Exploring Eureka Springs

Warning:  Lots of verbiage.  I find the history of these places fascinating.  If you don't, sail on by.

Second day at the farm we headed into Eureka Springs for lunch and a quick look-see.  It may need further investigation in the future.  As we drove in this young man beckoned, so we had to stop and get acquainted.  Meet Rocksberry the Tall.  Although reminiscent of the works of Danish sculpturer Thomas Dambo, his creator is a local sculpturer, Stephen R. Feilbach, based out of Eureka Springs.  He is known for his large imaginative sculptures and his gnomes.  Check him out at stephenrfeilbach.com.  Later in the day we found another of his works in Basin Park - Humpty Dumpty.  

Rocksberry was located at a trolley stop as we came into town.  

Humpty Dumpty was sitting on a wall downtown in Basin Spring Park.  This is from the sign in the park.

"Nestled in the heart of downtown, Basin Spring Park marks the very spot where Eureka Springs began.  After discovering the spring in 1856, Dr. Alvah Jackson used its waters to treat hundreds of patients, including wounded Civil Wars soldiers.  In 1879 he persuaded his hunting companion, Judge J.B. Sanders, who suffered from a crippling illness, to visit the spring.  After experiencing a marked improvement in his health, Judge Saunders used his considerable influence to promote the spring's healing qualities.  Word quickly spread, and visitors seeking cures for a variety of ailments traveled by wagon and rail to this Ozark hillside  Tents and boarding houses appeared almost overnight, and the City of Eureka Springs was born.  

Throughout the 1880s, thousands flocked here, believing the cool, clear waters could restore their health and vitality.  Basin Spring was eventually enclosed and improved, walkways were constructed, and the surrounding hillside was landscaped to accommodate the growing crowds. While other springs were discovered throughout the area, Basin Spring remained the cultural and social center of the town.

After a series of devastating fires swept through Eureka Springs in the late nineteenth century, and as enthusiasm for health resorts declined nationwide, the community was forced to adapt  Wooden structures gave way to more permanent improvements, including paved paths, stone retaining walls, and ornamental features reflecting the City Beautiful movement of the era.  In 91915, the iconic bandshell was erected, which hosted concerts and community events, reinforcing the park's role.

Today, Basin Spring Park stands as both the birthplace and enduring symbol of Eureka Springs -- a place of renewal, resilience, and connection for generations past and present.  Residents and visitors alike continue to gather here for celebrations, rallies, and everyday conversation, ensuring the spring remains central to the community's identity."

We had lunch at the Basin Spring Hotel and split a fish and chips meal with an appetizer of fried mac & cheese.  Finished off the delicious meal with huckleberry pie with a scoop of huckleberry ice cream.  Based on the photos I took I think you can figure out the star of the meal.  Grin.  The first photo is the ceiling of the elevator.  It is translucent and each mosaic piece shines.

With no apparent rhyme or reason, this is some of the things we saw roaming around.

The great Blue Heron standing guard outside the ticket office for the trolley system.  I tried to find out who was the sculpturer but got three different answers.  So enjoy it and hope the artist that built it gets full credit elsewhere.

This yummy old building is the Old Eureka Springs Icehouse.

Originally it was the Ice Factory and Electric Light Plant of Eureka Springs and in 1904 belonged to the Citizens Electric Company acting as the city light and power plant, ice factory and cold storage.  The building has been for sale for many long years and has deteriorated so much the estimate to renovate and save it is estimated into the millions of dollars.

One of Eureka Springs many springs and a formation of table rock.  The table rock, according to Mr. AI: 

The andesite of Table Rocks is a gray to black, glassy rock.  As the flow cooled, it contracted to produce the distinct pattern of columnar jointing.  These cracks are the result of the lava flow shrinking while it was cooling down.  (the photo of the table rock doesn't show the layers like I wanted, but you can see a bit of it in the spring photo.)

And last of the miscellaneous photos is Puff the Magic Dragon I snapped as we drove past.

The trolley took us to the Crescent Hotel where we walked their beautiful gardens.

The Crescent Hotel and Spa was opened in `1886 and is considered the Arkansas's symbol of hospitality and as America's most haunted hotel.  When it was new it was considered the "finest hotel west of the Mississippi".  Over the years it fell into disrepair, even losing a roof in a 1967 fire.  Marty and Elise Roenigk visited the area in 1997 and decided to purchase and restore the building.

 

It has several resident ghosts, not surprising since there was a morgue in the basement and for a time it was a cancer hospital (a fraudulent one but....).   Some of the famous ghosts that still roam the halls and the morgue are: 

Michael:  One of the construction workers killed on site after plunging to his death.  Most commonly found in Room 218 moving things around, touching guests, and crying out loud.

