Hot Springs National Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA

Hot Springs National Park has a rich cultural past. It stands as an icon for healing and a tribute to the “American Spa” of the 20th century.

Fordyce Bathhouse (Visitor Center): 369 Central Ave, Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA

The entire Bathhouse Row area is designated as a National Historic Landmark District; it contains the grandest collection of bathhouses of its kind in North America, including many outstanding examples of Gilded Age architecture. The row’s Fordyce Bathhouse serves as the park’s visitor center; the Buckstaff is the only facilities in 2022 still operating as bathhouses. Other buildings of the row are being restored or are used for other purposes.

The street in front of Bathhouse Row.

The building used to be a hospital.

The stores in facing Bathhouse Row.

The bathhouses

Fordyce Bathhouse is the visitor center, and the inside is open to the public.

Inside of Fordyce Bathhouse

Go upstairs

The second floor is used as a small museum about the bathhouse.

Another room

Go up one more floor

This room is to rest and intermingle with other people.

A room for a private gathering

Go downstairs

To the basement

It is the boiler and mechanical room.

Why hot springs in this region?

Next to the visitor center is a little walkway.

Next to the walkway is open springs with hot water.

Walk up the stairs …

and keep going parallel to the Bathhouse Row, bypassing the rest of the bath houses in the row.

I walked the Grand Promenade from the Fordyce bath house.  The road is on the rear side of the bathhouses.

I walked back to Bathhouse Row (Central Ave) and started to walk back to the visitor center.

On the way is this hot waterfall.

Back to Bathhouse Row, now from the opposite direction.

Walking past the missed bathhouses from the first walk

Back at the visitor center

Nearby Bathhouse Row is a scenic road that goes up a mountain.

The view from a hill

The mountain tower

The view of the city from the tower

Drive down back to the city