Hot Springs Mayor believes she's found Robert E. Lee monument landowners. What's next?

HOT SPRINGS - After a Robert E. Lee Dixie Highway Marker plaque was stolen off the monument on which it sits in Hot Springs, the questions of who owns the land and how to proceed with the monument have confounded the town board for more than two years.

But Hot Springs Mayor Abby Norton thinks she may finally have the answer to who owns the land located at 271 NW US 25-70 Highway in Hot Springs.

Norton told The News-Record & Sentinel the town board will discuss the property during its May 6 meeting.

"I did some research and I'm really not at liberty to say what I've found out yet, I've got to discuss it with the board, and we'll go into closed session with that," Norton said.

Given that the board will discuss the property in closed session, the board may also deliberate on whether to make an offer to buy the property.

The plaque was donated to the Dixie Highway by the Daughters of the Confederacy and erected in 1926 and dedicated to the Rumbough sisters. The Hot Springs plaque was stolen from its monument in March 2022.

"That someone took it upon themselves to disrupt that in that capacity, that they had no business in taking or destroying it is (a tragedy)," Hot Springs Police Chief David Shelton told The News-Record in March 2022.

"A part of the town is gone that won't be back. It's a total shame. I've worked accidents where people have ran into it, and it's stood the test of time."

Since that time, the board has weighed what to do with the monument, including whether to replace the plaque with a replica or an alternative, such as honoring the original Cherokee settlers and William Nelson, a Scotsman who bought the property surrounding what is now the Hot Springs Resort and Spa.

Sidney Harrison, a former three-term mayor of Hot Springs, proposed the idea to honor Cherokee settlers during the board's June 2023 meeting. Harrison said the idea was brought to him by a former Hot Springs resident.

"It's something that's nonargumentative to anybody," Harrison said.

In the June 2023 meeting, Norton said she'd like to see the plaque replaced with a replica, adding that the plaque may have been stolen for its solid bronze metal material.

"We don't know why it was stolen. It could have been because it was solid bronze or because it depicted Robert E. Lee," Norton said. "Either way, it's a piece of Hot Springs history."

In October 2023, the board heard a presentation from members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter in Newport, Tennessee, who said they would provide half of the funds needed for a replacement plaque.

More: Board mulls Robert E. Lee plaque Hot Springs' stolen Robert E. Lee plaque: Replace with duplicate or honor Cherokee, Nelson

More: Chief: 'A lot of history' gone Stolen Confederate plaque: Hot Springs Chief says 'a lot of history, hates that it's gone'

More: Organization said it will pay 1/2 Hot Springs hears from organization about plans to fund half of Robert E. Lee plaque costs

The other half would be picked up by local donors, leaving no cost for the town, according to former Hot Springs town board member Jimmy Moore, who had been working from June 2022 through November 2023, when he stepped down from the board, to get the plaque replaced.

Hot Springs resident Ike Lassiter said he'd prefer the town promote a less divisive message and added that he preferred honoring the original Cherokee settlers and Nelson.

"Although the Dixie Highway network covered parts of the North and South and was intended to encourage travel in the eastern United States, it was used by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor Robert E. Lee and the 'Lost Cause' by constructing similar monuments in multiple states," Lassiter said.

"In our current era when political division is harmful to all U.S. citizens whatever their party, I favor a new message that honors the past in Hot Springs and Madison County without asking us to choose sides, especially in view of the mixed loyalties locally during the Civil War and the mixed origins of local citizens today. The plaque that Sidney Harrison presented is one attempt to promote unity, not division."

In Nov. 2020, a statue commemorating the Confederate general was stolen outside of the county courthouse in Marshall.

Marshall Police Chief Mike Boone said the department is still investigating the incident.

According to Norton, the board will address the issue in public session in a meeting this summer after discussing the property owners in closed session May 6. The Hot Springs Town Board will meet May 6 at city hall, located at 186 Bridge St.

Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for nearly three years, including earning a first-place award in beat reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6071 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Mayor believes she's found Robert E. Lee monument owners. What's next?