A couple of summer ago, my friend Twyford and I undertook our annual trip to Asheville. We traveled with our friend Dragongirl who was nursing a broken heart and in serious need of the refreshing mountain atmosphere. Lo! and behold, our close friend (and my housemate during those days) Hedgepig was giving a concert in the nearby mountain hamlet of Hot Springs. We decided to make an evening of dinner and music.

The drive from Asheville to Hot Springs is accomplished via either of two roads, US 25 or NC 209–both marked as major highways, although we quickly discovered otherwise on state highway 209. This road follows possibly the most convoluted route possible between Asheville and Hot Springs, temporarily masquerading as the relatively straight “Leicester Highway” before become a snaking asphault monstrosity. Still, NC 209 winds through some beautiful country across Buncombe and Madison Counties, and those untroubled by motion sickness may enjoy the drive. The more direct (and by far straighter) route is US 25 North, which leaves Asheville bound for Newport, Tennessee. This road offers dramatic grades littered with runaway-truck ramps and signs warning “watch for falling rocks” (the subject of a tale once concocted by my mother to entertain a bored 5-year-old son). Those driving too fast through this area frequently “catch air” and occasionally touch down with spectacular results.

Hot mineral springs near the present town have been attracting visitors to the area for hundreds, if not thousands of years. These spring are among the largest and most consistent of a small number of such formation in Eastern North America. Cherokee Indian tradition records that these springs were regarded as beneficial to human circulatory and respiration systems since immediate pre-colombian times, and perhaps even during the golden age of Mississippian culture. European settlers arriving in Western North Carolina were also drawn to the waters and their alleged medicinal properties. The burgeoning town was thus already a popular tourist destination during Revolutionary times and especially during the early republic. The springs continued to draw visitors from across the Eastern seaboard well into the Twentieth Century.

Geological formations may have launched the town financially, but local transport improvements secured its future. Located beneath the towering Unaka Mountains, Hot Springs was a popular launching point for native trade and European migration between North Carolina and territories of the Old Northwest. In colonial times, the Appalachian Mountains presented a formidible challenge to settlement in Tennessee and Kentucky. Travelers prefered forging across rugged territory where mountain obstacles were suddenly broken by relatively low and easily-reached gaps. Such a gap exists near hot springs, and this geological thoroughfare proved extraordinarly popular among idealistic settlers and hardened mountain-men alike.

The construction of Buncombe Turnpike through the area in 1828 brought increased farm and stock traffic (also witnessed by modern street names in nearby towns, such as Weaverville’s Stock Road). This early Federal works project was constructed along the older native and colonial route known as “Old Drover’s Road”. The partially-macadamized thoroughfare linked “Warm Srpings” (now Hot Springs) to directly to Moriston (now Asheville), and beyond to Charlotte and the Atlantic Ocean. Increased traffic of all sorts soon drove the construction of several nationally-recognized hotels, including James Patton’s 350-room Warm Springs Hotel–then the largest structure in Western North Carolina, capable of simultaneously seating 600 dinner guests.

During the American Civil War, the town repeatedly hosted Union cavalry companies acting to disrupting vital Confederate food and supply transport across the Appalachians. These raids were generally well-received by northern-sympathizing citizens of Western North Carolina, with whom confederate goals had little currency. A thriving black market in strategic and contraband goods soon emerged around Warm Springs, where devious merchants took advantage of tariffs and trade irregularities between North Carolina and Tennessee–particularly regarding gunpowder, magnesium, and gold.

Railroad service arrived at Warm Springs in the 1880’s, bringing another surge of visitors–typically wealthy northern industrialists seeking the restorative properties of the warm mineral waters–guests in town were frequently identified as Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and Carnegies. The discovery of high-temperature springs soon prompted local leaders to change the town name to Hot Springs. Another series of hotels were constructed to accommodate high-profile newcomers drawn to the geological riches, including the Mountain Park Hotel, which boasted heated indoor swimming pools, an 18-hole golf course, access to springs, and a massive ballroom.

Hot Springs suffered a major decline beginning in the early Twentieth Century. Automobiles had begun to capture the American imagination following Horatio Nelson Jackson’s cross-country motoring adventure in 1903. Many towns without adequate improved roads were beyond the range or interest of travelers enamoured with the new technology, and Hot Springs was no exception. Forced to compete with more easily-reached destinations, the town began fading away. The illustrious Mountain Park Hotel suffered several poorly-attended seasons, then proved most useful as housing for German prisoners of war during the First World War. An accidental fire burned the hotel to its foundations in 1920 and the structure was never rebuilt. The town seemed practically doomed.

Curiously, the town which had previously benefitted so much from tourism and increasingly modern transport was now revived through the oldest form of human movement–foot traffic. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (often called simply the “Appalachian Trail”) opened its first route through New York in 1923. Over the next half-century, the trail extended southward, eventually establishing Hot Springs as a popular trailhead. The unique location on the North Carolina-Tennessee border and astride a large mountain gap encouraged hikers traveling the Appalachian Trail to linger and recover some strength. Although the precise route of the trail was contested for decades, the National Park Service designated a final version in 1971, guaranteeing Hot Springs trailhead status.

Today foot- and automobile-based visitors can enjoy tubing on the French Broad River, moutain biking along special scenic paths, hiking the Appalachian Trail and several other local routes, excellent mountain cuisine, beautiful scenery… and, of course, relaxing among the warm mineral springs. Our trip featured free-range buffalo hamburgers with Russet potato french fries and fresh apple pie, plus enjoyable solo-guitar tunes performed by Hedgepig. Great food, great music, great scenery… excellent town.

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