July 27, 2006 - Hohenwald, TN

What?  Never heard of Hohenwald?  Neither had we until we made reservations at the Naches Trace Thousand Trails Preserve for a few weeks.  Turns out there's lots going on here.  Well, from a historical perspective at least.  Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis & Clark fame, died here.  And it turns out the Naches Trace Parkway (the name of a highway/road) is as beautiful in real time as it is in pictures.  And since we're taking it easy for a few days (dang migraines), we'll be posting some pictures of the area later.  But first..........

Hot Springs was hot.  The weather, that is.  At 1:02 in the afternoon of July 15, it was 86 inside, and 119 outside.  The humidity was a bearable 28% in and 21% out.  Now that outside temp has to be tempered a bit, because the sending unit is located about 3" below the awning and the awning is a dark green.  Probably "only" about 110 actually.  And as a Sacramento boy, I've seen those temperatures a lot, but today it seems to be more noticeable.  Barb says it has something to do with birthdays.  Plenty of them in my case.  Not that I'm objecting!  Want plenty more, thank you very much.

Our excursions were strictly morning events and, since this National Park is small (the smallest in the system) and we're here for a week, we can take our time.  The first day was mostly a day of driving around getting the lay of the land, so to speak.

Pretty drive and, fortunately, a one-way road.  The Hot Springs Mountain Tower at the top might have been fun, but I don't do elevators any more than I absolutely have to, and there were too many stairs.  The original tower built in 1877 was made of wood and was 75 feet tall.  It was struck by lightening and destroyed by fire.  In 1906, the Rix Tower was completed and featured an elevator to the top--as long as the wind wasn't blowing too hard.  It was deemed unsafe in 1971 and  torn down.  In 1983 this new tower was opened and it stands 216 feet tall.  As the name implies, it is located atop Hot Springs Mountain.

The lay of the land is like this.  There's the mountain we just drove up and at the bottom of that mountain is where the springs (hot!) are.  Next to (and over) the springs are the once-famous bath houses.  Then there's the street and across the street are the shops and some nice old hotels.  This is one of the hotels with and a fountain out in front.  Traffic was pretty tight and precluded a good shot of the front of the fountain.

The Buckstaff bath house still has the original baths and is operational.  The rest of the bath houses are in various stages of restoration.  As you can see, the Ozark has been restored beautifully.

The bath houses have gone through several renditions.  The first ones were nothing more than a shed built over the spring.  Then when people began to come in larger numbers, there were better facilities built.  A fire or two eventually took them all out and they were rebuilt of stone, tile, Italian marble, and other more substantial materials.  They competed with each other in a variety of ways, and it's great fun to read about it.  The Fordyce Bathhouse is the visitor center for the park and, while open to the public, is no longer in operation.  A self-guided tour through the building is worth the time as you can see.  The Buckstaff is the only original one still operating, but several hotels offer the hot springs baths as well.

Some shots of the lobby in the Fordyce.  Beautiful "glitz" all over the place.

With a self-guided tour, we can poke along as slow as we want.  It also means that some of the stuff we wanted to see we missed and had to come back for.  Which was fine as we were only out messing around in the mornings and had plenty of time.  How nice it is to tour this way, with no schedule.  Is this a great lifestyle or what????

About the only things here that might need some explanation is in the last picture.  That short tub is for a sitzbath and the shiny box next to it  (pure nickle by the way) is a steam box.  The head hole is near the back.  A stool inside and towels placed around the neck to keep the steam inside.  Not sure how/why that's supposed to be good for you, however, as sweating is something I try to avoid as much as possible, you know.

Barb's taking a break on one of the cooling room benches, then looks at the well-worn tub (all the conveniences of home), followed by a sitzbath and a "needle" shower.  All this is in the women's section.

Took me a moment to realize that the hole in the middle of that table was just a drain, and not some kind of "sanitary facility."  We never did fully understand all the valves and nozzles here, but it was fun to speculate.  See that steam box in the background with the other box next to it with the hole in the lid?

Well, I couldn't open the lid, but I could hold the camera over the hole and shoot downward.  Now, talk about dumb.  Have you ever touched a hot light bulb?  Why in the world would you submit yourself to the potential torture of sitting on that little round stool with all those light bulbs just waiting to make their mark on you? Some pretty bizarre (by today's standards) gadgets in this place, that's for sure.  In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, the hot springs and many of these contraptions were not only designed to be soothing and relaxing, but were also believed to have medicinal value as well.

The ladies beauty parlor, and then the gym, for men only, of course.

This is the "lounge" area and, while co-ed, the men's billiard table is at one end and a "socializing" area for women at the other.  The piano is toward the women's end.  And while I'm not sure my mother and dad played those particular songs, they're of the era that I grew up with.  Dad played the violin and mom the piano.  I had my trumpet and little brother Bill his accordion.  Ah, the memories.  The staterooms were a bit spartan, as the day was spent either in the baths, the lounge, or across the street in the little cafe's and shops.  In case you hadn't guessed, these facilities were primarily for the wealthy and, during its heyday, big bucks abounded.

Into the men's changing room.  I'm guessing that the little lockers were for holding valuables as they all had keyholes.

While not really in the men's area, this Hubbard Bath was sort of in between the men's and women's area, and could be accessible to either gender apparently.

Well, sometimes it harder than others to get the pictures to show what it's really like.  But hopefully you'll get the idea of opulence and some European indulgence here in the good old US of A.

Some pink marble stairs, and a final shot of the floor tiles in the lobby, and we're done with the Fordyce.  Lotsa fun for us.

Not quiet as hot and humid this AM, so we decided to take a chance and do some outside walking.  Not trail hiking, mind you, just a leisurely stroll down the Grand Promenade.

We're on a slightly elevated walkway up on the side of Hot Springs Mountain.  The creek is obviously below us, and the roof of one of the bath houses is almost level with us.  One of the many springs that do in fact have very hot water coming out of the rocks.  Average temp something like 143 degrees.

The major springs have been tapped and secured, along with being given their individual names apparently.  These green "boxes" are scattered all over the place.

Barb found some shade, even if it wasn't particularly cooling, it was better than being in the sun.  The path had several places that we could branch off and go back down to the main street, and we eventually took one.  Superior Baths is at one end of the row of houses along the creek, and we're walking toward the other end of the houses where we've left the car.

The name Maurice is a popular Jenkins name.  Grandfather, uncle, nephew, and maybe more.

The "National Park Gifts & Souvenirs" store was pretty much as expected, but the bikes with their trailers caught my eye.

This shot is for Marc and Claudia who recently picked up a beautiful Wing and then a trailer.  Both these trailers looked home-made to me, and I know Marc would build something sturdier and prettier both if he had the time.

Then it was off on a driving tour on the way home.  The valley between us and that observation tower is where the bath houses are.

Hummmm.  I guess I could have stitched these two together.  Didn't think about that when I was sorting them.  Anyway, that big building is a medical facility, and we sort of used it as a landmark when we were poking around Hot Springs.  Fun to find out about the bath houses, but now we're off to inspect some gardens.

Home  Journal Contents  Previous Page  Next Page