Eureka Springs

[Mith242]

I think Eureka Springs has been mentioned occasionally in other topics but doesn't have it's own topic yet. It's not particularly big but is a big tourist town in Arkansas, probably second only to Hot Springs. I might wait till spring because I like the look of green on the trees but I plan on making a trip over to Eureka Springs and taking some pics sometime. Anyway Arkansas Business has an article mentioning how Eureka Springs used to mainly just be open from April to October. But that it's slowly becoming a year round destination. I certainly know that it's becoming more associated with Christmas. And no I don't just say that because of the movie. Anyway here's a link to the Arkansas Business article about it.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/news/artic...id=20&aid=42722

[tombarnes]

I ahve herad that Eureka Springs is a charming town. I trust that the Crescent and Basin Park Hotels are still going? The Crescent has an interesting history. In the 30's and 40's, it was owned by an eccentric who painted it lavender and stored ammunition in the basement. I'm told it has been restored.

[Mith242]

I ahve herad that Eureka Springs is a charming town. I trust that the Crescent and Basin Park Hotels are still going? The Crescent has an interesting history. In the 30's and 40's, it was owned by an eccentric who painted it lavender and stored ammunition in the basement. I'm told it has been restored.

Yeah they're both doing well. I think one of the hotels just celebrated a big anniversary not too long ago. I wish all my pics of the city weren't on film. I guess I could look around the internet to post a few pics but I really like posting my own.

Here's one pic that I like.

[Mith242]

Not the greatest pic but here's one of the Crescent Hotel. Then there's an old postcard of it too.

And here's some of the Basin Park Hotel.

[Aporkalypse]

My wife and I stayed in the Basin Park once. I like it, you can walk everywhere pretty easily.

I love Eureka Springs, I wish it wasn't so remote.

[mcheiss]

So is the Crescent really haunted?

[Mith242]

My wife and I stayed in the Basin Park once. I like it, you can walk everywhere pretty easily.

I love Eureka Springs, I wish it wasn't so remote.

It's not too far away from the NWA metro. I think one of the bigger problems is the terrain. It takes you a while to get there because of the windy roads. Anyway I thought I might give some background for those of you who aren't familiar with the city. It was founded in 1879. Although there were people in the area before then. There was a doctor who was in the area around 1856 using the springs to help heal people. I don't think people know for sure but many think it was the Basin Spring that was mainly used in the early days. The area became a little more known during the Civil War because quite a few soldiers were treated in the area. But after the city was founded in 1879 the city had already grown to 10,000 by 1881 and was Arkansas's fourth largest city. Of course there were many houses built in this era and Eureka Springs is known a lot for it's Victorian architecture. I don't recall the year but after some fires they finally made the downtown area out of stone. There were some bathhouses just like Hot Springs but only two of the buildings still survive today. There was a hotel at the Basin Park Hotel location as early as 1881. But the current building was built in 1904-1905. The Crescent Hotel was build in 1886. Both hotels used limsteone quarried from the town of Beaver. Which is probably more known now for the name of the dam and lake that were created near it.

So is the Crescent really haunted?

I guess that depends on whether you believe in ghosts or not. I do know a lot of people think it is.

Here's another pic I found. That should be the Crescent Hotel on top of the hill there.

[Mith242]

This topic has made me want to go check it out sooner than later. Although I'd still like to wait till I get a new digital camera first. I'm hoping I've made my decision there in January or February.

[tombarnes]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

[Mith242]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

No problem, nice to see you over here. Hopefully I'll have more pics of my own to post of Eureka Springs in a month or so.

