New Orleans, Louisiana

John and I were more than ready for some time away from St.Louis, having made no long distance trips during the summer. We started thinking that a train trip would be fun again, and there was a direct Amtrak route from Carbondale, Illinois to New Orleans. My sister Linda lives in NOLA, which was the main reason we picked that city. Only problem with that idea was that we would have to leave downtown St.Louis by bus (provided by Amtrak) at 11pm to get to Carbondale by 1AM to board the train. Not the best of circumstances, but we did it and survived. The train was full of passengers coming back, and spending the night hours sleeping upright in a coach seat is not conducive to sleep. And what a big disappointment to learn that Amtrak no longer has a dining car! Just on a few routes out west.

Our hotel was near the French Quarter of New Orleans. Once we had checked in and started walking to find our supper, I glanced up and noted the palm trees. It was like being in Florida again, and, unlike up north at this time of the year,, we could again don shorts, tees and sandals on our feet. After a wonderful seafood supper in the French Quarter, my sister Linda (who was so kind to meet us at the train station) guided us several blocks over from the restaurant to board the trolley to her church for our evening entertainment.  It was her recommendation that we not rent a car for the weekend we would be there, because in NOLA parking is bad. So we walked a great deal and/or boarded a trolley- not bad at all and safe despite the multitudes using the trolley with us. Friday evening we heard a wonderful jazz concert. Bethlehem church was using the concert to raise money for their affordable housing fund. They have already built one house for two families and plan to build three more. The church also provides food  for over 100 people several days a week- by now it may be more than that as other institutions are helping them with that. I have to give a big shout out of thanks to that church and wish them continued success in caring for the less fortunate. 

And on that note, pictured above is a sculpture we saw the next day at the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Our niece Kat drove us to this garden, which is near the New Orleans Museum of Art. The title of this sculpture is "Together We Stand". The information sign by it says that George Rodrique was the artist- and there was a date of 2005. That was when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans very hard, breaking its levees and flood walls; some neighborhoods had water as high as 10feet deep.

At the time when we were in New Orleans we were a week away from Halloween, so the above spider sculpture caught my eye. Very appropriately placed under a live oak and hauntingly draped with Spanish moss! We saw many more sculptures in this garden, but I must move on to other points of interest which we saw in our short time in NOLA.

Pictured above is another live oak- but this one in particular is historical. It is called the Dueling Tree. Back in the day when feuds were settled by sword or pistol, this was the spot where the quarreling men chose to meet and fight each other. Needless to say, it is a very old oak tree.

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We found this interesting monument in Crescent Park, which is located along the Mississippi River. It was built in thanks to the Latin American workers who helped rebuild New Orleans after the 2005 hurricane.

And this is typical New Orleans- a Halloween parade in the French Quarter, complete with floats and many costumed people. Beads and candy were thrown, and a constant smell of weed in the air!

Kat was also kind to drive us over to the areas of the city which had the most Halloween decorations, and we did see a few mansions which were very creatively decorated! Music was heard and dancing skeletons were seen in the windows of one of the homes. We also checked out some of the costume shops and I will leave you with one more picture so typical of NOLA.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Several weeks ago John and I had the privilege of attending the grand opening of the Taylor Visitor Center of our St.Louis gardens.   It was a good transformation, way beyond what I imagined it would look like.  Even the outside of the building has a different appearance, as you can see in the picture abov

The high midsection of the building, which you may notice in the first picture above, is the glass atrium. That part of the center immediately caught my attention as I entered the center.  The soaring atrium was designed to let in "dappled natural light", causing one to feel like they were in clearing in the woods- according to the garden's brochure. It did not give me that feeling, but still is very pretty. Continuing with the theme of trees, the terrazzo floors were designed to look like a forest floor sprinkled with leaves from the many different kinds of trees in the garden.

One other new feature in the center, besides new changes in the cafeteria on the first floor, is the area above the information desk. The lighting was designed to appear like the "light and shape of fireflies".  

I was disappointed that, once we stepped outside, we were not greeted by beautiful landscaped gardens! No, on second thought, I realized that construction of the center began in 2019 and ended in this month of 2022. The final phase of renovation is not expected until spring of 2023, when the surrounding landscapes of  the newly constructed areas will be completed. Something else, which I should mention here, is that the gardens now have a 50,000 gallon collection system that will support 92% of irrigation for all of the greenhouses.

