#5 For Medicinal Purposes

Welcome To Hot Springs

Yesterday after we did a little biking around the campground, Pam signed us up for a Hot Springs Trolley ride. we figured we would see and learn about all the sights in the big city of Hot Springs. Then we could go back and visit the interesting ones.

Let me quickly give you the spiel from the trolley driver. “See that house to your left, that was owned by a wonderful man. He did a lot for this community, a whole lot. Yes he was an amazing man.

Replace “man” with “tree” or building and you have our tour. I did learn one thing, the smallest US National Park is the Arch in St. Louis. Thanks for coming along on the trolley tour. Now you know everything I know.

The Ohio Club

Al Capone frequented the Ohio Club along with all his gangstah buddies. There were lots of shenanigans going on there in the early days. Babe Ruth, Mae West and Al Jolson hung out there too as did a couple of our more daring presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover for example. Al and I had a conversation and he told me where he hid some loot. I promised not to tell. “Al, sweetie, honey, honest I ain’t gonna say nuttin’.” My lips is sealed, possibly permanently if I open my trap.

After Al and I agreed to terms, Pam and I bellied up to the bar, had dinner and a couple of beers. It brought back old memories of my days in the early 1900’s. Okay, maybe I’m remembering a James Cagney movie.

The back of the bar was hand carved out of mahogany. They had to take the front off the building to get it into the bar. The bar is 130 years old and the longest running bar in Arkansas. You may wonder as I did, why did they call it the Ohio Bar? It’s in Arkansas. The owners came from Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois. There was already a Kentucky and an Illinois Bar so the went with Ohio.

You Can Drink It and Bathe in It.

I stuck my hand in that water and ouch!! It’s 138 degrees. That’s why they call the springs hot. There are about 45 places where the springs run freely. People come from miles around to bring their water jugs to fill them up. Townspeople say the water from the spring is cleaner than the municipality water.

You Needed A Prescription

I could get into the politics around the hot springs but let’s just say, the springs were first enjoyed by the people who lived in the Ouachita Area. They dipped themselves to relieve their aches and pains from the work day.

I guess some folks saw opportunities to make some money and that’s when the bath houses were built and advertised.

Above you can see bath house row. Behind the bathhouses are the flowing springs and the promenade. They are all part of Hot Springs National Park. The National Park Visitor Center was a therapeutic bath house where you needed a prescription to enter.

Today it is a museum. You’ll see some photos and I will let you figure out what you would do at each of these stations.

Anyhow, it’s all pretty gross. People were sent here by their physicians to treat syphilis, pneumonia, arthritis, intestinal issues and more. Money was spewing as fast as the springs were flowing until the invention of penicillin. The flood of patients stopped when a real cure was found.

Hot Springs Today

Visitors still come to the hot springs today to lay in the baths and enjoy the thermal heated water. Our Park Ranger explained that a droplet of water lands on the top of the Ouachita Mountains. It slowly works its way through the crevices in the rock. When I say slowly, I mean it takes thousands of years for that water droplet to descend 8000 miles to the earth’s core. Then it hitches a ride in a super highway fault line and emerges once again to the surface. So the water we drank at the National Park originated about the time of the Egyptian pyramids. Pretty cool huh? No, hot!

One More Beer For The Road

Superior Bathhouse Brewery is the only brewery in a National Park. They make all their beers from the thermal spring water. I had the Bees Knees beer and it was delicious. It complemented my smash burger with jalapeno jam on a nice soft bun. Oh so good.

We left the town of Hot Springs and ventured back to our camper and little Lucca. We have more adventures to share with you so come along and join the fun.