[tim2462]

Eureka Springs has several natural and man-made oddities. It has been featured in Ripley's Believe it or not more than any other place. The entrance to St. Elizabeth's Catholic church is through the bell tower. The Basin Park Hotel has 8 floors and each floor is ground level. Pivot Rock, which stands 15 feet high and 30 feet in diameter at the top but only 16 inches at the base, was included. Natural Bridge is a short walk from Pivot Rock and is featured independently. The town itself was mentioned because of its winding, hilly, curving streets that form 16 "S's", a large "O", numerous "U's" and "V's" yet has no stop light or perpendicular cross street. Having no level spot in town large enough for a rodeo, circus, or baseball diamond was another fact that Ripley included. (A stadium was built in 1948 after an area had been made level enough, but this was eventually torn down and the athletic field was built in the 1980's. It is known as Van Pelt Stadium). The lowest street in town is more than a thousand feet below the highest. There are 230 streets, none of which meet at right angles.

[Mith242]

Some great info Tim. I hadn't gotten into some of the more unusual features of the town yet. I had forgotten about Pivot Rock. I don't think I've seen that since I visited up here when I was a little kid. I wonder where that was at again. I do remember not to go to Onyx Cave. What a huge disappointment that was. By the time I had seen it I had already seen Blanchard Springs Caverns. What a huge letdown after that, lots of vandalized formations and a fake fiberglass(or something like that) caveman. It really is an odd town. I suppose the Passion Play should also be mentioned. It's modeled after the one in Oberammergau Germany. It's pretty popular and it brings in a lot of tourist to the town. It's funny though because it's not exactly your typical 'Christian' town. There's also a number of hippies living there, there's a gay community there, there's even a small Buddhist community there. If you look closely when you're in the city you can see little Buddha statues around or in some of the houses and such. So there's a number of people in the town that you wouldn't expect in the 'Christian' town and site of the Passion Play. Despite all of that and some lively debate in the meetings about the city they seem to get along okay. I wonder if many of the tourist know about some of these other aspects of the town. It also has the feel of a European town. Probably because of the terrain and the town really wasn't built for vehicles.

[johnnydr87]

Eureka Springs has several natural and man-made oddities. It has been featured in Ripley's Believe it or not more than any other place. The entrance to St. Elizabeth's Catholic church is through the bell tower. The Basin Park Hotel has 8 floors and each floor is ground level. Pivot Rock, which stands 15 feet high and 30 feet in diameter at the top but only 16 inches at the base, was included. Natural Bridge is a short walk from Pivot Rock and is featured independently. The town itself was mentioned because of its winding, hilly, curving streets that form 16 "S's", a large "O", numerous "U's" and "V's" yet has no stop light or perpendicular cross street. Having no level spot in town large enough for a rodeo, circus, or baseball diamond was another fact that Ripley included. (A stadium was built in 1948 after an area had been made level enough, but this was eventually torn down and the athletic field was built in the 1980's. It is known as Van Pelt Stadium). The lowest street in town is more than a thousand feet below the highest. There are 230 streets, none of which meet at right angles.

Wow! That good info.

I went to Eureka Springs as a kid, and I remembered loving it. It's really interesting.

[Mith242]

Yeah it really is an interesting town. It's also interesting to see how both Hot Springs and Eureka Springs started off in similar situations but ended up rather differently in some aspects.

[mcheiss]

Eureka Springs also has a trolley system if I'm correct.

I think it's the smallest city in Arkansas to have one.

[Aporkalypse]

It's not too far away from the NWA metro.

Great, but that doesn't help me in Dallas or in Little Rock.

I know the story. In its own weird way the place is a giant monument to medical quackery - the idea that mineral water could cure cancer. People used to die in droves there.

The whole Holiday Island development nearby is quite nice. If I lived in NWA I might buy a condo there, even in LR it might be a nice for a weekend trip.

[Mith242]

Great, but that doesn't help me in Dallas or in Little Rock.

I know the story. In its own weird way the place is a giant monument to medical quackery - the idea that mineral water could cure cancer. People used to die in droves there.

The whole Holiday Island development nearby is quite nice. If I lived in NWA I might buy a condo there, even in LR it might be a nice for a weekend trip.

Sorry I thought you were referring to it as being in the middle of nowhere or something. Hey you could always buy a condo at the Grandview Heights on Beaver Lake.

