Hot Springs National Park

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Hot Springs National Park is a unique combination of urban and natural landscapes. The hot springs themselves are in the area known as Bathhouse Row in the heart of downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas, and visitors can still take a traditional bath in several of the bathhouses.

Visitors can also hike on 26 miles of trails, camp near Gulpha Creek, or stroll the historic district and enjoy drinking from the water fountains that are fed by the natural springs.

Established: April 20, 1832
Address: 369 Central Avenue,
                   Hot Springs, AR 71901
Phone: (501) 620-6715
Area: 8.672 mi²
Visitors: 1,544,300 (in 2016)
Did you know: At 5,550 acres, Hot
Springs National Park is the smallest
national park in the United States.
Water. That’s what first attracted people, and they have been coming here ever since to use these soothing thermal waters to heal and relax.

Rich and poor alike came for the baths, and a thriving city built up around the hot springs. Together nicknamed “The American Spa,” Hot Springs National Park today surrounds the north end of the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Congress established Hot Springs Reservation on April 20, 1832 to protect hot springs flowing from the southwestern slope of Hot Springs Mountain. This makes it the oldest park currently in the National Park System–40 years older than Yellowstone National Park.

People have used the hot spring water in therapeutic baths for more than two hundred years to treat rheumatism and other ailments. The reservation eventually developed into a well-known resort nicknamed “The American Spa” because it attracted not only the wealthy but also indigent health seekers from around the world.

Today the park protects eight historic bathhouses with the former luxurious Fordyce Bathhouse housing the park visitor center.

The entire “Bathhouse Row” area is a National Historic Landmark District that contains the grandest collection of bathhouses of its kind in North America.

By protecting the 47 hot springs and their watershed, the National Park Service continues to provide visitors with historic leisure activities such as hiking, picnicking, and scenic drives.

Hot Springs Reservation became Hot Springs National Park by a Congressional name change on March 4, 1921.

History & Culture

Hot Springs National Park has a long and colorful history, beginning long before its designation as Hot Springs Reservation in 1832.

American Indians came here for thousands of years to quarry novaculite for their tools and weapons.

 Stone artifacts found in the park give evidence that Indians knew and used the hot springs. For them the area was a neutral ground where different tribes came to hunt, trade and bathe in peace. Surely they drank the spring waters too, for they found the waters with minerals and gases have a pleasant taste and smell.

Traces of minerals, combined with a temperature of 143 F, are credited with giving the waters whatever therapeutic properties they may have. Waters from the cold springs, which have different chemical components and properties, are also used for drinking.

Besides determining the chemicals composition and origins of the waters, scientists have determined that the waters gushing from the hot springs are more than 4,000 years old. And the waters gush at an average rate of 850,000 gallons a day.

The Dunbar-Hunter Expedition came here in 1804, sent by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the southern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase.

Soon a bustling town grew up around the hot springs to provide services for health seekers. The resultant bathing industry led to Hot Springs becoming known as the “American Spa.”

Hot Springs and the Cicil War


Congress and President Jackson created Hot Springs Reservation, the precursor to Hot Springs National Park, in 1832. Four square miles in size, it encompassed much of the present-day city of Hot Springs, a thoroughly southern town at that juncture.

The 1850 census recorded a total of 361 slaves in Hot Spring County, and the 1860 census recorded 616. By the 1860s, established roads allowed troops of both sides to travel through, sometimes encamping here.

Many Hot Springs men of military age signed up with the Confederate Army at the war’s outset. Hiram Whittington, for whom a section of the park is named, was a native of Massachusetts but volunteered to put up money for one Confederate regiment.

Skirmishes are recorded as having taken place in the vicinity of Hot Springs, including one with fatalities east of Cedar Glades in 1863. No evidence of such fighting has been found in the park, despite archeological surveys performed at conjectured battle sites.

In 1864 federal troops arrested numerous Hot Springs residents who refused to take the loyalty oath.

The realities of war made life miserable for civilians. Food, clothing, and shelter became scarce. Independent militiamen of the two sides, called bushwhackers and jayhawkers, burned structures and took potshots at uniformed soldiers. They also murdered and committed mayhem on civilians who harbored the “wrong” sympathies.

Many locals fled to Texas, Louisiana, or “the Rock” (Little Rock). As for regular troops, Lieutenant Colonel Henry C. Caldwell, Third Iowa Cavalry (USA), wrote of traveling through this area in 1863:

“I subsisted my men, as far as practicable, on the country, and supplied myself liberally with forage, horses, and mules whenever wanted, but I was always careful to see that secessionists supplied me with these wants, and that they were taken in an orderly manner.”

Understandably, civilians trying to survive during lean times resented this. On the other hand, a letter from Major General Frederick Steele (USA) to Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke (CSA) reads in part:

“General, permit me to call your attention to a report that has been made to me by a man who is said to be reliable. It is to the effect that a party of soldiers belonging to your division have been hanging citizens in the vicinity of Hot Springs, and elsewhere, on account of their supposed sentiments toward the Government of the United States. I do not believe all the stories that are told me but as this bears the air of probability, I inform you of it under the conviction that you would regard an outrage on the part of troops in the same light that I do myself.”

A Capital on Bathhouse Row

The hot springs had been set aside for federal property, but oversight was non-existent until the 1870s. In fact a Confederate capital briefly occupied Bathhouse Row under then-governor, and staunch Confederate, Henry M. Rector.

When Little Rock seemed in danger of falling to the Union, in mid-1862, he came home to the bathhouse and “kitchen” he owned here.

By wagon train from Dardanelle, he brought 7 to 9 tons of state archives, funds, and other supplies out of Little Rock. His sudden departure caught the Capital City off-guard, although his popularity had waned for other reasons since his election in 1860.

