Posted in North Carolina
April 17, 2018
Most People In North Carolina Don’t Know About Our Old German POW Camp
Some interesting secrets can be found hiding in the past in the Tar Heel State. Some of those secrets are just plain bizarre or weird, like the seven found in this article. Others, are just… well, random. For instance, the story of how a North Carolina four-star resort built for the richest of the rich in America was turned into a German POW camp during WWI.
Up until the beginning of WWI, business was booming at the spa, but with the war came a sharp decline in visitors. The owner of the grand hotel offered to lease it to the government. And that's how Hot Springs, NC got its POW camp
The Germans detained at the camp were a combination of workers from a German ship and immigrants that had been held at Ellis Island since the beginning of the war. In all, 2,500 Germans were held in the internment camp in Hot Springs; many were living right in that luxury hotel.
The Germans detained at the camp were a combination of workers from a German ship and immigrants that had been held at Ellis Island since the beginning of the war. In all, 2,500 Germans were held in the internment camp in Hot Springs; many were living right in that luxury hotel.
The newly built barracks of Camp B in the internment camp are shown in the photo above, with a work crew in the center.
Eventually, they built their own houses out of materials found at the hotel. The walls of many of the home were fashioned from tree limbs, as you can see in the photo above.
Homes were fashioned in makeshift ways with what was available for construction. The detainees had fashioned their own little German village by the time they were allowed to leave.
In the center of the photo is a church they built at the end of this street.
Unfortunately, nothing remains of the German village, or the POW camp, in Hot Springs.
But it was moved in 1933 to Chattanooga National Cemetery.
The resort no longer boasts a gargantuan hotel, but there is still a resort at Hot Springs, albeit a little more rustic than past renditions in the same spot. You can find out more about the Town of Hot Springs here.
If you’d like to visit the site of the old German POW camp, it’s located at the present day Hot Springs Resort & Spa. Get more information on their official website.
