CAp11IBR OR OTHIR MIANB
I. SAMRLSB, COMRLIMSNTARY, AND OTHBR PRSS CORISS
S- OCRPttS DWTMaUTSO TO NVanS AOIHTSL MIT MOT SOLO
a TOT At. BITRIUTION Itam afCtalD)
a, tymptcm iw, larr-ovin. umaocouhtsb. rofuo tumm
. TOTAL 0am mft -l
T tB&ty ffcstf Jm itctvncnM wmtt mf
t Faaj JUt h im j ,
Dining Room
a.
I
Entrance And Drinking Spring
PUBLICATION (Str4l. city, county, nan.
P. 0. Box
P. 0. Box
atatut of thl p. Haaa not ohanoari
for odaraf -J during praaadlrdj
. Hawt
mm fmmnrn taram m At
0 I Cnw. RM
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SEE INSTRUCTIONS
ON PAGE 2 (REVERSE)
i bT! 6 FIllKiA
September 17, 19",
coot) inoi prutmrwi
St., Asheville, N.C. 2B807
ADORES
7606, Asheville, N. C. 28H0T
1777, Spartanburg, S.C. 29301
OWNING OR HOLDING 1 PSRCEN UR MORE OF
ahomad dunnd
AVIRAOS NO. CORHS
ACM MUI OURINO
PRSC1PINO II MONTHS
ACTUAL NUMSSR OR CORISS OR
fUMU IMUS PUVLISMCO MArV
EST TO RIUNO OATI
2,100
2,000
250
250
1,650
1,650
1,900
1,900
100
50
25
'25
2,025
1,97$
'! 75"
as
2,100
2,000