![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Buckstaff-baths.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI headed down to Hot Springs to indulge myself.<\/p>\n
I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but I figured that I wouldn’t know until I tried. I climbed the stairs to the Buckstaff Baths<\/a>. I went up to the counter and paid for the least expensive package they had – The Whirlpool Mineral Bath. It cost $38. I felt a little bit like Jack Benny as I dug the money out of my wallet. I kept expecting moths to flutter out.<\/p>\n Just in case you are wondering what I paid for, this is how their\u00a0website describes it:<\/p>\n “A 20-minute tub bath with whirlpool at a maximum temperature of 102 degrees. This bath includes, hot packs, sitz bath, vapor cabinet, needle shower, and whirlpool turned on in your tub.”<\/p>\n I got in the elegantly appointed elevator – complete with elevator operator – and rode up to the second floor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I arrived at the locker room.<\/p>\n The attendant showed me to my cubicle.<\/p>\n My locker even had a small hoop to hold\u00a0my walking stick, cane or umbrella upright, just in case I had one.<\/p>\n I undressed. While I waited for the attendant, I read the informational sheet about what to expect.<\/p>\n And that’s the end of the photos I have for the bath portion of my visit to Hot Springs. I’ll do my best to fill you in one what came next.<\/p>\n When I had undressed, the locker room attendant instructed me to raise my arms to shoulder height and she wrapped me in a large white sheet and then handed me off to the bath attendant.<\/p>\n She lead me to\u00a0a long, deep white tub that was filled with hot water. As I remember, it had a whirlpool attachment that kind of reminded me of an outboard motor, except that in place of a propeller it had a water jet. I sunk down to my ears in the lovely hot water. It was great to be almost totally submerged in that long, deep tub.<\/p>\n After the specified 15 minutes, the bath attendant wrapped me up again and took me to a table. She had me lie down and then she applied hot packs. I rested there until they cooled down.<\/p>\n After that, it was off to the steam cabinet.<\/p>\n This is not the steam cabinet I was in. It is similar, though. I seem to remember seeing them in old movies as an example of hedonism. They way these are set up, you couldn’t really do it yourself. You needed an attendant to help.<\/p>\n The attendant opens them up, you sit inside and then they close it up around you so that only your head is sticking out,\u00a0and a\u00a0towel is wrapped around your neck so that none of the steam is lost.<\/p>\n Next, I was off to the sitz bath. You sit down with your bottom in a smaller tub of hot water and soak.<\/p>\n Then\u00a0it was off to the needle shower. That sounds a little uncomfortable, but it wasn’t. As I remember, I stepped into concentric copper pipes – maybe four or five of them arranged in a “C” shape. The\u00a0pipes were fitted with nozzles that\u00a0sprayed you with cooler water from about your shoulders to your ankles.<\/p>\n At the end of that, you were escorted back to your locker to get dressed.<\/p>\n I didn’t know what to expect, but I felt marvelous! Completely clean and relaxed and ready for lunch.<\/p>\n I headed down Bathhouse Row to find\u00a0sustenance.<\/p>\n I passed by the Ozark Bathhouse, which was completed in the summer of 1922. It was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style at a cost of $93,00.<\/p>\n Originally, the Ozark Bathhouse looked quite different. Here it is in 1882.<\/p>\n They don’t seem to be satisfied with their design, as this photo from 1915 demonstrates. Or, maybe, the person who made the 1882 drawing took some artistic liberties.<\/p>\n I passed by the Quapaw Bathhouse, which is also built in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style and also opened in 1922.\u00a0Its most notable feature is its dome covered with colorful tiles.<\/p>\n It was originally going to be named The Platt Bathhouse, after one of the owners. However, during construction, a cavity in the rocks in the building site\u00a0was found, and the owners decided to promote it as an Indian cave. They named it after the Quapaw Indians that had occupied the area for a while in the early 1800s.<\/p>\n I walked up to the doors to take a peek inside.<\/p>\n Naturally, it was closed. That’s how I roll!<\/p>\n I came across this elevation marker as I continued my hunt for lunch.<\/p>\n I noticed this plaque set into the pavement as well.<\/p>\n Finally, I crossed the street and I found lunch.<\/p>\n Lunch!<\/p>\n Thus fortified, I headed back across the street to the Fordyce Bathhouse<\/a>, which is now the Visitor Center for the Hot Springs National Park. Yes, this whole area is one of our national parks!<\/p>\n The Fordyce Bathhouse was built by Colonel Samuel Fordyce<\/a>. Inspired by the spas of Europe, it opened in 1915 and was the largest bathhouse on the row. Built in the Renaissance Revival style,\u00a0it eventually cost over $212,000 to build and equip and had 28,000 square feet on three floors.<\/p>\n I stepped inside and was greeted by terra cotta fountains.<\/p>\n I took the elevator up to see what I could see. The original equipment was there.<\/p>\n They had upgraded it to modern standards, though.<\/p>\n As I remember, I just kind of wandered around.<\/p>\n The first thing I came upon was The Hubbard Tub. It was installed in 1939 for conducting physical therapy with non-ambulatory patients. The therapist was normally in the water with the patient, manipulating the affected parts of the body. The buoyancy and warmth of the water enabled people to move joints and exercise muscles impossible to use elsewhere.<\/p>\n Here is a photo of the tub in use. You can see the lift that was used to get the patients into the tub.<\/p>\n The women also had a lounge.<\/p>\n There was an assembly hall between the two segregated lounges,<\/p>\n It was complete with a grand piano.