• water flowing over rocks into basin

    Hot Springs

    National Park Arkansas

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  • Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center Closed

    The Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center is closed until Fall 2013 for a major maintenance project. A temporary park Visitor Center, along with the park store, are located in the Lamar Bathhouse at the south end of Bathhouse Row. Call for more information.

Natural Features & Ecosystems

white flowering dogwood blossoms on branch

Flowering Dogwood

The most common topographic features of the park are the rocky mountain slopes with their novaculite outcrops and lush creek valleys. These areas support mixed stands of oak and hickory interspersed with shortleaf pine on the more exposed slopes and ridgetops. The forest understory contains flowering shrubs, a wide variety of wildflowers, a rare local chinquapin species (Castanea ozarkensis), and occasionally the rare Graves spleenwort (Asplenium gravesei).

Did You Know?

copy of lithograph from a publication showing the valley of the hot springs with Hot Springs Creek on the right and two men in the foregroun

Hot Springs Reservation, the first designation of Hot Springs National Park, was set aside by Congress in 1832. This makes Hot Springs National Park the oldest unit in the national park system, 40 years older than Yellowstone National Park.