The best city hikes and walks around Lake Hamilton

Hot Springs National Park, tucked into the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, protects 47 thermal springs that have drawn people for centuries. Unlike most national parks, it’s in an urban setting; historic bathhouses line Bathhouse Row, offering a window into the heyday of 20th-century spa culture. You can still soak in the mineral-rich waters today. If you want to get out of the historic town, however, forested trails wind through the surrounding Ouachita Mountains, with overlooks and quiet picnic spots above the town. It's a unique blend of preserved wilderness, geothermal geology, and living history, all within walking distance of downtown.

The Hot Springs National Park Historic Baths Walk takes you past the iconic bathhouses that made this area famous. Running along Bathhouse Row, the paved route winds through the heart of downtown Hot Springs, where you’ll see early 20th-century buildings like the Fordyce, Buckstaff, and Quapaw, each with its own story in the park’s long spa tradition. Interpretive signs and restored architecture offer a glimpse into the era when this was a major health destination. It’s a short, accessible walk and you can still step inside for a soak, just as visitors did a century ago.

Designed by architect George Gleim Jr., the present Maurice Bathhouse was built by William Maurice to replace an existing Victorian-style building, the Independent Bathhouse, later renamed the Maurice Bathhouse after owner Charles Maurice (William's father). The present building opened for business on January 1, 1912. With a total floor space of 23,000 square feet, the three-story bathhouse had ample room for a complete range of services and amenities, including a gymnasium, staterooms, a roof garden, twin elevators, and in the 1930s a therapeutic pool, situated in the basement. It was the only bathhouse on the Row to have a pool. The Maurice closed in November 1974.

Designed by architects Mann and Stern of Little Rock, the bathhouse was completed in the summer of 1922, just a few months after the Quapaw opened for business. The owners rejected three earlier Mann and Stern designs considered too grand and expensive. Built at a cost of $93,000 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the building is set between low towers whose receding windows suggest the nascent Art Deco movement. The prominence of the towers was lessened during the 1942 renovation that brought the building's wings forward in line with the front porch, which was enclosed at the same time. The plaster cast window boxes are unique on Bathhouse Row. The cartouches on both sides of the front are of the scroll and shield type with the center symbol described as the Tree of Health or the Tree of Life. With only 14,000 square feet and twenty-seven tubs. It catered to a middle economic class of bathers unwilling to pay for frills. The Ozark closed in 1977.

The Fordyce opened March 1, 1915. Designed by Little Rock architects Mann and Stern and constructed under the supervision of owner Sam Fordyce's son John, the building eventually cost over $212,000 to build, equip, and furnish. Totaling approximately 28,000 square feet, the Fordyce is the largest bathhouse on the Row. It has three main floors, two courtyards, and a basement under most of the building. The Fordyce became the first bathhouse on the Row to go out of business when it suspended operations on June 30, 1962, but it was extensively restored in 1989 and is now enjoying a renaissance as a historical furnished museum.

The old Superior was constructed on portions of the old Hale and Big Iron Bathhouse site. It was made of red brick, some of which may have been reused in the current building. The style of construction was markedly different from that of the Victorian bathouses that were its contemporaries. The business's name was said to derive from offering superior service, but it may also have been meant to appeal to the many health seekers arriving from the upper Midwest. The smallest bathouse on the row the Superior also had the lowest rates; it offered only the basic hydrotherapy, mercury, and massage services. It closed in November of 1983.

Located at the Arlington Lawn, this is the largest visible spring in the park. Hot water emanates from the hill side near the Grand Promenade and flows under the path, down a steep cliff into two pools.

The Buckstaff Bathhouse, named for controlling shareholders George and Milo Buckstaff, replaced the old Rammelsberg Bathhouse, a brick Victorian structure. The Rammelsberg replaced the A.B. Gaines Bathhouse destroyed in the 1878 fire, but there was a brick bathouse on the site in the late 1850s as well. Designed by Frank W. GIbb and Company, Architects, the Buckstaff cost $125,000 to build and contains 27,000 square feet on three main floors. Because it has been in continuous operation since it opened on February 1, 1912. It is one of the best preserved of all of the bathhouses on Bathhouse Row. However, it has gone over many changes through the years. Originally, it had a large hydrotherapeutic department, which only it, the Fordyce, and the Imperial offered.