Hot Springs National Park – The Marvel of Bubbling Water
Hot Springs National Park is home to the scenic icons of the arid American west. Hot Springs National Park is vast, primeval, and unpopulated. It covers over five thousand and five hundred acres of land area, located sixty miles from the Little Rock city, the capital of Arkansas, in the Garland County. This diminutive historic park draws over a million visitors all year round from the not just the inborn country but from all around the globe. As a matter of fact, the park is the reason for the city being there. The focus of this park is neither geysers nor glaciers but the Bubbling Waters; it is the Hot Springs National Park. There are forty-seven thermal springs flowing on the southwestern slope of Hot Spring Mountains.
Every day over seven thousand gallons of water bubbles from the earth. Thousands of years ago, the rain water started seeping into porous rocks of soil to depths of over four thousand feet. The water is heated in the cauldron of Earth innards; these waters began percolating back to the surface of the earth with a temperature of one hundred and forty-three degrees Fahrenheit. Native American first bathe in the springs of magic waters and called this place Valley of Vapors, and considered it sacred; according to their legends, these springs held a great spirit who heated the water through its breathe.
- The Great History of Hot Springs National Park: In the year 1803, President Thomas Jefferson acquired the springs with the Louisiana purchase. He sent some scientists who came back lowing; this encouraged health seekers to take the waters. The springs drawing the overworked in the frazzled; attracted by the luxury of floating on the warm bubbling waters. Ultimately, the hot spring became the great American Spa. Electricity, a marvel of that time, was coupled with the thermal waters in hydroelectric baths; supposedly, it enhanced healing. Then, in 1921 the United States Congress designated the Hot Springs Arkansas a national park.
- It is the only national park that boasts bathhouses as one of its attractions. Are the bubbling waters from these forty-seven springs are the elixir of health and longevity, they were once claimed to be? The park makes no such claims but still, the trip to Hot Springs adds to one’s feeling of well-being. It’s fun to sip the champagne of pure waters and get into a bath with history.
The Two Significant Bathhouses of Hot Springs:
- Fordyce Bathhouse: The historic and elegant Fordyce Bathhouse has now become the visitors center and a museum. It exudes the opulence of a gilded past; the ornate assembly room, historic piano, antique writing tables, marble floors, decorative fountains, statues, and the stain-glass windows tells everything about the gilded past. Fordyce Bathhouse also housed a gym, bathhouse patrons were encouraged to box and lift weights.
- Quapaw Bathhouse: It is adorned with native American motifs and still opened for the public. This historic bath-house is filled with modern amenities. The hot spring water baths attract many visitors, as well as for its stunning Quapaw Café and Quapaw Boutique located inside the landmark. It is one of the most recommended bathhouses to visit in the Hot Springs National Park, as well as to step back in the century with the hot springs baths.