Hot Springs

 The national park of Hot Springs straddles a horseshoe-shaped ridge formed by Sugarloaf Mountain(north),Music Mountain(west), and and North mountains(south). The city of Hot Springs is on its west side. In 1804 a team of two men explored this area and made a report to President Jefferson. In 1832 President A.Jackson signs legislation to establish Hot Springs Reservation In 1820 Arkansas Territory asks Congress to reserve the hot springs for public use. In 1921 the reservation is named a national park. About half of the city of Hot Springs is the national park.

 

The above picture was taken from Hot Springs tower. That tower looms above the national park,offering views for 140-miles in all directions. Taking the tower elevator 12 flights up was one of the first things we did on our first day of visiting Hot Springs.

About a year ago I wrote about Hot Springs and said something to the effect that it did not have much- just a bunch of old bath houses. I was so wrong, which I discovered this time we visited the city. At the visitor's center for the national park we boarded a trolley owned by the park. The trolley conductor gave us a history of the town as he drove us around to see the major sights of the city and park. As seen above, there was a gangster era in the town from the 1920s to the 1940. If you do not know the character above, that is Al Capone. He had a suite on the fourth floor of the prestigious Arlington Hotel for his frequent visits to town. Shortly after we started out the conductor also pointed out an area of town where Jesse James and his gang held up a stagecoach. For more information on the gangster history of the town there is a Hot Springs Gangster Museum. Maybe we will visit the next time we visit the town.

 This picture may seem weird. The town has kept the home plate of Whittington sports field where Babe Ruth hit his first 500-foot-plus home run while playing ball there. The ball went in the direction of the upper right corner of the picture,where the cars are parked. Hot Springs was the birthplace of Major League Baseball Spring Training. Cities that trained their teams here in the spa city were : Brooklyn Jets,Pittsburgh Pirates,Chicago Cubs,and the Boston Red Sox. There is a Historic Baseball Trail in Hot Springs with a lot more information pertaining to this subject. Our driver even slowed the trolley to point out where the old baseball seats can still be seen.

Our driver also drove us around some of the older homes of the town, mostly Victorian in style. We also saw the home where President Clinton attended day care, as well as high school. His childhood home was not on the tour,but with some inquiring around we did find it.

We had about an hour and half trolley tour and learned so much about Hot Springs! I have written here only about a small part of the tour. The bath houses are part of the national park and I will write about them in the next posting