A Wet Weekend in Arkansas

Trumpeter Swan near Hiram Road in North Central Arkansas

We had a good trip south the weekend before last, following our typical route along US-65 to the Greers Ferry area. Not really stopping for much, the only thing of note along the way were a few forest fires, one of which I got a shot of out of the car window near Leslie. A burn ban was in effect for most of North Central Arkansas. I assume weather had been dryer than usual, though you could never tell by looking at the Little Red River. It was running a good 12 feet higher during our entire visit, according to the USGS stream gauge.

Fire on the moutain near Leslie, AR

The weather and other matters kept us from getting out too much, but we did detour away one day to go have a look at the swans out on Hiram Road. Apparently, they are fixtures at several of the surrounding ponds. I am not quite sure if they are all the same or different groups of them. That little jaunt was to have been the extent of our travels that day, but we found ourselves with more time on our hands than originally planned, so headed off to Batesville for a look around.

Central Avenue Bridge in Batesville

The White River runs through there, which the Little Red joins up with much further downriver. We knew little more than that. I had a couple of historic bridges marked on the map, and a schoolhouse along the way, so we chased those down. We found and photographed the Central Avenue Bridge, built by the Luten Bridge Company, dedicated in 1930 and on the National Register of Historic Places. We were not so lucky with the Dill Schoolhouse, which should have been near Ida, remained elusive.

Sugar Loaf mountain shrouded in clouds

The rest of the time in the area was not particularly suitable to photography. It was cold, gray and rainy the next day. Cards and conversation were the order of the day, along with pizza. Indeed, the few photographs taken that day were with the phone, on a pizza run. With Sugar Loaf shrouded in clouds, better photos would have prevailed with a better camera. Having another 30 minutes to wait on said pizza, I toured over to the utterly vacant Heber Springs Recreation Area and snapped a couple of shots of the lake at dusk.

Stairway in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

The next day we were on the road again to Eureka Springs, for an overnight break in the action. Arriving late in the afternoon, everything was closing within a couple of hours. It was a Monday and the town was mostly dead, and not likely to be alive much more on Tuesday morning. Some shopping around occurred, along with photographing various oddities here and there. Dinner at the Balcony Restaurant, along with our stay at the historic Basin Park Hotel was fantastic. It is quite an interesting piece of architecture, with an interesting history.

Roaring River State Park

As several of the store-clerks indicated the day before, the next morning the streets were just as deserted as the night before. We needed to get back to Kansas City anyway, and the hour or so of shopping I had been through the previous day had been enough. We stopped through Roaring River State Park briefly, for a closer look without the usual traffic around. It was as empty as most of the places we visited too, but afforded a closer look at the grounds, the hatchery and the spring that feeds the river. That was the only other stop on this the short mid-February run to Arkansas, and were home again.

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Further Reading

Captain Perry and the Barefoot Ball

The vision of one man remains front and center after 100 years

Barefoot Basin Park Hotel

Basin Park Hotel — photo by Purdy Art Company, Eureka Springs

One of the most recognizable landmarks in Eureka Springs stands firmly planted on the side of a mountain in the middle of town, at the split of Spring & Center Street, and right next to the City park namesake. The Basin Park Magnuson Grand Hotel dominates the town center and continues to inspire the imagination of visitors and this growing community for more than 100 years now.

The hotel sits on the site of another hotel built by Captain Joseph Perry, also responsible for many of the first hotels that sprang up along the rail lines of the west. Reportedly moving to Eureka Springs as an incurable invalid, Captain Perry found his cure at the Basin Park springs, and resolved to reside permanently beside the life-giving fountain. In 1881, within 100 feet of the spring, Captain Perry constructed his 4-story hotel known as The Perry House at a cost of $50,000; roughly, a million dollars in today’s money. A first-class hotel for the time, each of the 60 rooms had running water, the most modern furnishings, electric bells and a passenger elevator. The wooden structure only lasted a few years though, before succumbing to one of the many fires that plagued the community in 1890.

Out of the ashes rose the Basin Park Hotel in 1905, a fireproof fortress constructed primarily from limestone and dolomite quarried in the area. As lavish for the time as the former Perry House and then some, it boasted 100 rooms with all the modern conveniences. Every room had hot and cold running water, a telephone, and electric lighting, with private baths in half the rooms, and a guest bath on every floor.

The ground floor hosted a barbershop and drugstore, while the seventh floor provided guests fine dining, billiards, a grill, sun parlor, and a full ballroom for dancing their night away. After arriving through one of the two porte-cochères and checking in, a fully electric elevator provided guests with easy access from bottom to top. In case of another fire, iron catwalks enabled quick and easy escape to the mountainside. Because of this last little feature, Robert Ripley added the hotel to his collection of the curious, as the only hotel whose every floor is ground floor.

Quite a few “Believe or Not” moments litter the history of the hotel, as well. A group of locals formed the Syndicate Company to re-develop the property, finding their financing through local banks and institutions, and nearly bankrupting them too. Final costs for the hotel mounted to $150,000; approximately, 4 million dollars in today’s currency. During the Prohibition Era, owners cozied up to the Chicago elite, providing a playground in the Ozarks for illicit booze and gambling.

Al Capone’s sister reportedly spent a month lingering about the place, and the hotel even had its own live-in “hostess,” whose business was well known, but mostly ignored. Business flourished for all parties during these times, but as with similar situations, things eventually came to a bitter end. On the eve of one of the hotel’s signature events in 1955, the Sheriff raided the Barefoot Ball, seizing slot machines and liquor. It was blow to the owner, who eventually sold the property, lacking the continuous flow of funds from such festivities.

A unique annual event in itself, the Barefoot Ball began out of an odd little inspiration, and continues today. It all started in 1948, when a couple won a two-week trip to the hotel on the Truth or Consequences radio show, on the condition that they remain barefoot during their entire stay. Complying with the requirement, the owner of the time noticed them going everywhere without footwear, and decided to hold the very first Barefoot Ball in their honor that June. Since that time, the annual Ball on the top floor of the Basin Park Hotel has become a banner of community pride.

As a very old and historic building, it has a creepy side too. Doors do not shut quite right, and floors have that well-worn feeling here and there. Angles are not perfect, and things go bump in the night. It is part of the character of the place, and likely the source of many of the surrounding ghost stories too.

The Balcony Restaurant at the Hotel is a lasting mark by one of the previous owners, the view during the summer is likely the best in town. Just a couple of floors from street level, it hosts a clear view of the town from above and in most directions, seemingly stories up in the air.

Eureka Springs is a fun spot to visit, and this is definitely a great spot to stay. Everything seems like it is only a block away like that, and it is. The hotel is at the epicenter of everything downtown in Eureka Springs. Lunch and dinner options beyond the Balcony Restaurant are abundant within a block, as well as a couple of pubs, along with a coffee shop just across the street. Most of the shopping and galleries are within a block, too. Parking is a little weird, but no surprise in a town of this character and layout. It is only two blocks away though, and the hotel offers a shuttle down and back, so the walk is inconsequential.

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further reading

Basin Park Hotel

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Capt. Joseph Perry

USGWArchives - Carrrol County, Arkansas Biographies