AT THE CORNER of Central Avenue and Reserve Street stands a pale yellow basin ringed with silver taps. No matter the time of day, there's usually a cluster of people standing around it, each of them filling up empty bottles and gallon jugs. This is a free public fountain, one of several in the area, and it provides a taste of the waters that have stirred the legend of Hot Springs, Arkansas, for centuries.
As a resource, water is often taken for granted, but in this patch of the state, it's impossible to ignore. Located at the base of Hot Springs Mountain are 47 springs, and the fabled liquid they release averages a steamy 143 degrees Fahrenheit.
Nestled in the Ouachita Mountains, Hot Springs National Park surrounds the namesake town, and its centerpiece is the water.
Although it seems like magic when you see the steam rising from the earth, the geologic process that heats the water below the park takes 4,400 years to complete. That means what emerges today entered the ground when the pyramids were still new. The heat comes not from volcanic activity but from the liquid's long journey beneath the surface. It moves through folded and fractured rock, a matrix that is filled with small fissures through which the rain seeps. It continues down for 4,000 years and then back up for 400, warming and absorbing minerals as it goes.
The thermal springs gave rise to a community and still power the area's tourism. "People's relationship to water is different here," says Ashley Waymouth, the interpretation programs manager for Hot Springs National Park, which manages the water. Around 700,000 gallons are collected each day and can be accessed at no cost from the area's public taps.
Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Southern Living.
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Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Southern Living.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Forging a Legacy - A Fredericksburg, Texas, couple is creating a new class of heirloom cast-iron cookware
When Jay Mallinckrodt pitched the idea of crafting cast-iron cookware to his wife and business partner, Heather, in 2020, she was hesitant. I immediately said no, she recalls with a laugh. But I finally agreed as long as we made something that we would actually want to use ourselves. Like many others during the initial throes of the pandemic, their multigenerational family operation, Heartland Enterprises (which specializes in machining parts for jet engines and gas and oil equipment), was seeing a lull. “No one was flying; no one was drilling, says Jay. So we had time to try something different.
A Butterfly Haven - In the Texas Hill Country, a conservationist is helping monarchs adjust to the changing world
Twenty-four years ago, Monika Maeckle bought a small property on the Llano River in Central Texas as an escape from fast-paced San Antonio. A journalist and marketing professional by trade, she didn't at first realize the value of the location on which she and her husband would later build their ranch. She also had no idea how this decision would eventually transform her life.One October evening a few years later, a friend invited Maeckle to their nearby house, which sat on a watershed with several large cypresses. All these butterflies dropped from the sky and started to gravitate toward the trees, she recalls. Stronger people who could swing a big 12-foot-long pole began trying to capture them, and we waited. By the end of the evening, we'd tagged a couple hundred butterflies, and I left there enchanted.
Oktober Feast!
While I respect your right to serve spooky food in October, you won't find any gory grub at my house this month. Instead, I'm hosting a gathering that's inspired by biergartens across the pond. The focus of the menu is a fondue made with Gruyère cheese and crisp Riesling-like beer-cheese dip but more elevated. It's served with a smorgasbord of dippers such as smoked sausage, grapes, apples, and a few amped-up store-bought snacks, like Mustard-Glazed Pretzel Bites and Smoked Paprika Potato Chips. (Just one taste, and you'll want to add this spice to every bag you open.) Pour yourself a Cider Shandy, and get ready for a good time. Prost, y'all!
The Roast With the Most
Embrace the changing seasons with a cozy pork supper
Roll With It
Company's coming? Bake a batch of these apple-stuffed delights
VIRGINIA PASTORAL
IN MIDDLEBURG, THE COMMONWEALTH'S MOST STORIED SMALL TOWN, OCTOBER WELCOMES A HOST OF TREASURED TRADITIONS
TAKING ROOT
Turn the season's freshest veggies-beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots-into colorful fall sides
THE FAMILY PLACE
When it came time for a young Georgia couple to make an 1800s farmhouse their own, they took it apart piece by piece-then rebuilt it into a home ready to welcome the next generation
Loving Life in Fayetteville
This Northwest Arkansas college town is easy to love and hard to leave
The Road That Raised Me
This lesser-known drive offers the most breathtaking views in the Smoky Mountains
