During WWI, interned German sailors built a charming village in North Carolina
'During World War I, the sleepy North Carolina resort town of Hot Springs more than doubled in population as it became host to one of the largest internment camps in the country. '
'When the United States abandoned neutrality and declared war on Germany in April 1917, thousands of German commercial sailors were unlucky enough to be docked at American ports, including the crew of the world’s largest passenger ship, the SS Vaterland, which had been stuck in Hoboken, New Jersey since the outbreak of hostilities three years earlier. '
'The Department of Immigration took more than 2,300 civilian passengers and crew into custody as “enemy aliens” and transported them to Hot Springs, where the government had secured a housing contract with the historic Mountain Park Hotel. '
'While the officers were given rooms in the hotel, the rest of the internees were put to work constructing barracks on the lawns. '
'The internees also poured their creative energies into constructing a charming little village, complete with shops, gardens, a carousel and a church built of scrap lumber and tin cans. '
[–] derram ago
https://archive.fo/scNGG :
'During World War I, the sleepy North Carolina resort town of Hot Springs more than doubled in population as it became host to one of the largest internment camps in the country. '
'When the United States abandoned neutrality and declared war on Germany in April 1917, thousands of German commercial sailors were unlucky enough to be docked at American ports, including the crew of the world’s largest passenger ship, the SS Vaterland, which had been stuck in Hoboken, New Jersey since the outbreak of hostilities three years earlier. '
'The Department of Immigration took more than 2,300 civilian passengers and crew into custody as “enemy aliens” and transported them to Hot Springs, where the government had secured a housing contract with the historic Mountain Park Hotel. '
'While the officers were given rooms in the hotel, the rest of the internees were put to work constructing barracks on the lawns. '
'The internees also poured their creative energies into constructing a charming little village, complete with shops, gardens, a carousel and a church built of scrap lumber and tin cans. '
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