Tunnels in Tulsa were built to provide security for the rich oil barons, Photo courtesy of Tulsa Regional Tourism.
Hot Springs, Arkansas, bath house. Photo courtesy of Visit Hot Springs.
the steep folds of the Quachita Mountains. Sinking deep into a recharge zone, down to 8,000 feet, water is then heated by the earth’s crust. In fact, the journey down is astoundingly slow, penetrating the thick rock layers about a foot a year and thus taking 4,400 years to bubble back up through fissures in the rock layers. “That water that we drink and soak in today comes from the time when the Egyptians were building the pyramids,” notes Solleder. From the mid 1800s through the early 1900s, several bathhouses, some in splendid Gilded-age and mansion- style architecture, were built over the springs. Of the eight on Bathhouse Row, only two remain operational where visitors can soak in the rejuvenating thermal waters. The Buckstaff Bathhouse features original bathtubs from when it opened more than 100 years ago, and the grandiose white-façade, cupola-domed Quapaw Bathhouse is named after a local Native American tribe. The other six were closed down and now have other functions, for example, as a brewery, Bathhouse Row’s gift shop and the town’s visitor center. Bathhouse Row today is within Hot Spring National Park, designated as such in 1921 because of the area’s precious water resources, and thus celebrating its 100th anniversary. It’s also the country’s oldest parkmaintained
by the National Park Service, stretching some 5,000 acres over surrounding mountainous areas with 26 miles of hiking trails, shallow thermal water pools and spring water spigots for drinking and filling jugs. A 216-foot- tall observation tower atop Hot Springs Mountain offers vast views of the valley town and Quachita Mountains. President Bill Clinton’s Hot Springs childhood home, a whitewashed house in Tudor Revival architectural style, is now a private residence and not open to the public. An hour’s drive east, however, offers a comprehensive look into his life and time in the White House at Little Rock’s William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park along the Arkansas River. Key to the center is the Presidential Library and Museum, an elongated steel and glass building jutting out over the riverbank. “The library was purposely done so to represent a bridge that President Clinton felt was symbolic of his bridging two centuries together,” says Linda Howell, a local tour guide and owner of Haunted Tours of Little Rock. “Little Rock is very fortunate to have this very impressive building.” Within the main exhibition hallways, large panels outline events during each year of the Clinton presidency along with replicas of his Oval Office and Cabinet Room. Video clips highlight snippets of his speeches, and photographs depict
OKLAHOMA CITY TO LITTLE ROCK
COAST TO COAST SUMMER MAGAZINE 2021
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