Bath House Row – Hot Springs, AR
A visit to Arkansas wouldn’t be complete until one has visited Hot Springs, the Hometown of Bill Clinton…. Nah… not to visit his museum, but to visit the renowned Bath Houses which, to me, look more like torture chambers! See for yourself (click on our ‘Travel in pictures’ page). But first, a little natural history.
These hot springs are not the ones you usually encounter due to volcanic activity. According to scientists (and there were many), the water we see bubbling up today, at over 143 deg F HOT, is at least 4000 years old… imagine that…. Water, falling as rain, seeped through the earth and absorbed heat released by the radioactive decay from multiple elements such as Thorium, Uranium and Potassium.
Hmm… is this why Clinton is the way he is…?... I knew it was the water all along!
A visit to Arkansas wouldn’t be complete until one has visited Hot Springs, the Hometown of Bill Clinton…. Nah… not to visit his museum, but to visit the renowned Bath Houses which, to me, look more like torture chambers! See for yourself (click on our ‘Travel in pictures’ page). But first, a little natural history.
These hot springs are not the ones you usually encounter due to volcanic activity. According to scientists (and there were many), the water we see bubbling up today, at over 143 deg F HOT, is at least 4000 years old… imagine that…. Water, falling as rain, seeped through the earth and absorbed heat released by the radioactive decay from multiple elements such as Thorium, Uranium and Potassium.
Hmm… is this why Clinton is the way he is…?... I knew it was the water all along!
It is claimed that these waters have medicinal qualities and, even today, the first thing you see entering Hot Springs are water filling stations where everyday people like you and me fill up their water bottles with this miracle hot water… competition to Lourdes! I tested the temp at the filling station and at the spring in town, and indeed it is HOT…Check it out…. |
Many years ago, the Indians were first to discover these hot springs and the springs became a gathering point for all to rest their weary bones and to fix what ails you. It was sacred ground. Then the white man came to the springs, first the trappers, then the rest. Yes, you guessed it, the place went to hell in a hand basket and became a dump. Make-shift shelters, perched over springs, were built and the hot spring creeks became the common sewer of town.
Luckily, nature in its ultimate wisdom created fires which destroyed much of the wooden shanties of that time period which, in the 1900’s, led to the Golden Age of Bathing. Wooden shanties were replaced by some amazing bathhouse structures, mimicking the European bathhouses. With the train coming into town, Hot Springs became THE place to go. The Arlington Hotel (where Allan & I had a luxurious lunch), was THE HOTEL where dignitaries, presidents, stars and athletes came to get to the many bathhouses to fix their ailments. Everything from a MERCURY RUB (to heal VD) to HYDROELECTRO treatments…. To me it looks more like torture! Check out our ‘Travel in pictures’ page to see what I called torture treatments. Very interesting.