Creative Commons Image Obtained Through Flickr
Located in Madison County at the confluence of the French Broad River and Spring Creek, Hot Springs has long been a destination for therapeutic relief. First Native Americans, then European settlers “took the cure” in the hot mineral waters. In 1831 James Patton of Asheville built the 35- room Warm Springs Hotel. His dining room could seat 600 people, and the planter elite of South Carolina and Georgia brought culture and prosperity to the small village. After 1884, a rebuilt hotel made Hot Springs one of the most lavish resorts in the Southeast. Changing tastes and a series of fires ended the resort’s grand era by World War I. Hot Springs is best known now as a resting spot on the Appalachian Trail.
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