Norman Baker:  The white suited operator of the "cancer curing hospital" in the 1930's.  You can make his acquaintance in the lobby or in the basement morgue.

 Breckie:  A four year old boy who plays with a red ball on the second floor and is reported to appear as an orb in photographs taken by guests.

Theodora:  A very polite spirit that likes to help people.  She was an unfortunate patient of the cancer curing hospital and hangs around Room 419.

And finally but by far not the least....

Morris:  The general manager of the hotel for 21 years, buried out back but still is seen roaming the halls on occasion.  This was on Findagrave but I couldn't find a name to cite:

"Morris was the resident cat at the BEAUTIFUL, historic, famous (and haunted?) Crescent Hotel in wonderful Eureka Springs, Arkansas. While wandering the grounds of the hotel, I happened upon Morris's grave in the garden area, and was touched that he was such a beloved and important part of the hotel's history. There is also a memorial plaque in the lobby of the hotel, with a tribute to him, that reads, "In Memory of Morris, the Resident Cat at the Crescent Hotel, He filled his position exceedingly well,The General Manager title he wore, was printed right there on his own office door, He acted as greeter and sometimes as guide, Whatever his duties, he did them with pride, He chose his own hours and set his own pace, The guests were impressed with his manners and grace, Upstairs and down he kept everything nice, They might have had ghosts, but they never had mice, Due to the fact he was growing quite old, he'd doze by the fire when the weather got cold, His years were a dignified twenty and one, when at last he retired his nine lives were done, He filled his position exceedingly well, the Resident Cat at The Crescent Hotel. I also had the pleasure of meeting the hotel's new resident cat, Rufus, at the front desk. RIP, Morris"

Truly the highlight of the trip to Eureka Springs, with that Huckleberry Pie ala mode a closer second, was our visit to Thorncrown Chapel.  A beautiful, quiet, spiritual chapel in the woods.  In 1971 Jim Reed purchased the property to build his dream retirement home.  After several visitors stopped to enjoy the tranquil views of the Ozarks Jim decided to welcome them instead of  "fencing them out".  He and his wife decided to build a glass chapel for inspiration.  After meeting architect E. Fay Jones, a former apprentice under Frank Lloyd Wright and native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas the architect was eager to build the chapel.  

Funds ran out about halfway through the construction an it looked like the couples dream would not come true.   After several failures to raise the money to complete the project, Reed was about to give up.  Not a religious man per se, he nevertheless walked down to the half completed chapel one evening and prayed like he had never prayed before.  Several days later a woman from Illinois loaned them the money to complete the project.

Specifics:  

48' tall

425 Windows

6000 sf of glass

sits over 100 tons of stone and colored flagstaff

Over 7,000,000 people have visited (that SEVEN MILLION since 1980)

My advice if in the area is to go!!!!

A magical day in a beautiful little town with friendly people and something to see every time you turned around.  It definitely needs to be visited again soon.  Oh, did I mention that the Basin Springs Hotel has excellent Huckleberry pie ala mode??  

Heading out to listen to more whispers along the backroads.

Down on the Farm

With time on our hands and a few pennies in our pockets my "road dawg" and I took off for some peace and relaxation for a few days at the family farm.  The first afternoon we just hung around relaxing and admiring the beautiful flowers blooming and listening to the birds sing - I think I picked up 7 or 8 new birds on my Merlin app that day.  I can't let you hear the birds but I can show you some of the pretty flowers.

"Welcome to the Family Farm"

The home is surrounded by beautiful flowers, many in full bloom with lots of varying colors.

We even had a couple of visitors, luckily friendly and not intrusive.  Well the stupid fly decided he was invited to arts and crafts day - we even put him out a dish of wine but he must have been a tee-totaller because he just wanted to hang around seeing what marvelous masterpieces we were creating.  (update: RIP-hehehehe)

  

And we do have to include the tree that from above I thought looked like a dog in my weirdo mind.

Come back for Eureka Springs next...another fun day!  I'm heading down the road a piece (my attempt at being country) for some yummy BBQ.

(Very) Tacky Tuesday

 Stick with me, baby, and I can show you a good time.  My sweet indulgent friend has done that for more years than we have fingers and toes combined to use to count them.  So she trusted me when I told her to be at my house at 9:30, bring water, go to the bathroom, and wear a jacket.  No question she was ready to go, no questions asked.  So off we went to................