Pictured above is another view of the new center, in the background. Despite the disappointment of seeing flower beds with only dirt in them behind the building, there was still the beauty of the water lilies in the pond next to the Linnean House. You can see the corner of that brick building in the picture above. I believe that building use to offer a variety of azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias. I loved to see them blooming during the winter months! But that will be changing, as the building will be returning to what the conservancy was originally designed for back in 1882- to be an orangery with displays of citrus and Mediterranean plants.

 We ventured further into the gardens and once again saw all of its floral beauty. As usual, we enjoyed our day there, but it was a hot one. I will end this posting with a picture of a familiar scene in the garden- a lily pond decorated with yellow and orange Chiluly glass balls and a variety of sculptures.. The climatron greenhouse can be seen in the background.

 

 

Missouri State Fair at Sedalia, Missouri

 No big road trips for John and I this past summer, although it would have been smart for us to have found some cool spot north of Missouri!  Well, we did a few weekend trips- just nothing to write about.  Our daughter and son-in-law enjoy those short trips with their camping trailer, and sometimes we tag along.  When they told us of their plans to attend the state fair, we decided to join them.  It had been at least a good ten years since we had been there. And, as we discovered, the Missouri Fair is as great as ever, with lots of different demonstrations; rodeos, bull riding, tractor/truck pulls, music shows- and that is to name but a few of the fair's attractions over the two weeks it was running.  I am a bit of a history buff so something that was a bit different from the usual fair trappings did capture my interest soon after we entered the fair grounds: the French Merci Train.

In 1947 the United states collected food and other items from all of its states and sent them to Italy and France to sustain their people after World War 11. France returned the kindness with a collection of box cars filled with gifts for every state in our union- the cars were called the "Merci Train".  The fair had on display the Missouri box car, pictured above.  The car was built in 1873 and was used during the wars to transport men and horses- to be exact, 8 horses and 40 men. Next to the box car is a "Gratitude Garden".

The fair had many shows which a whole family could enjoy, and one such show was enjoyed by all of us, including the grandchildren. It was a juggling act performed by a gentleman from London,England.

Our son-in-law Spencer, along with 8 other men, agreed to help the juggler toss knives in the air while balancing on a rope held tautly by the two teams of men. The performer was successful and fortunately no one got stabbed by a flying knife! After the show our group broke up, each of us having different interests in the various buildings of the fair. Our daughter saw in the Missouri Agriculture hall the similar sculptured butter cow which we had seen when we last visited the fair. Some of us had an interest in entering the chicken building where a rooster calling contest was to be held.

As we wended our way through that building we walked down rows of caged chickens. The one above caught my eye as she had received a first prize ribbon.  Quite an unusual chicken; the sign on her cage said that she was of the Sebright variety- a breed of chicken known for its ornamental feathers, tiny white eggs and provided very little meat. Why have a chicken like that?  Well, it is a friendly chicken, my guess is that she is a great pet! I got a bit bored with the rooster calling contest- an elderly gentleman walked between two rows of caged roosters a couple of times and rated their crowing. A rooster may crow magnificently one moment, then when the judge walked by the rooster became silent and received a low score.  One contestant's owner covered the cage of her rooster and uncovered him as the judge walked by- that one attempt did not get any cooperation from the rooster. Like I said, I got bored with that contest very soon!

I always enjoy looking at the 4-H club products created by children. My mother grew up on a farm and belonged to that club ( she often informed me that the 4- H stood for head, heart, hands and health). Mom won first prize in a Michigan State Fair for food which she successfully canned in glass jars. I was very impressed to see what the 4-H club members of Missouri had to show with their sewing and cooking skills!  Unfortunately we did not see much of the fair the day we were there. The temperature was 90 degrees and only climber higher while we were at the fair. Little amount of shade and few benches to sit on made it difficult for John and I to walk around the fair. We had to pass on watching the grandchildren doing the carnival rides. And the distance from one attraction to another seemed to get longer and longer!  The fair trolley cars were no help for us- every car was full! We decided that the best course of action was to find a cool spot to sit and wait until the rest of our group were finished with their day at the fair.

Additional Notes on Our Trip East

During our tour of the Country Music Museum we talked to a docent at the museum who was very kind to inform us that there was to be a reenactment of an impromptu jam session which took place on December 4th, 1956 at the Sun Record Studio in Memphis,Tennessee. The show, called "Million Dollar Quartet", would be in a Bristol theater the next day, a one time evening show. The quartet that happened to be in the Sun Record Studio in 1956 were: Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. After touring the museum we immediately made a stop at the theater to successfully purchase  the tickets.

