Hot Springs, AR Summary

photo by gusto

Famous for its mineral springs and bathhouses, Hot Springs serves as both a resort town and gateway to its national park.

Located 50 miles west of Little Rock on Hwy 70, Hot Springs is flanked by the densely forested Ouachita Mountains and is nestled in a valley that produces well over 850 gallons of springwater a day from the ground at a temperature of 143\260F.

Since its inception in 1851, its famous thermal waters have shaped Hot Springs into a cosmopolitan community, attracting luminaries and former presidents.

During Prohibition, racketeers moved into town to run illicit gaming houses for the rich and not so savory, including Chicago mobsters Bugsy Malone and Al Capone. After World War II, however, the proclaimed healing waters of Hot Springs never reached their zenith in popularity again.

During the 1980s the town went into overdrive to preserve its historic downtown together with Bathhouse Row, found on Central Avenue. Correspondingly, there was renewed interest in Hot Springs after Bill Clinton was elected to the White House in 1992. The former president moved to Hot Springs with his mother in 1953, attending Hot Springs High School and the Park Place Baptist Church.

There are many points of interest in the historic district, and the best way to view them is to hop aboard the city trolley. The visitor center at Central Court provides a wealth of information on the entire district, along with some detailed brochures on all of the area’s grand hotels, bathhouses, and, of course, the favorite boyhood hangouts of the former president.

Shaded by a park of billowing dogwood and magnolia trees, Bathhouse Row features some of the nation’s most resplendent European- style spas from the turn of the last century. The most opulent is the Fordyce Bathhouse, where the National Park Visitor Center and Museum is located. No expense was spared during its construction — from mosaic-tiled floors to a stained-glass ceiling. At the north end of Bathhouse Row is Arlington Lawn, the town’s local haunt and a very popular thermal spring.

Hot Springs is unique in retaining a national park within its city limits. Behind Bathhouse Row, a scenic road begins to zigzag past dense groves of pine, oak, and hickory, leading to Hot Springs Mountain Tower. From its summit, a panorama of the city and the enfolding Ouachita Mountains comes into view. Remote and rugged, the park is a patchwork of mesas and rolling valleys carpeted with hardwood.

More than 26 miles of hiking trails wind and coil through Hot Springs National Park. The drive to Ouachita Lake is a pretty one, especially in fall when the leaves blaze in a spectacle of crimson and burnt-orange hues.

Hot Springs heats up in the spring with a series of folk and craft shows. The Hot Springs Music Festival in June, and the Taste of Downtown Festival, cover everything from pie-eating contests to mountain-style crafts.

Gamblers also come to Hot Springs to bet on the best thoroughbreds during the Racing Festival of the South at the Oaklawn Jockey Club. Hot Springs Memorial Field Airport has commuter services from Dallas, Fort Worth and St Louis.

The nearest commercial airport is in Little Rock. A train stops daily at Hot Springs and the Hot Springs-Little Rock Airport Shuttle has door-to-door service.