The Hornsby Bend Waste Treatment Plant 

Well, as fabulous of a job as they do here, we did not come for the Dillo Dirt, we came for the birds.  Knowing we were a month or two early I decided we would see some "winter Texans" hanging out on the ponds at least.  It would also give us a chance to check the place out before the crowds descend in late February/early March when the migrations begin.

Unfortunately the light wasn't wonderful, the birds were beyond my camera range for good images, and there were only a few varieties.  But here are the birds of Hornsby Bend on this cold January day.

A young birder from Austin was visiting relatives near here in 1959.  He noticed that some ducks were flying across the Colorado river and being brilliant he figured there were ponds nearby and went looking for them.  He found the waste water treatment center and saw a bunches of birds including a couple of rare to the area ones.  The next day he came back with friends and birding at the center began.

This little lady was swimming all by herself, making me wonder if she was young or maybe she was on one of her last swims and had headed to the edge of the village to die a peaceful death.  Soft hearted me is going for the first idea, just young waiting for Prince Charming to find her and make her his.

This group obviously were all mated up - equal males and females hanging out on a beautiful day.

On the other side of the dike were the marshlands that attracted the little brown birds you can see sitting along the stripey looking images.  I called them Killdeer but no guarantees.  They were hunkered down trying to stay warm.

The same marshlands had a flock of somethings (don't you love it when I get educational) swarming over the marsh.  Too far away to identify, and too fast to really get a good shot, but were still fun to watch.

Take your choice of Cedar Waxwings, Great Tailed Grackles, or American Goldfinches.  That is who Uncle AI says are swarming birds that frequent the Austin area in January/February.

Later in the year the Purple Martins will arrive and be welcomed here at Hornsby.  The Purple Martin colony began in 2001 when the first gourd rack was hung.  It 2002 the second 12 gourd rack was added.  The nests are maintained by a great group of volunteers who make sure they are clean and welcoming when the birds return.  

and I loved this -

In 2025, a young Girl Scout made the Purple Martin Colony the focus of her Girl Scout Gold Award project and made signs and erected them outside the Environmental Center (great picture of the young lady with big boy tools erecting the signs herself  on the web site) and provided information for the web page.  Read all about Hornsby and the Purple Martins at 

https://www.hornsbybend.org/

Could this be the Prince Charming our single little lady was waiting for????  A good friend and one who knows all kinds of wonderful nature things said this is a Shoveler Duck.  I captured a Shoveler on Merlin, so she is probably right (although I never doubt her anyway).

Could someone please identify this bird for me??

All I know is that he says his name is Newt, and he lives here.  I was a bit suspicious of this shady critter so I went to Uncle AI again and this is what he had to say. Nutria are large, invasive rodents often confused with native beavers (or muskrats) but differ by their long, round, rat-like tails, prominent white whiskers and bright orange front teeth. How could our uncle call this cutie pie a swamp rat?  I would take offense if I were he.

That's it for the birding center but we look forward to returning during the migration season to see and hear a wider variety of our feathered friends and weather warmer so we can walk the trails to look for and hear land birds.  Pat and I both highly recommend you visit.

So how do you top a waste treatment plant for a Tacky Tuesday???  You go to a graffiti park!  What's tackier than seeing our highways and by ways spray painted? Maybe tacky on the highways but when it is confined to an outdoor gallery it is interesting and amazing.

HOPE Outdoor Gallery

You can read all about the HOPE Gallery at their website https://www.hopeoutdoorgallery.com/ but the short version is the 2005 original gallery was located just west of downtown at a failed condo development.  With some walls up they turned them into canvases where everyone could become an artist for the day.  "Progress" took over and the gallery closed in 2015 but it has reopened south of town for all to come visit.  This is a YAY!!!!

Fair warning there will be lots of pictures and little verbiage (I know that just saddens you).  I will tell you that in the above photo the grassy area is a ditch between the parking lot and the displays.  To get to the displays you walk through a storage container that has been repurposed and of course graffitied.  On the far side the walls surround a circular courtyard where curated art is displayed.  As you can see by the this picture the outside walls are an open canvas to all.  Bring your spray paint when you visit!! 

Don't be a good artist and crappy citizen, take your empties with you.

What are you waiting for?  Come paint!

The fabulous inner circle where the art is curated.  Such wonderful talent.

Didn't I tell you these were artists??  Look at the details, wow, just wow.

 

 Tucked back in a corner behind  staircase and where there was some equipment/necessary items/whatever that keeps the place running were these - I think it is by the front door and we went into another door to get to the restroom.  At any rate, nice for sure.

And my two favorite ones - the Panda was in the little nook, the sea serpent was on a wall leading into a "no paint" area.

Thank you for a grand day, HOPE.  And thank you for clean restrooms and a touch of whimsy even in there.

