Hot Springs Scenic Highlands: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Hot Springs National Park
Regions 3, 4, 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2024. Hot Springs Scenic Highlands: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Hot Springs National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 500012. National Park Service. NPS Midwest Regional Office / CRIS-CL Database
This Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI) park report documents the Hot Springs Scenic Highlands cultural landscape, part of Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. The Hot Springs Scenic Highlands (also referred to as the Highlands) cultural landscape consists of varied cultural and natural resources located on Hot Springs Mountain, North Mountain and West Mountain. The main commercial area of the park, Bathhouse Row, is flanked by Hot Springs Mountain to the east and West Mountain to the West. North Mountain is situated just northeast of Hot Springs Mountain and is separated by the valley along which Fountain Street runs, and interconnected trails and scenic drives are shared between the two mountains. Fountain Street provides vehicular access from Central Avenue Bathhouse Row to Hot Springs Mountain and North Mountain scenic drives, where visitors can experience a wooded setting featuring, hiking trails, overlooks, and other recreational amenities. Hot Springs National Park contains historic resources that possess significance under National Register Criteria A and C in the categories of Health/Medicine, Architecture/Landscape Architecture, and Social History. Lieutenant Robert R. Stevens' naturalistic design for the mountains was intended to contrast with the formal composition he was creating for Bathhouse Row, the Formal Entrance, and Whittington Park. The design of an interconnected roadway and trail system marked the first time that the mountains were thought of as a part of the spa experience. Between 1915 and 1926 many improvements were made to roads on Hot Springs and West mountains including the rubble stone mortared walls, rubble stone walls, and stone and concrete gutters. Most of the roads currently on Hot Springs Mountain were developed by 1925.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Regions 3, 4, 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2024-04-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- HOSP , MWR
- Keywords
- architecture, bathhouse, Bathhouse Row, CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, health resort, health/medicine, Historic Designed Landscape, Hot Springs Mountain, landscape architecture, naturalistic, recreation, Robert R Stevens, rustic, social history, trail system, transportation, West Mountain
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 850054: Hot Springs District