Hot Springs hears from organization about plans to fund half of Robert E. Lee plaque costs

HOT SPRINGS - After a plaque honoring a Confederate general was stolen off its monument in March 2022, the Hot Springs Town Board has been mulling options on what to do with the bare monument — including whether to replace the plaque with a replica or to go in a different direction.

In the board's Oct. 2 meeting, it heard from members of a local Sons of Confederate Veterans, who plan to fund half the cost of a replacement plaque.

The other half would be picked up by local donors, leaving no cost for the town, according to Hot Springs town board member Jimmy Moore.

Ed Hill serves as brigade commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' eastern division. Daniel Costner is commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Major James T. Huff Camp No. 2243, based in Newport, Tennessee.

Hill and Costner spoke to the board about its intentions to cover half the costs of a replacement plaque.

"We wanted to ask the town if they'd be interested in replacing it, and we offered to pay 50% of the replacement costs to put it back," Hill told The News-Record via phone Oct. 4. "I think that we were pretty well received."

For more than a year, Moore has been working to have the Robert E. Lee Dixie Highway marker replaced, including working with Mayor Abby Norton in June 2022 to determine who has legal rights to the land.

According to Hill, the Sons of Confederate Veterans have been working with Moore for roughly a month on the potential of replacing the plaque.

The Robert E. Lee plaque, which was donated to the Dixie Highway by the Daughters of the Confederacy and erected in 1926, and was situated on a monument located at 311 U.S. 25/70 behind Spring Creek Tavern.

In November 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.

A third monument sits near the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

According to Hill, there is not only a historical importance associated with the plaque, but a sentimental value for many of the Sons of Confederate Veterans members.

"Seeing that marker is actually what got a lot of us interested to begin with, because we would travel over to Hot Springs, make a day out of it, and see the Dixie Highway marker, and spend time there to eat and make a day trip out of it," Hill said. "We were so disheartened when it came up missing, but we're actually tickled and very glad that we could get it replaced.

"The Dixie Highway is certainly a rich area of not only local but Southern history that needs to be preserved and celebrated," Hill said.

A number of Hot Springs residents have expressed their disapproval of the town's potential replacement of the plaque.

Hot Springs resident Ike Lassiter said he'd prefer the town promote a less divisive message.

"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 the board's June 2023 meeting.

In that meeting in June, an "alternative solution" was presented to the board, in which a memorial honoring the Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, who were the first to settle in the town.

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The memorial would also honor William Nelson, a Scotsman who bought the property surrounding what is now the Hot Springs Resort and Spa for “two hundred pounds in Virginia currency” and began catering to the visitors, according to the town of Hot Springs website.

But Moore and Mayor Abby Norton have expressed a desire to replace the plaque, with Moore advocating for increased security measures at the monument.

"Alderman Moore is spearheading the project to replace the plaque. He stated that several people have pledged donations, so it's possible there will be enough to restore it with no cost to the town," Norton said in June. "If it turns out that it's not possible to replace what was there, we have an alternative solution."

Moore said he'd like to see extra lighting and cameras in that whole area and a fence be put around the property.

He said he is currently waiting on total prices for cameras, another street light and fencing, and would then go to the donors with a total price.

But Norton said no action will be taken until the board approves a replacement plaque.

"The board has not voted to replace the plaque," the mayor said in a text message to The News-Record. "No action will be taken until they do."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hot Springs Robert E. Lee plaque: Group says it will pay half to redo