What a very entertaining evening for us! The actor playing Jerry Lee Lewis performed all the wild antics which he did on the piano. Remember his song "Great Balls of Fire"? We heard that as well as some of his other memorable rock and roll songs. There was a bit of t dialogue -between the recording producer of the studio and Johnny Cash, as Cash was not willing to sign another contract with the Sun recording studio. And Carl Perkins expressed his unhappiness with Elvis Presley getting rich off the song which he, Perkins, composed- that was "Blue Suede Shoes".  Of course, just hearing the actors playing the popular songs of Cash and Presley was just alone great!

I also want to give a shout out to the wonderful bed and breakfast inn where we stayed during our time in Virginia. It is called the "Donkey Lodge", which is a donkey sanctuary for eight abused miniature donkeys.  However, one is not so miniature!

Pictured above is a Mammoth Donkey, a species of donkey rare in the United States. It was brought over here from Europe during the late 18th century, and bred specifically for breeding to draft horses for farm work. They may be the size of a horse, but don't plan on riding them because they go at their own pace! The inn was also delightful to me just because I enjoy waking up early to the sounds of roosters crowing and donkeys braying.

I can't finish off my posting of Virginia without showing you some of the pretty mountain scenery which we enjoyed. We spent the part of one day driving to the top of Whitetop Mountain, the second highest summit in the commonwealth. On that winding drive we saw a variety of scenic forests and meadows, as well as some awesome mountain vistas.

Our Road Trip East

Planning for this trip started several months back, when I realized that a niece of ours would be graduating from high school in May. John and I had promised her that we would be there to celebrate the occasion. Her grandmother, my sister Linda, was also planning to be there at that time- as well as another sister,Julia. By "there" I mean Marietta, Georgia. Sister Linda said that her trip would begin in Savannah, where she was meeting up with a friend. I loved Savannah when John and I were there some years back, so without thinking too much about it, I said that we would meet up with her there before heading to Marietta. My, I did not realize at the time the extra miles I was adding to our trip! As it turned out, the time we spent in Savannah was spent in a hospital because John had a fainting spell the day we were planning on touring the city. After he was discharged from the hospital we drove to Marietta. We spent several days there, celebrating the graduation with a dinner at a local restaurant and doing some shopping with Ellie and my two sisters. Then John and I drove north to Abingdon, Virginia to spend some time with our son Dan  and his wife Amanda.

We had a couple of days to spend with them so we did some touring around, checking out the local places of interest. I do not pay much attention when John plans our trips, so I was surprised that Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee (the city lies in two states)  is the birthplace of country music. Could have fooled me- I thought it was Nashville! Pictured above is the museum we toured, giving us the complete story of how the "Big Bang" of country music began. By the way, the museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian.

The entrance hall of the museum is pictured above. An orientation film "Bound to Bristol", narrated by Johnny Carter Cash (grandson of Johnny Cash), told us the story of how, in 1927, Ralph Peer came to Bristol to record the songs of the people of Appalachia. He was a record producer  from Victor Talking Machine Company, located in New York City. Prior to this time any vocal or instrumental artists had to bring their music to New York- quite a distance for many Southerners to travel in 1927.  Peer recorded 76 songs by 19 different acts over the course of two weeks. According to Johnny Cash "these recordings are the single most important event in the history of country music". The museum also has exhibits showing the technology that shaped the success of the recordings, as well as a gallery demonstrating the vocals, guitar, fiddle, banjo, autoharp and mandolin which made the new industry of country music successful.  Capping off our afternoon at the museum was a jam session of local country music artists, which we were able to attend in one of the museum's rooms. That evening we also attended a country music concert at the Carter Family Fold music theater in Hiltons, Virginia.

The rustic concert hall was built in 1976, and enlarged in 2005. Before the concert we walked over to the Carter family cabin, built in the mid 1800s. The Carter Family, known as "The First Family of Country Music"  was comprised of A.P.Carter, his wife Sara, and her sister Maybelle. The cabin was the home of A.P.'s parents who raised 8 children in it.

We were able to tour the cabin, which had been moved in 2003 and relocated near the Fold concert hall. An interesting item to add here is that Maybelle's son-in-law was Johnny Cash. Our son Daniel took the opportunity to sit a moment in Johnny's rocking chair.

That was our first day in southern Virginia. I will share more with you in the next posting about the rest of our adventures in this interesting and very beautiful part of our country.

Off the Beaten Path in Missouri

 By off the beaten path, I am referring to State Highway 36- which John and I concentrated on during our trip to northwest Missouri. South of that highway, we visited the town of Gallatin, on state highway 6. John had read about a squirrel cage jail, one of three such jails left in our nation. This jail was built in 1889 and used until 1975.