<\/p>\n This photo from the past shows display cases where Fordyce displayed his Indian artifacts.<\/p>\n The stained glass in the vaulted ceiling was quite lovely.<\/p>\n It appears that music was encouraged.<\/p>\n They also displayed what the well-dressed male wore during the Edwardian era, which was 1901-1910. The outfit for physical education looks much more comfortable than the three-piece double-breasted linen suit. Just in case you were curious, the jacket and vest have mother-of-pearl buttons. I am not sure what kind of buttons were used on the button fly trousers. The cotton shirt has French cuffs and no collar.<\/p>\n I can see you scratching your head. You see a collar, don’t you? Well, that is a separate starched collar. It is double folded and has buttonholes to fasten it at the front. Do you suppose that they or their man servant tied the bow tie? They did not.\u00a0The black silk bow tie has an adjustable elastic band with hook and eye clasp.<\/p>\n And there you have it – more information than you ever wanted about resort wear for men in the Edwardian era.<\/p>\n You might wonder why I have little to say about women’s fashion during this period. Well, the answer is quite simple. If they had an information sign about it, I neglected to take a photo of it! (You didn’t really think I remembered all these details, did you?)<\/p>\n I do like the women’s clothing. I could even see myself wearing the physical education uniform. The white dress is lovely, but doesn’t look particularly comfortable. I do like the hat, though.<\/p>\n They had a beauty parlor at the Fordyce. After all, what is a spa without beauty services? I’ll let you read about what they offered.<\/p>\n Massages were also available.<\/p>\n You can read about what they shared about the massage room and services.<\/p>\n They also had an extra massage room that used various electro-massage machines. The glass objects on the end of the wand are interchangeable high-frequency vacuum electrodes used for applying electric charges to various parts of the body.<\/p>\n In 1936, this room was converted for use as a mercury rub room.<\/p>\n What?! They rubbed mercury on<\/em><\/strong> people?! Well, that’s what the information said.<\/p>\n They were truly full service.<\/p>\n You could get it all done here. According to a guide written in 1917, they had “…a Chiropody Department to satisfy the most fastidious.”<\/p>\n Apparently fastidiousness declined because patient use of the chiropody room declined in the 1930s.<\/p>\n I wonder if they resorted to soaking their feet in mercury instead?<\/p>\n If all this pampering left you needing to recover, there were staterooms available.<\/p>\n According to what I read there, “Twenty-two private staterooms occupied part of the third floor. Each came equipped with a metal bed, dresser, and coat rack. A few rooms even offered hot and cold running water and telephones.<\/p>\n Valet or maid service was provided, however, no overnight accommodations were available to the customers<\/p>\n I don’t know for sure, but I think the gymnasium was exclusively for men. I could be wrong, but if women used a\u00a0gymnasium, I imagine they had their own separate room.<\/p>\n Dumbbells have changed a bit in the last century. I guess “free weight” is the more correct term.<\/p>\n Here you can stretch out any kinks that the masseuse wasn’t able to exorcise.<\/p>\n Then, head off to the dressing room and get ready for what ever came next. I imagine they had to take off their physical education uniforms and get back in their three-piece double-breasted linen suits with the mother-of-pearl buttons, starched collar and black silk bow ties.<\/p>\n This stained glass ceiling was in the men’s bath hall.<\/p>\n It was full of all sorts of flora and fauna…<\/p>\n …and mystical creatures.<\/p>\n Before I left the Fordyce, I checked out some of their exhibits. This was the Bathhouse Row.<\/p>\n This ornament came from the Fordyce Bathhouse. The second floor windows have them on the lintels above the awnings<\/p>\n Do you see them?<\/p>\n With that, my visit to Hot Springs National Park drew to a close. There was one thing I still had to track down in Hot Springs, though.<\/p>\n I wanted to find where Bill Clinton lived. I found it.<\/p>\n The current owners were not particularly welcoming, though.<\/p>\n That is putting it mildly. In fact the guy on the porch was even yelling at me, and I was standing across the street!<\/p>\n I headed back to Crater of Diamonds State Park. I had to get ready for a day of travel in the morning.<\/p>\n I dumped my waste tanks. I took advantage of having a full hookup (which means water, electric and<\/strong><\/em> sewer, for the non-RVers among you.) I gave my tanks a good rinsing out.<\/p>\n I checked my tires and made sure they were all inflated to the proper psi and then I got ready to roll in the morning.<\/p>\n Next stop: Memphis.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After my day of diamond mining without turning up even so much as a quarter karat, I decided that I pretty much had the basic idea of what was involved. I had booked my campsite to allow for two days of mining, but decided that I didn’t need more diamond mining. What I needed was … Continue reading Time for a Bath<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1439,1426,1438,1441,1440,1437,1442],"class_list":["post-15434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bathhouse","tag-bill-clinton","tag-buckstaff-baths","tag-edwardian-era-fashions","tag-fordyce-bathhouse","tag-hot-springs-national-park","tag-stained-glass"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15434"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15531,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15434\/revisions\/15531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAs I wandered, I came across\u00a0the men’s lounge.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n