Taking the Waters at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

            “The action of our waters in the cure of disease is well marked, although opinions may be divided as to how they cure, all are agreed that they cure. Some say that there is no virtue in medicinal waters and the cures are due to other causes. Then, we say, show us what the causes are.” –Dr. William Johnston, Eureka Springs, AK

            By 1879, news of the healing properties of the waters around Eureka Springs, Arkansas was spreading rapidly. Tales of travelers cured of everything from polio to blindness abounded, all due to dipping in or drinking of the spring waters.

            Joseph Perry, friend to Kit Carson and other Wild West legends and son of a hotel family, came to Eureka Springs for the water and stayed to build an empire. Water from Basin Spring was available in every room of his hotel. This was a marked improvement over accommodations elsewhere, as visitors were often seen carrying buckets of water to their hotels for use in bathing and drinking.

            By 1881, the Invalids Association, a regular meeting of the invalids who had made the pilgrimage to the city, was held at the Elk Street ME Church. The purpose of this society was to inform attendees about all matters of interest in regard to cures and the locations where they might be found.

            Owing to the popularity of the area, a variety of boardinghouses, bathhouses, and hotels were built in the area. However, none could compare to the glorious Crescent Hotel. Built by the Eureka Springs Improvement Company and the Frisco Railroad, the Crescent was opened to the public on May 10, 1886. The castle on the hill, as some called the grand five-story resort, was built from local limestone fitted together by a group of specially qualified masons brought in from Ireland.

            And oh what a castle! Pilgrims could come to the waters and stay for the bowling, lawn tennis or horseback rides, to name a few of the luxurious amenities. Soon the Crescent Hotel became the place for society to come and take the waters. Not only had Eureka Springs become a destination for restored health, but also for an improved social calendar during the spring and summer months for the “carriage set”.

            But how did waters from a spring find their way up to a hotel on a hill? Modern engineering, 1880s style, of course. Water from Congress and Crescent Springs was pumped up the hill and into the hotel where it was made available to guests not only in their rooms but in the rotunda on a tap that looked very much like a modern soda fountain. Guests could come down to the lobby and pour a glass of Basin, Dairy, or Sweet Spring water at any time he or she wished.

            As medical knowledge improved, doctors began to question the curative effects of the waters, often calling on a placebo effect in explaining the cures. Other said the reason was the area itself with its beautiful hillside location and many outdoor activities that lured formerly placid visitors outside and into more invigorating activities. Whatever the cause, the waters still beckoned and the pilgrims still came.

            Today the Crescent Hotel still stands on the hill overlooking Eureka Springs, mostly unchanged in over 125 years. Though the taps for water by the glass are no longer evident in the rotunda, the pipes can still be seen on the ceiling of the first floor restrooms.
             Though through the years the hotel has been home to junior college, a hospital, and a conservatory for young women, the Crescent has been restored to its former glory and awaits the history lover who would like to know what it might have been like to come and take the waters. Or perhaps to come and merely fill up a dance card and enjoy a lovely summer.

             The Crescent Hotel is also the setting for my newest novel, Flora's Wish (Harvest House, February 2013). Flora Brimm, a not so prim and proper Natchez belle with four fiancés whose untimely deaths kept them from arriving at the altar has one wish: find a husband and secure the family home for a sibling who would otherwise be tossed out. Ever resourceful, she’s sure she knows exactly how to make that happen. So she makes her plans and arrives at the Crescent Hotel only to find out she is the subject of a Pinkerton investigation and just may be engaged to a jewel thief. Meanwhile, Pinkerton agent and inventor Lucas McMinn is trying to decide whether the lovely lady is part of the solution or the problem.

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Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of forty-five novels with almost two million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad. A Romantic Times Top Pick recipient of her novels, Kathleen is a proud military wife and an expatriate Texan cheering on her beloved Texas Aggies from north of the Red River. To find out more about Kathleen or connect with her through social media, check out her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.

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