Friday, March 2, 2012

Hot Springs, AR

Last year a Living Social deal came up for a 2 night stay in a B&B in Arkansas so I bought it and Korey and I finally got the chance to use it this past week.

We stayed at the 1890 Williams House near the downtown area.  It's a historic home that, when we walked inside, reminded us of Downtown Abbey.  We happen to be fans of the show.

This is what greeted us when we walked into our room, sparkling champagne and chocolate heart cakes.  This table is actually in our sitting area.  As part of the deal we were supposed to have a small suite but it didn't feel small at all with this area added on.
This is the sitting area.  There were a couple of books in this room that had touristy stuff about Arkansas and there was also a book on the history of the house.  Korey dove into those right away.  This sitting area used to be a porch that they eventually closed in.  There was so much natural light in it despite the brick walls and wooden floors.  I love natural light!

This was our bathroom which was actually built between the 1st and 2nd floors which is why there are stairs going down into it.  This was one of the original bathrooms in the house.  Our room was on the second floor.  Once you go down into the bathroom and turn to the right there is a little sitting area.  Above that is a door that they closed in that used to be the original entrance into the bathroom.  It's now the video library.  So many nooks and crannies to explore!
Stained glass over the bathtub.
This was our room and I should have gotten a better picture of the room but we found out, after reading the book, that this used to be the nursery in the house.
We drove up into the national forest and stopped at one of the lookouts.  This is the city below.

We didn't go up into the lookout tower but we later used it as a landmark when we got lost driving out of town!

We walked through the downtown area and found this fountain that had hot water in it.  Hmmm...hot springs?  Korey is sticking a finger in to test it out.  You could see the hot air rising up off of it.
Apparently you can fill up your water bottles for free from the taps provided and take them home to use.  Korey was amazed that it was FREE!


This couple had a large number of glass bottles they were filling up with the hot water and the lady said it made good tea.  She boiled it first of course.  And for any vintage lovers out there she said these glass bottles were from an old Dr. Pepper plant that contained the syrups they used.

Then we walked through the bath houses and while Korey read more about the history of the place I took pictures.
This was a verse posted in one of the bathhouses.
My grandmother used to have a fan like this!
Inside one of the bahthouses...people came here believing the water would cure them of their ailments.

There were separate stalls with bathtubs in them.  Kind of looked a little depressing if you ask me.

Now this looks like a torture chamber but I guess it was some kind of shower.
This is the one we walked through.
Korey took pics of me standing outside by a fountain.  I had someone take a picture of the two of us but I encountered Manual Mode FAIL!  So it's all black.  :(

Back to our "it reminded us of Downtown Abbey house"...back in the day the owner would push a button and this box showed where he was so that a servant could come.  If only!

Here is one of the floor buttons in the dining room.  The owner could sit in his chair at the head of the table and when he needed a servant he would just tap this with his foot.  Wish I had one of these at home but I guess the only "person" that would come running up is one of our dogs!
Here's another button on the wall in the dining room and some of the original wood work details.
This is looking into our sitting area.  It felt so fancy to have a sitting area like this!
This stained glass window was original to the house and was over our bedroom door.  I think it opened up somehow with a lever but Korey wouldn't let me try it.  :)
A closet door with some woodworking detail.  I loved all the details in the house! 
And this got out of order and Blogger was being a pain about rearranging it but this is a pic of the coat check room that was used in the bathhouses.

We loved where we stayed and enjoyed our short get-a-way!

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