Soon after returning to Little Rock, Rector was voted out of office.

Those Who Came Afterward

Veterans of both sides flocked to Hot Springs after the war, some to bathe their war wounds. Many bathed in the pay bathhouses and others, without money, bathed on the hillside above, in the “dugout pools” of hot water.

This led to the first Free Bathhouse for the indigent. Other veterans came to settle; some were returnees who, while assigned to the area during the war, had thought it a beautiful place.

Still other veterans arrived to build and operate the bathhouses—Samuel Fordyce (USA), George Latta (CSA), Dr. Algernon Garnett (who had served aboard the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia), and others joined former Governor Rector on Bathhouse Row.

Physicians, like Prosper Ellsworth (USA), George Lawrence (CSA), James Keller (CSA, and uncle of Helen Keller), and Evander Ellis (CSA) moved here to practice. Ellsworth and Lawrence had an office together on the Row prior to 1878. Other veterans, L.Q.C. Lamar (CSA) and John W. Noble (USA), have their names preserved in architecture on the Row.

General P.T. Beauregard (CSA) and free-thought orator Robert Ingersoll (USA) stopped at Hot Springs after the war. The Reservation’s first three superintendents were Civil War veterans. Many less famous veterans visited and settled here, too.

Not all was well, of course: there were Jim Crow laws and lynchings (the last in 1922, near the corner of Central and Ouachita streets).

A Giant Emerges

A large hospital resulted from Illinois senator (and former Union general) John A. Logan coming to bathe under the guidance of Dr. Garnett, who told fellow veterans about it.

These veterans invited the senator to a special dinner at the Palace Bathhouse, where the Fordyce is today. They made a pitch to Logan to put a federal Army and Navy General Hospital here.

The facility opened behind Bathhouse Row in 1887. Its successor became the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center in 1960—almost one full century after the Civil War began.

Ecosystem

Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs National Park

The most common topographic features of the park are the rocky mountain slopes with their novaculite outcrops and lush creek valleys. These areas support mixed stands of oak and hickory interspersed with shortleaf pine on the more exposed slopes and ridgetops.

The forest understory contains flowering shrubs, a wide variety of wildflowers, a rare local chinquapin species (Castanea ozarkensis), and occasionally the rare Graves spleenwort (Asplenium gravesei).

Outside of the Bathhouse Row National Historic Landmark District, Hot Springs National Park is primarily forested hills and valleys.

The oak-hickory-pine forest type includes many other tree and shrub species. Wildflowers and blooming trees are especially beautiful in spring, while autumn brings many bright colors of leaves.

Wildlife

Wildlife within the park is typical of the region, consisting mostly of rodents, bats, and other small mammals.

Because of the region’s mild climate, bird species are varied and plentiful. Aquatic resources are limited to portions of several small creeks and are void of significant game fish.

No endangered or threatened animal species are known to live in the park.

Visiting the Park:

The historic Bathhouse Row area may be seen in two hours. Allow longer to enjoy the hiking trails, scenic drives and evening summer programs.

Biking

Bikes are prohibited on sidewalks and on trails

Camping

Gulpa Gorge Campground is located on Highway 70B, approximately 0.5 miles north of highway 70 East. It is located on the east side of the park. There are no showers, electrical hook- ups or water hook-ups. Camping limit is 14 days in a calendar year. Commerical and state park campgrounds in the Hot Springs area offer complete facilities.

Entrance Fees

There are no admission fees. Donations are accepted in the donation bottle in the lobby of the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center.

Food and Supplies

The park is in the middle of the city of Hot Springs. There are local restaurants and grocery stores as well other stores.

Hiking

There are approximately 26 miles of day-use hiking trails in the park (mountain bikes are prohibited); there are two scenic mountain drives on West Mountain and on Hot Springs and North Mountains. An observation tower on top of Hot Springs Mountain is operated by a concessioner. There are picnic tables on the Grand Promenade, Hot Springs Mountain, West Mountain and Gulpha Gorge.

Hiking Tips and Regulations

  • Wear comfortable hiking shoes.
  • Take water on longer hikes.
  • Be alert to avoid contact with poison ivy, ticks and stinging insects.
  • Be alert for snakes as the park is home to three poisonous species: copperheads, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes.
  • If you see a snake on the trail, give it plenty of room to escape.
  • Tell someone where you are going and when you plan on returning.
  •  All hiking activity will be restricted to designated trails and walkway systems; “shortcutting” is prohibited.
  • Collecting the following fruits and nuts for personal consumption only is permitted: plums, blackberries, hickory nuts, persimmons, grapes, muscadines, blueberries, and juneberries.
  • The use or riding of skateboards or similar devices on walkways within the Bathhouse Row Historic District is prohibited.
  • The use of a bicycle is prohibited except on park roads or in parking areas. The riding of a bicycle within the Bathhouse Row Historic District is prohibited.

Permits, Reservations and Fees

There are no permits or licenses needed.

Camping fees are $ 10.00 per night ($ 5.00 for those having Golden Age or Golden Access Passports) at Gulpha Gorge Campground. Reservations are not taken for Gulpha Gorge Campground; it is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Two weeks notice is preferred for scheduling a special tour for a group. Call 501-624-3383  for information.

There is a fee charged for the Hot Springs Bath or Spa facilities.

Pet Information

Pets are not permitted within the Visitor Center or Administrative buildings. This restriction does not apply to guide dogs for the visually or hearing impaired. All pets must be leashed or otherwise restrained

Hot Springs National Park Weather

Central Arkansas has four seasons:

Spring and Fall

These two seasons are mild with some humidity, a light jacket is recommended.

Summer

Summer is hot and very humid, wear comfortable clothing.

Winter

Winter is variable–temperatures may range from below freezing to the 60s, with some humidity. Be prepared for cold weather.