The jail consists of three levels,cage-like cylinders that can rotate like a Lazy Susan,with each containing 10 pie-shaped cells. There is just one way out,so a single jailer could guard all the prisoners. The jail was not opened for tours when we were there, but later after returning home,we learned more about that particular kind of jail in the Post Dispatch  newspaper. The article was concerning the attractions of Council Bluffs,Iowa- one of which is a squirrel cage jail built in 1885 and in use until 1969.

The town of Excelsior Springs was the western-most town on our trip and, as Gallatin, not on state Highway 36. Excelsior Springs is actually part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. We drove around the town looking for any signs directing us to one of the town's springs. Unfortunately we had not done our homework for this town, so wandered around it for a time looking for any signs to springs. Found none, only a pretty gazebo with wooden benches and a concrete round table in its middle- possibly some springs boarded up. Then we drove past a tall building with the words on it " Hall of Waters".  That looked promising. We drove around the building to the front side of it.

I eagerly jumped out of the car to see if the building was opened. No, it had closed at 4:45- which was the current time. We did look at the historical marker in front of the building, which answered some of our questions about the springs. The building is the site of the original springs, as well as city hall. It has the " world's longest mineral bar as well as a health spa". My research later, upon returning home, revealed that the town at one time had about 20 springs, some of which contained a variety of different minerals. There once was a bottling company in the Hall of Waters, which went bankrupt in 1967. In 2003 the town bought licensed rights to that company. That was all we had found in the town of Excelsior Springs, other than some beautiful murals.

A Unique Highway

 If you do a road trip in Missouri on Missouri Highway 36, anywhere between Hannibal and St.Joseph, you may probably understand why this road is called the Genius Highway. It has also been called the VFW Highway. Along this road are the childhood homes of General John J.Pershing (World War 2) as well as General Omar Bradley(the Great War). Three Civil War battles were also fought in places along this route. The Pony Express began in St.Joseph in 1860, and in Hannibal is the boyhood home of the famous author Samuel Clemens. Moving along from great generals and one author, we have two entrepreneurs. John and I visited the childhood home of Walt Disney in Marceline, Mo.last year, this time we visited the home of J.C.Penney in Hamilton. 

The J.C. Penney stores were started by the man pictured above. He at first worked his way up in the Golden Rule Stores, became a partner in those stores, and by 1913 bought out those partners. The new store he called J.C.Penney. In 1924 he opened his 500th store in Hamilton, his boyhood home.  By 1941 he opened store number 1600. We toured the Penney museum, in which his picture( above)was seen. We toured his childhood home, which had been moved from the countryside, just out of town, to a park within the city limits. It has two bedrooms- he was the seventh of twelve children. His father's untimely early death forced young James Cash Penney to work after high school and not carry out his plans for further education.

The Quilt Trail  can also be found along Highway 36, many of those sewing stores can be found just off the highway or within the Highway 36 corridor. It has been proclaimed 200 miles of fun, if you are a quilter. The mural below, on a building in Hamilton, announces the town's pride in being the home of Penney and "Quilt town USA"

The town of Chillicothe is another quilt town- there are two stores there. However, that town has another claim to fame: it was the place where the first bread slicing machine was invented in 1928. We found that machine at the Great River Historical Society Museum.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder is known as the "Father of Sliced Bread".  Pictured above is the second such machine- its first home was in the Smithsonian Museum, and is now on loan to the Great River Museum. We spent a wonderful afternoon at that museum, finding many other old treasures there; as a  Knabe square baby grand piano made in 1885, a hand-quilted Crazy Quilt made in 1880, and a printing machine (linotype 1872) - to name but a few interesting items which we saw there.                                                                      That was the highlights of our trip last weekend along Highway 36. I have not listed all the points of interest along that road, maybe you can discover the ones I missed. Wait, let us not forget the ladies!  Nellie Tayloe Ross, governor of Wyoming in 1925 and first female governor in the nation, was born in St.Joseph.                                                                       

 

Boone's Lick, and Lexington Missouri

Yes, we have returned from Arkansas, been home a couple of weeks and ready to hit the road again. This time our trip is within the state borders. I have lived in Missouri forty plus years and never attempted to discover what is at Boone's Lick.  I have often gone west on Highway 70, but never took tine to venture north off it after passing Boonville. To orientate you, Boonville comes shortly after passing Columbia as you are traveling west on Interstate 70. John and I do know that Daniel Boone and family settled in St.Charles in the early 1800s. Daughters of the American Revolution have a marker (placed in 1913) at this historic site of Boone's Lick which claims that he, Daniel Boone, discovered the saline creek.  However, it was his sons Nathan and Daniel who found the site and set up an extraction operation for the production of salt.