[Aporkalypse]

Sorry I thought you were referring to it as being in the middle of nowhere or something. Hey you could always buy a condo at the Grandview Heights on Beaver Lake.

Grandview Heights?

That sounds like a Chicago project. Is that where they filmed Good Times?

(Just kidding, I'm sure it's very nice)

[Mith242]

Grandview Heights?

That sounds like a Chicago project. Is that where they filmed Good Times?

(Just kidding, I'm sure it's very nice)

It's not open yet, it's the condo development that all the local homeowners are fighting over on Beaver Lake. It's just southeast of Avoca in the Coose Hollow of Beaver Lake. They original plans had it with three 25 story condo buildings. Although there's been such a fuss about it. They finally allowed the first building to be built but only at 15 stories. Then the others will have to be approved later. I've also heard talk of having five 15 story buildings too.

[tim2462]

I'd like to see Eureka Springs grow into a bigger city, but I don't see how it can since most of it is on a narrow ridge. Has anybody heard of anything new coming to Eureka?

[Mith242]

I'd like to see Eureka Springs grow into a bigger city, but I don't see how it can since most of it is on a narrow ridge. Has anybody heard of anything new coming to Eureka?

Actually no I haven't. For a while when Branson was really taking off tourism was dropping off in Eureka Springs. I think that has stopped but tourism is still the only thing going for it. I always thought it might be interesting to have a city develop around that nice historic center. But I'm not sure how easy that would be. You hear a lot about the B & B s in the city but there's a lot of cottages and cabins all around that area in Carroll County. So between the terrain making it difficult to make any easy developments and lots of parcels of land owned by many different people I think it hinders it. Although I guess it just depends on how you look at it. I guess it also helps keep someone from going in and putting big cookie cutter type housing developments all around the city too. I'd like to see more happen with Eureka Springs but I want to see it done right. I'm also wondering if it's proximity to the NWA metro might eventually spur some development as this area keeps growing. I'd like to see more people from the metro go visit and help support Eureka Springs. I haven't decided when exactly but I'm hoping to make a trip in the next few weeks to there and take some pics. I guess it might depend on how soon I make my mind up on a new camera also.

[tim2462]

Eureka has more b&b's than any other city in the world. Just had to throw that out. Berryville, just a few miles to the east seems to be an area that is growing and will be able to develop more due to the land being a lot more suitable for it. They have even built some subdivisions there.

[Mith242]

Eureka has more b&b's than any other city in the world. Just had to throw that out. Berryville, just a few miles to the east seems to be an area that is growing and will be able to develop more due to the land being a lot more suitable for it. They have even built some subdivisions there.

That is possible too. There could be more development but further out away from the city. I wouldn't mind seeing more developments occur along the northern part of Beaver Lake and maybe help bring the Eureka Springs area into the NWA metro.

[tim2462]

I'm sure Carroll County will be added next time they do that...I'm not sure how often they look at the possibility of adding counties to metros, but when they did it last, they did it to most metros in the state. They even added Cleveland and Lincoln to Pine Bluff's metro LOL...I'm sure those will be removed soon. They added Madison Co and McDonald Co, MO...so I'm sure Carroll will be added.

[Mith242]

I'm sure Carroll County will be added next time they do that...I'm not sure how often they look at the possibility of adding counties to metros, but when they did it last, they did it to most metros in the state. They even added Cleveland and Lincoln to Pine Bluff's metro LOL...I'm sure those will be removed soon. They added Madison Co and McDonald Co, MO...so I'm sure Carroll will be added.

I think it will happen eventually but Carroll County doesn't rely as much on the NWA metro like those other counties do. A lot of people in Madison County work in Fayetteville. But I think Carroll County operates more independantly of NWA. But between this fast growing metro and a nice town like Eureka Springs I imagine it's just a matter of time before people start thinking of living around the Eureka Springs area and work in the NWA metro.