Hot Springs, Arkansas

Yesterday and today Trish and I have been in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

We came to Hot Springs for two reasons.  The first is that we faithfully collect National Park visits as we travel.  Hot Springs National Park is our fourth National Park in five days of this trip.

Before the very idea of a National Park existed, Hot Springs was set aside in 1832 as an area to be preserved for public recreation.  The mineral content of the water and the fact that most Americans did not have hot water in their homes made Hot Springs a spa town visited by thousands of people each year.

In 1921 the recreation reservation became our nation’s smallest National Park.  This was in part to preserve “Bathhouse Row,” the line of huge bathhouses that were by that time waning in popularity.

The Buckstaff Bathhouse where Trish and I each had a total bathhouse treatment.

Today two bath houses operate as National Park concessions while the others are used as National Park visitor center or preserved for historic value.

The second reason for our visit to Hot Springs is that the city is important in Trish’s family history.

It was her father’s home town and the home of her grandparents on that side of the family as well.  When her mother went to Hot Springs to nursing school at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital there (now the site of the Arkansas School of Math and Science), that educational adventure also included meeting her future husband.

Trish as her grandparent’s gravesite in Greenwood Cemetery,  Hot  Springs

In Trish’s childhood there were many trips to visit in-laws in Hot Springs.  We found her grandparents home, ate at their favorite restaurant (McClard’s Barbeque), and visited the cemetery where they are buried.  We also visited St. Joseph’s Hospital at its historic original location.