John and I hiked a short distance into some woods to find the salt lick, which amounts to a small stream of water. And why is it called a salt lick?  At one time deer, elk and bison came to this area to lick the ground. Yum! Salty dirt. Consequently it was easy for the early pioneers and native Americans to kill big game at such sites. Saline creeks were important to the early pioneers- salt was needed for preserving food, seasoning and curing and tanning of hides. This area is quiet now with very few people around. Back in the early 1800s it was a major salt production site. The process back then required placement of water wheels and reservoirs, as well as aqueducts.

Pictured above is a spring box, or water reservoir, only one left. An interpretive sign nearby noted the wooden box had been preserved or pickled by the salt water. Also in the area is an upturned kettle which was used to boil the water down to extract the salt. The Boone brothers started with 12 kettles, later 40 more were needed. Furnaces were built of limestone to boil down the water. I could well imagine the big production it was back in the day to extract salt!  Many men and animals were used before the product could be packed up in boxes, and shipped downstream on the Missouri River. The Boons sold their rights to the mine in 1818 because of frequent confrontations with native Americans. The salt lick changed owners a couple more times before stopping production in about 1838.

 

From Boone's Lick we drove to Lexington, Missouri. In that town we found the Lafayette County Courthouse built in 1847. In 1854 a wing was added, and later a second floor. On the upper part of the last column on the left there is still a cannonball embedded in it. Notice the black dot in the picture above at the top of the column. Even with enlarging the picture it is a bit difficult to see. The bloody 3-day battle, fought in1861, was a win for the Missouri pro-Confederate State Guard.  The battlefield in Lexington  has a short-loop trail to walk. However, it was a cold windy day and we passed on doing that. From the history I read of the town, it once was a much larger,bustling town than it is now. We drove around some of the streets and found two older brick buildings- one built in 1846, and another in 1844. There is plenty of United States/Missouri history to be found in our state. What I wrote in this posting was just the first day of our weekend trip. Our goal the next day was to drive on highway 36. also dubbed as the "Genius Highway".  More Missouri history to be learned yet for sure, which will be covered in my next posting.

Site of Lexington Battlefield

 

The Rest of our Arkansas Visit

 After our visit to the Hot Springs area, John and I traveled down to Crater of Diamonds State Park. Our daughter Melissa, husband and children, joined us there as the grandchildren had time off for spring break. This park is a 37-acre field where visitors from around the world can search for diamonds. There are other semi- precious stones to be found there, as amethyst,agate,jasper, quartz and calcite- but the chance of finding a diamond is what attracts many to the field. In this area many years ago a volcanic pipe brought many diamonds to the surface.

Diamond Field

 Yes, it is just an open field surrounded by pine trees. Over 30,000 diamonds have been found by people here since 1972. They had on display, in the visitor's center, one of them which has been mounted on a ring. It was found in 1990 and weighted 3.03 carrots. In 1998 it was certified by the American Gem Society as a perfect grade of 0/0/0 (ideal cut/color/flawless). A diamond like this is estimated to occur one time in a billion. And it is even more rare for a diamond like this coming from a non-commercial diamond mine!

Our grandson Nathan and his father Spencer spent probably a good six hours searching   for a diamond and found none. It did rain during that time, which supposedly may bring  diamonds to the surface, but that did not happen for anyone. The rain did bring down          some golf- ball size hail. So far on our spring vacation to Arkansas John and I                    experienced  snow,  hail and freezing temperatures, none of which we expected to happen at that time of the year.  However, we still had a great time in Arkansas.   

 

             

 

 On our way home back to St.Peters we had our grandson Nathan with us. We decided to show him a couple of historic areas in Arkansas to make the trip more interesting. Our first stop was at historic Washington State Park, which gave us a look into a nineteenth century community. Washington was an important stop on the Southwest Trail leading to Texas. It was a raw rainy day when we were there and Nathan was not too happy walking around some old buildings. However, the blacksmith building perked him up. The blacksmith promised him a souvenir forged from iron if he acted as his apprentice. Together they created a small leaf from an iron rod. He also showed Nathan a Bowie knife made at the shop. The first kind of this particular knife was made for Jim Bowie in Washington during the 1830s.

