Hot Springs, AR

If Hernando de Soto and his conquistadors hadn’t been such adventurers, they might have become Hot Springs’ first retirees.

The noted Spanish explorer discovered this area in 1541, when he and his men camped there several weeks to rest and enjoy the springs. It’s said they left the “healing waters” quite reluctantly.

Hot Springs, Ark., (pop. 33,778) is unique. It’s the only town cradling a national park—the oldest and the smallest—within its borders. With its God-given thermal waters and three man-made lakes that half encircle the downtown area, this is where many Americans go when water—hot or cold—is what they seek.

President Andrew Jackson made Hot Springs the first federal reservation in 1832—in effect America’s first national park. But the mineral waters had by that time attracted hundreds who put faith in the curative powers of both drinking and bathing in them.

The thermal waters that give the town its name are one of nature’s miracles. These 47 “hot springs” along the forested slope of Hot Springs Mountain gush forth a million gallons of 143-degree water each day. Geologists explain the phenomenon as a perfect combination of rock types and old faults that permit rainwater to percolate deep inside the mountain where it is heated by surrounding rock. The water travels downward to depths of 2,000 to 8,000 feet, whereupon the faults eventually bring the water back up to emerge as hot springs.

The water was used in the world-famous Bathhouse Row along Central Avenue, consisting of eight turn-of-the-century spa structures, most now on the National Register of Historic Places. All have been restored, but only the Buckstaff Bath House still offers spa services, which also are available elsewhere at such places as the Downtowner Hotel Spa and the Arlington Resort Hotel.

For cold-water fun, many visitors tour the city and hit the lakes by duck—in this case, amphibious vehicles known locally as The DUCKS, which are surplus World War II vehicles able to travel both land and water. Companies such as National Park Duck Tours, which operates the DUCKS in Hot Springs, have found them a great way to show people local land and water sites.

From fabled Bathhouse Row, the amphibious trucks, carrying up to 28 passengers, lumber by Oaklawn Park (some of its fastest thoroughbreds graduate to the Kentucky Derby) and pass former President Bill Clinton’s boyhood home, before plunging into Lake Hamilton. Once waterborne, guides like Gary Bayles point out impressive lakefront houses, including the multimillion-dollar home of Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys’ owner, while passengers relax and enjoy the scenery.

Lakes Catherine and Ouachita are Hot Springs’ other two lakes, and each boasts its own state park. Lake Ouachita, the larger, covers 48,000 acres. And it’s been said Ouachita offers one of the best locations in the country to view fall foliage. But while Hot Springs is a nice place to visit, many people do want to live here.

Resident Punch Anderson learned to water-ski on Lake Hamilton at age 10. The year was 1948, and Bubba Riggs, a hot-dogging pilot for Delta Air Lines, hitched a ski-rope to a seaplane and inaugurated a new thrill for boys like Punch. After a career with the Tommy Bartlett Water Ski Show, which traveled the country, Punch returned to Hot Springs. He owns Outdoor Adventure Tours with his wife, Cyndy, and doesn’t plan on leaving the area again.

“Hot Springs is the greatest place on earth to live,” Anderson says.

Russell Chitwood agrees. Chitwood moved to Hot Springs after retiring from the U.S. Postal Service and loves the town because of its “… unsurpassed fishing, golfing, and other recreational opportunities, plus the stimulating vibrance of the city … Hot Springs offers the perfect combination.”

Just like the elements needed to produce its famous waters.

George T. Wilson is a Memphis, Tenn.-based writer.

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