Hot Springs National Park is difficult to explain. It is a National Park but is completely accessible. According to the rangers on site, it is the oldest National Park, developed in 1832, before the National Park system was established. Superior Bathhouse is the only brewery in the world whose primary ingredient is thermal water. It is also the only brewery in a US National Park. This National Park requires no park pass. It is free for all, unless you want a thermal bath. The heart of the National Park is Bathhouse Row, where original buildings stand from an era when people flocked here to cure what ailed them with thermal baths, electric massages, exercise and healthy eating. The National Park Visitor Center is in Fordyce Bathhouse, the most luxurious of the bathhouses in Bathhouse Row. The four story building is a museum, open to the public, filled with artifacts from an era dependent on these thermal waters. We walked with a park ranger around town, through the original eagles that stood at the park entrance to various spring water features. These springs are heated miles within the earth. Throughout Bathhouse Row there are various free water taps, as long as you have patience or want to make tea (the temperature averages 143 degrees).
Mountain Tower is a great place to gain perspective on the area. The views of Oachita Mountains, Hot Springs and the surrounding area is breathtaking, especially if you have acrophobia like I do.
Wow! I’ve never heard of this park. The tile work is stunning – and that’s a good looking ale right there :)!
The beer was really good.
I had never heard of this park until I started planning, we wouldn’t have gone to Arkansas at all if it weren’t for finding it. And Arkansas ended up being so beautiful!