Hot Springs, Ark., Is Spa-tacular by Various Travel Authors on Creators.com

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Hot Springs, Ark., Is Spa-tacular

By Sandra Scott

People looking for a relaxing place to rejuvenate have been gathering in Hot Springs, Ark., since long before the Europeans arrived in the Americas. American Indians met in the peaceful valley to enjoy the healing properties of the thermal spring and declared it neutral ground. Hot Spring has the best hold on the claim of being the country's first resort because in 1832 it was the first federally protected area. Hot Springs was, in essence, the first national park, even though it wasn't made official until 1921.

A visit to Hot Springs should start on Bathhouse Row at the National Park Visitor Center, housed in the Fordyce Bathhouse, one of eight bathhouses constructed in the early 1900s. Many of the rooms have been restored to portray an accurate depiction of how the bathhouses looked and operated in their heyday. The Quapaw Baths and Spa is the newest of the bathhouses to be refurbished and open to the public. It is housed in the 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival building, and guests can enjoy the therapeutic thermal waters along with other rejuvenating treatments.

One of the Quapaw's most unusual features is the Steam Cave, a sauna room built around a natural thermal spring that allows radiant heat from the naturally flowing 143-degree water to gather in the room. The Quapaw spring contains one of the highest mineral contents of all of the area springs. The Arlington Hotel offers traditional treatments in a historic hotel that has hosted a variety of famous and infamous dignitaries since 1875. Visitors can even stay in the Al Capone Suite before relaxing in the hotel's historic spa.

It could be said that Hot Springs is a spa town hankering to be an art town. One of the bathhouses on Bathhouse Row, the Ozark, opened to the public in 2009 as the Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum advertises that it "displays one-of-a-kind pieces to create a one-of-a-kind experience." The artist Boban has created expressive full-size sculptures of athletes, angels and musicians that show fluidity of motion by welding together spoons. Equally expressive are the works of Liu Miao Chan, whose lifelike figures in leather show amazing emotion.

"Leather is soft, alive, like skin," he said. "It is warm and allows for movement. It gives life to the work."

The newest bathhouse to be revitalized is the former Hale Bathhouse, which now houses the Three Muses Cafe and Bookstore run by a not-for-profit group that plans eventually to feature visual and performing arts. There are several galleries on Center Avenue, including Taylor's Contemporanea, Blue Moon Gallery and Gallery Central, where there is something for every taste and pocketbook. Art lovers will find work from emerging regional, national and international artists.

Pairing with art are the great antique shops. The third Friday of each month the dealers feature an "Antique Walk" when they stay open until 8 p.m. so that visitors can enjoy an evening out visiting the antique dealers and boutiques at the north end of the downtown area. Not to miss is Tillman's Antiques and Collectibles, a surprising collection of museum-quality collectibles that includes a Louis XV leather portfolio and imperial collections of Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis Phillippe.

Tillman's, an authorized Faberge dealer, has some of the famed jeweled eggs on display.

Today Hot Springs is such a beautiful, serene place that it's hard to imagine that one time it was a hotbed of organized crime and gambling. Gangsters liked the town because it was a "happenin' place," and it became a safe haven for outlaws with the police making sure there were "no problems." Between 1926 and 1967 it was home to the largest gambling operation in the United States. While gambling was never legal, it was basically ignored because locals saw gambling as "wealth redistribution" and liked the money it generated.

All that changed in 1967, when Winthrop Rockefeller was elected governor and put an end to the gambling. Those early days are chronicled at the Gangster Museum, where the guide details the exploits of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and other villains who made Hot Springs their home away from home. Someone there the day I was quipped that there were never bank robberies in Hot Springs because "...all the robbers were there to relax." The stories are colorful with one madam claiming she "... preferred a hit man over a politician. You know what a hit man is going to do." Today both the gambling and gangsters are just part of the city's fascinating past.

Not everything in Hot Springs is an indoor activity. Ascending to the top of the 216-foot Mountain Tower affords a panoramic view of Hot Springs, the Ouachita Mountains and the area's many lakes. Storyboards tell the history of the area with a video of Hot Springs' favorite son, President Bill Clinton.

It's nestled in the valley of the Ouachita Mountain, where visitors can enjoy hiking, fishing and boating on the nearby lakes. Located just a few miles from Hot Springs, on a peninsula that juts out into beautiful Lake Hamilton, Garvan Woodland Gardens is a 210-acre world-class botanical garden. The trails, mostly wheelchair-accessible, wander through the various gardens. The picturesque Full Moon Bridge in the Garden of the Pine Wind is reminiscent of Asia, as is the Bonsai Garden.

A do-not-miss feature is the Anthony Chapel. On the approach to the chapel there is a 57-foot-tall copper-clad carillon that chimes the hour and creates the perfect mood for one's first view of a chapel that seems to grow out of the forest. The chapel, designed by E. Fay Jones, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, has soaring glass walls and vertical columns that blend beautifully with the tall yellow pines. Each season at the gardens offers its own special colorful display.

WHEN YOU GO

For information on accommodations and dining plus all the things to see and do, visit www.hotsprings.org or call 800-SPA-CITY.

Sandra Scott is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.