There is an interesting part of Arkansas history in Washington Park which I was not aware of. The Hempstead County Courthouse, pictured below, served as the state's Confederate capitol in 1863 during the Civil War. The Union Army had burned down the state's capitol in Little Rock.

There is another piece of United States history in Arkansas, which we stopped to see on our trip back, and that is the Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park in east central Arkansas. In 1682 LaSalle explored the Mississippi and declared all the lands drained by that river for France. He named the region Louisiana. The territory went to Spain in exchange for their assistance against England during the French and Indian War.  It went back to France in 1800, and then Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States for $15,000,000. An official land survey was begun in 1815 to facilitate distribution of land to war veterans. Two men were commissioned to begin this survey by establishing a point from which other surveys would originate. This site went unnoticed until 1921 when two surveyors recognized a pair of large trees marked as "witness trees" by by the two men back in 1815. In 1926 the DAR dedicated a monument on this spot in commemoration of the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase. Back then it was not a wetland. It was necessary for us to traverse a boardwalk through an upland swamp to find this National Historic Landmark. This 37.5 acre park protects a headwater swamp- a natural environment once common in the mid-South. Walking over the swamp reminded us of our time in Florida, where swamps like this one are plentiful. The granite monument of the Louisiana Purchase survey site is pictured below.

 

 

 

A Visit to Fordyce Bathhouse

 Bathhouse row is located in the National Park of Hot Springs. The hot spring waters were first found by Native Americans. In the 1540 Hernando de Soto also discovered this area. The sculpture below, of de Soto greeting a native who presents him with a container of the spring water, we saw immediately as we entered  the Fordyce bathhouse.

 In the early 1800s crude huts sprung up around the springs. People soon found the spring waters to be physically restorative. The promise of improved health also drew Civil War veterans and others with disabling conditions to the springs. In 1876 the Supreme Court ruled against any private land claims and assured that the thermal waters would be available to all. From 1892 to 1923 eight public bathhouses were built,compromising of what is now know as Bathhouse Row. Presently the Fordyce, built in 1915, is the park visitor center and museum. The Buckstaff, built in 1912, is the only operating bathhouse. We had 4 floors to explore at the Fordyce which has been restored back to its 1915 appearance.

The Fordyce is the largest and thought to be the most ornate of the bathhouses. It has stained glass skylights and windows, as well as stone fireplaces. The bathhouse is divided into a men's area as well as a women's section. The men's area was deemed to be quite more sumptuous than the facilities for the women.  Pictured below are the steam cabinets for use by the men. It was thought that by using the steam cabinet skin secretions would be stimulated. Besides tub baths and steam cabinets there was a hydrotherapy room which included sun-ray cabinets, frigid cabinets,Sitz baths, sprays, electric baths and so forth. 

The women felt there were not enough tubs for them. One more was added. The first room which we toured in their section is pictured below. Notice the stained glass windows.

The women had a hot pack room as well as a cooling down room, and a state room to rest in afterwards.  Maybe I need to digress here and explain the uniqueness of these waters, as explained in the park's brochure. Rain and snow trickle down the ridges of the Ouachita Mountains. Gravity pulls the water further downward into into the earth's crust. The rock temperature increases with depth and the water emerges from the springs with a temperature of 143 degrees F. When the water reaches a major fault, pressure forces it upward. It is not a volcanic process that creates the hot springs. There are a total of 47 springs in Hot Springs. The water has been analyzed- it has a variety of minerals in the water; silica and calcium are the major ones- as well as free carbon dioxide and oxygen. While bathing the patrons would be given a glass of the water to drink.  And today there are fountains around Hot Springs where one may take a drink or fill up a jug..

Hubbard Tub -for the disabled to be lowered into the waters

Practice of medicine was a bit strange back then. We found a chiropody room in the bathhouse. In the 1930s, people could have their feet massaged, pedicures done as well as corns and bunions removed. In 1936 doctors came up with an electrical massage room which later was converted to a mercury rub room. Needless to say,we saw a few very curious equipment in some of the rooms!

A Body-Encompassing Needle Shower

The "crown jewel" of the Fordyce is the Assembly Room where both sexes could gather and socialize. A grand piano was in this room. The building also had a pool table in the men's parlor.

Assembly Room

Our final stop in the Fordyce was in the basement where we could see the original Fordyce Spring, as well as all the plumbing equipment once used to deliver the water to the bathing rooms. The bathhouse industry went into decline during mid-twentieth century as modern medicine was found to be the better treatment for many illnesses.