I found that attitude prevalent in the businesses I visited, the students at college, and the people on the street.  Hot Springs is a happy town to be in.  When one car ran a stoplight at a three street intersection the driver suddenly found herself the center of attention with no visible way out of the limelight.  With wide grins all around she was pointed to an opening in the wall of traffic she could slink through.  Chuckles from everyone in sight followed her departure. 

When I was interviewing Sharon Shugart -- the historian for the National Park Service, Hot Springs National Park -- she took me up to the roof of the Fordyce Hotel Bathhouse and let me take pictures all around.  I have put these shots into a ScreenSaver you can have for free.  Just click HERE to start your Free Download. 

Click HERE to read a FREE history book of the Hot Springs National Park.

Click HERE to start downloading more FREE ScreenSavers of Hot Springs.  

Read the complete book; The Fordyce Bathhouse Tour, by Sharon Shugart.  Click HERE to get started.

Start your vacation off with a smile no one will ever forget.  

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Hot Springs History

The first white men to visit The Valley of the Vapors are said to have rode in with Hernando de Soto.  The horsemen reached the Hot Springs area in 1541.  

A plaque on the tufa rock in the Arlington Park commemorates the event.  LaSalle claimed the land for France in 1682.  In 1762 Hot Springs was part of the area included in the land given to Spain by France.  Politics changed and in 1801 the Hot Springs area was given back to Spain by France in the secret treaty of Madrid.  Politics changed again and in 1803 President Jefferson orchestrated the Louisiana Purchase from  Napoleon Bonaparte for a price of three cents per acre.  American citizens howled with disgust at the extravagant purchase at a time when America had so precious little money to be splashing around for luxuries.  

See the 400 passenger Belle of Hot Springs Riverboat.  Lunch, dinner and dance cruises with group tours and charters welcome.

Discover 210 acres of natural beauty along 4.5 miles of Lake Hamilton shoreline.  Garvan Woodland Gardens features a 12 foot waterfall, natural springs and cascading streams.

Buckstaff Bath House Company, the only remaining and continuously operational bathing facility on Historic Bath House Row.

The Hot Springs Health Spa.  Hop in and enjoy a bathing experience in the world-famous thermal water.

Twice the fun for the price of one at Magic Springs & Crystal Falls.  A water-based amusement park with over 85 attractions including the Arkansas Twister I won't get on  for any amount of money.  Lead ME to the Kiddie Pool, please!

One proprietor I really loved talking with was Stefania Moore, the owner of Unique Botique.  The shop is found at 212 Central and the phone number there is 501 623-7272.  While I didn't buy anything in the store, my two girls did.  They were enchanted with the CRISLU jewelry merchandise, which Unique Botique is an exclusive retailer of.  

My wife, Stefania and I talked for about 20 minutes about travel, and life in general.  Stefania is from Poland, originally, but has traveled extensively over the past 20 years.  There are still many places she wants to go, "SIGH, but now the going is tough on me."

For sheer bargain-hunting pleasure I suggest a visit to the Central Station Marketplace & Flea Market at 3310 Central Avenue.  Shirley Hobby and Shelley Megee are managers there.  I wasn't able to interview either of them, but the store speaks for itself.

Lewis and Clark led their famous expedition northwards for President Jefferson.  And next the Dunbar-Hunter expedition was sent out this way.  Arkansas was primitive country at that time with swamps and streams and tangled forests to be navigated as best they could.   Some of the Alligator snapping turtles weighed a hundred pounds or more.  Gar (kind of a sword-fished fresh water fish) of up to 8 feet long infested the waters too.  These guys were wearing buckskins and moccasins when they came wading through to Hot Springs.  A bronze tablet on a large boulder marks the spot where the expedition entered the Valley of the Vapors.  

It is said that Manuel Prudhomme from Louisiana heard about the healing powers of the springs and he was the first settler to build his cabin here.  The year was 1807.  His rheumatism was indeed cured (perhaps by the hot waters) and he gave his property to John Perciful.

John had served in the Revolutionary War and also loved to hunt.  The woods
here at that time were teeming with deer, bear, cougar, wild cats, mink, ducks,
geese and such animals, so hunting was a great way to keep food on the table. 
Since the Quapaw Indians had legal claim to the property at that time John was really just a squatter, but he took pride in being the very first PERMANENT white
squatter.

Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo contains over 300 alligators from 6 inches to 10 feet long.  Here you will also find deer, pygmy goats, llamas, lambs and ostriches with a great variety of monkeys, mountain lions and giant 100 pound turtles.  If you develop a taste for fried alligator, cruise on down to Cajun Boilers where it is done up brown.

The Arkansas Walk of Fame, includes Johnny Cash, Glenn Campbell (from Hollywood Arkansas) Alan Ladd, MacArthur, and Bill Clinton.

The Maxwell Blade Theatre of Magic provides a two hour Las Vegas-style production .  "The Master of Illusion" has performed for people all over the world.

The Mid America Science Museum has a focus on energy, life, matter and perception.  Interactive exhibits let you see, hear, touch and do.

Mountain Brook Stables offers mountaintop vistas, spring-fed creeks, pine and hardwood forests with abundant wildlife, rare plants and wildflowers.  Private tours, romance packages, and hayrides, etc. 

Have you ever met anyone on vacation and wanted to give them your name, address and phone number.  Who has a scrap of paper at a time like that?

Hot Business Cards already printed can solve that problem.   Professionally Designed so your cards will really stand out, but  FAR Cheaper than making your own.

By 1818 Major Stephen Long of the Army's Topographical Engineers reported finding 60 separate springs and 14 or 15 rude cabins here.  Itinerant preachers of the Methodist persuasion had regular circuit riders assigned to the community by 1820.  By then the Quapaw Indians had been treatied out of their possessions and encouraged to leave.  The first hotel in the area was a double log cabin built by Joseph and Nancy Mallard.

The first post office in the area was named the Warm Springs post office, established in 1829.  In 1830 the name was changed officially to Hot Springs.  At that time there were only 84 people in the township (36 square miles) and only 438 people in the whole county.

In 1832 Hot Springs became the very first Federal Reservation.  The word RESERVATION meant "land which is set aside for later use."  Now, other Reservations were subsequently set aside throughout the west soon after that.  As the Army pacified each of the western Indian tribes they were moved onto these RESERVATIONS which were already set aside, and they became known as INDIAN reservations.  However, the Hot Springs Reservation never was an Indian Reservation.  Even though the Quapaw had claim to the Hot Springs area, most of them lived in the Little Rock area.  Click HERE to discover the Public Lands we (the American People) still own.

Music Mountain Entertainment Complex with the area's #1 music show. 

Join the Oaklawn Jockey Club.

Outdoor Adventure Tours with guided hiking and canoe rentals, etc.

Just two miles from Hot Springs you'll find the hundred year old Panther Valley Ranch. Modern lodging comfort in rustic cabins with space for 2 guests to 50.  Adventure rides or steak dinner rides can be yours on a beautiful horse.

Pirate's Cove, an adventure in golf on a miniature scale with a swashbuckling good time.

Tallyho Aviation will give you a bird's eye view of Hot Springs with scenic flights around the region.  

Witness the Hot Springs Musical Passion Play at Witness Amphitheater.  

Wright's Rock Shop is the largest lapidary equipment dealer in Arkansas.  Rock specimens, fossils, and gemstones are all available.

My favorite sign posted in Hot Springs says:  "Hot Springs Radiator Shop: The best place in town to take a leak."  

The magic of the web has made truly free products and vital information available to the whole world. Now more than ever you can get exactly what you want, with less strain and better quality than ever before in the history of man. 

The complete book (Start Your Own Radio OR Television Station) by this author has been published by Browzer Books, and is now ready for FREE downloading. If you have a spare computer with a large hard drive and some spare dedicated bandwidth (on a cable or DSL connection) and a good sized collection of music and a bit of spare cash you will find it easy to start your own broadcasting unit, from home. 

Three ScreenSavers by Lin Stone are available from this page.

For all its historic buildings I found Hot Springs deplorably hard to photograph in the styles I like best.  Even professional photographers like W. Lynn Seldon, Jr. are forced into using angle shots to get any footage.   Everywhere I looked there were trees in the way, highline wires, and other buildings.  Even on the road winding up to the lookout tower, the trees would not let me take a picture of the forest, much less get a shot of the town of Hot Springs.