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Hot Springs National Park
Thermal springs and historic Bathhouse Row in the Ouachita Mountains
Forty years before Yellowstone, Congress set aside the springs of central Arkansas in 1832 as the Hot Springs Reservation, the first area in the nation reserved by the federal government to protect a natural resource. Rain that falls on the surrounding Ouachita Mountains sinks deep into the earth, heats as it descends, and returns about 4,000 years later at an average 143°F (62°C). Dozens of springs flow along the base of Hot Springs Mountain, delivering hundreds of thousands of gallons a day, and the Native peoples who came here long before Hernando de Soto's expedition in 1541 knew the valley for its vapors.
By the early 20th century the spa town was drawing presidents, gangsters and baseball teams for spring training, and an ornate line of bathhouses rose along Central Avenue. That Bathhouse Row is now a National Historic Landmark District at the center of the park, where the Buckstaff still offers traditional baths and the Quapaw offers modern soaks, while the Fordyce serves as the visitor center. The reservation became a national park in 1921. At about 5,550 acres (22 km²) wrapped around a city, it is among the smallest national parks, yet one of the most visited.