Blog | Hot Springs National Park Arkansas

by Dr. Robert Reisingvia 501Life Magazine It grabs the eye, a 160-foot full-color mural completed last December. Adorning the south wall of the Craighead Laundry Building in Downtown Hot Springs, “Playing Cards” depicts the baseball playing cards of five diamond immortals of centuries...

Player In this episode, you'll meet Verna Cook Garvan, the woman who donated the land that became Garvan Woodland Gardens. She died in 1993, so you'll hear from her by way of Susan Harper. Susan has been with Garvan Gardens since its' start. Over the years, she researched the life of Mrs. Garvan, a...

I fell down a rabbit hole of jazz and blues history and landed back in Hot Springs where the roots of American music entangle with the city’s past. Some of the genres’ earliest and biggest influencers made their way through the historic spa town. Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Ca...

Player The story of Mountain Harbor Resort starts with a man taking his son fishing in a newly formed lake. Mountain Harbor Resort remains a very popular destination for everything from families to anglers to business conferences. Bill Barnes owns and operates the resort, and tells the story of how...

Player Louis Cella is the 4th generation of his family to oversee what is now Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.  As you'll hear, it's no coincidence that "Racing" comes first in the name. Oaklawn Park has been in operation since 1905. It's now in the midst of a $110 Million Dollar expansion for it...

Taco Mama is a staple of the Hot Springs food scene. We’re meeting up with the one and only Chef Diana Bratton. The Taco Mama! Diana has been turning heads with her culinary delights for years. Today she is going to show us not one, not two, but three amazing treats that are available on the...

Lakes, Pools & Waterfalls Lake Ouachita sparkled beneath a big blue sky. In the distance, wooded mountains rolled across the horizon. The sun beamed and the water beckoned. I leapt from the edge of the sailboat that had ferried us out to the middle of the lake, and plunged into the cold, deep...

Player For three days in August, 52 of the best bass anglers in the world will converge on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs for the FLW Cup. Called by many the biggest bass tournament of all, they are competing for the first place prize of $300,000. In this episode, with talk with the FLW Director of P...

Hot Springs' role in the history of Baseball is as integral to the game as hot dogs & Cracker Jack's! It is the very birthplace of Spring Training! In 1886, Cap Anson brought his Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs) to Hot Springs. The health spa with its famous hot mineral baths, the mounta...

Player This episode features a conversation with Robert Raines - the owner of the Gangster Museum, the first of it's kind in America. Many people know that Hot Springs was a prime vacation spot for some pretty notorious members of the Mob. Robert has collected a lot of that history, and has great s...