We will not discuss the restaurant I chose.  I am hoping it was just a bad day for them, the menu was fantastic, the variety even better however the service was poor and the food cold.  (I NEVER send back food - I've watched too many reels).  But despite that the day was absolutely wonderful and the company even better.

We have been inspired.  Next Wacky Wednesday will be art day at Pat's, creating masterpieces of our own.

Wacky Wednesdays

 Now that I am not working at the pantry as many days, I have decided that Wacky Wednesdays needed to be a thing.  I did choose the wrong time of the year for outdoor fun and games but we roll with what we have, right?

The first Wacky Wednesday was taking Daffy to the groomer before Christmas and then heading to Lake Georgetown, a US Army Corp of Engineers reservoir formed on the San Gabriel River.  It was a gray icky day so we sorta walked the perimeter of the parking lot looking for anything, anything to take a picture of.  It was pretty dismal until the dog showed up.

Gloom, despair, and agony on me.  Whoa!  Deep dark 
depression.  Excessive misery.  Whoa! If it weren't for
bad luck I'd have no luck at all.  Whoa!

Welcome to Wacky Woeful Wednesday.  This is the epitome of what the day produced.  The dog was out for a walk with its mom and dad when two ducks floated by and away he went!  Those ducks were his and he was going to take them home for lunch.  Luckily dad had him on a leash so it was Alpo for lunch instead of duck l'orange.  

To counteract the bleakness, I did find one spot of color.  

Not enough, we headed for Chinese food at a local place, Lin's Cafe in Georgetown.  Good enough to go back especially since it is right next to Daffy's groomer, the beloved Miss Mena.

Christmas and New Year holidays consumed Wacky Wednesdays but we were back at it with a visit to Pease Park in Austin.  This park is absolutely the best maintained, clean, safe and beautiful park you could ask for thanks to the Pease Park Conservancy.  The day we visited it was filled with joggers, walkers, dogs, children, and one guy just sitting watching the world on one of the plentiful park benches, and two old ladies ambling down the path to visit a troll.  

Pease Park, Austin's first public park, is named after former governor Elisha Marshall Pease and his wife Lucadia who donated the land in 1875.  

Path from the parking lot.  January 7th, 2026

This is who we were on a quest to visit.  Meet Malin,  This sculpture by Thomas Dambro is a reminder to to share water and resources with animals that share this space on Earth with us.  Dambro and 150 volunteers created this 18 foot tall beautiful lady.  More than 80% of the materials used were recycled, reused or reclaimed materials.  Thomas Dambro has over 100 statues like this throughout the world.  If there is one close to you I highly recommend going to see it.  

Detail of the bowl she is holding

Her most beautiful face

Waiting for rain to fill the bowl.

Details of her emerald necklace

Even trolls enjoy a pedi now and then

As fabulous as she was we headed off to see the Tree House.  Along the way Daffy was "reading email" from all the dogs that had been by before and initialing a few of them.  She was so intrigued she missed at least 6-7 squirrels.


She was not enthused by the 2008 Tree of the year, however.

The middle of the that grid around the diameter
 is where you can climb, sit, or just enjoy being in the forest.

Walking away from the Treehouse, muttering under my breath about being too old to play on such fabulous wonders we saw a wedgie in the park, truly!!  I am of the modern era and whip out my phone to take photos of such scandalous things to share online. 

Whether put here by man or placed between the trunks as the tree was growing by angels, I do not know, but it was interesting nonetheless.   

Within the park are many places that would be prime locations for a graffiti artist to display their talents.  This is one that might appeal for a miniature "work of art", however nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE will you see graffiti, thanks to the Pease Park Conservancy and the visitors that keep the park the beautiful public park it is.

The younger more agile me would have been across these in a heart beat.  Daffy was game but I suggested she didn't need to do it either.  I sure wanted to, sure did.  It does traverse Shoal Creek, hard to see in the picture.

My feet are used to its waters - it ran behind Pat's house and I lived on the street on the other side.  I crossed it every morning to walk to school and her sweet mama would have dry socks waiting for me when needed.  We also caught tadpoles and tried to sell them as kids.  Obviously there was a low volume of demand since neither of us are billionaire tycoons in the fish industry.

Wonder if there are any tadpoles left...I could use some extra travel money.

 A few other shots from around the park.  Love this place and we will return.

Daffy and I are off to see what next will show up on a Wacky Wednesday post.  She hired out as a bus girl at Finley's in Round Rock so she can keep affording to come with us.  Two thumbs up and one toenail up to the Reuban, Patty Melt sandwiches and the pub fries.  Will be back for sure.

 Tips Welcome!