Tower gives a different view of the Spa City
HOT SPRINGS — Even with a chilly breeze and a threat of rain, the Hot Springs Mountain Tower was a popular place April 13.
Groups of visitors going up to take in the sights from the viewing deck of the 216-foottall tower were steady.
“In the spring, or if there are clouds, it can be a slow day with only 100 to 300 people visiting on a weekday,” said Rosemary Huff, director of the tower on top of Hot Springs Mountain that rises above Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park.
During the summer, the tower averages more than 500 visitors per day, Huff said.
From a vantage point above the surrounding Ouachita Mountains, visitors to the tower can see almost 70 miles in any direction, Huff said. It is one of the most popular places for Arkansans to bring out-of-town visitors, she said.
Elizabeth Hopkins of Cabot brought her friend Michael Markwell from Kentucky to the tower as part of their trip to Hot Springs.
“I moved into Arkansas a few months ago, and when Michael came for a visit, I was told that the place to bring people was Hot Springs,” she said. “And I can see why.”
Also seeing the sights was Lyle Sands, a resident of Hot Springs Village, who was at the tower with relatives from Iowa. Sands brought his binoculars to the observation platform to take a closer look at the mountain vistas and the city below.
The tower director said the view never becomes ordinary, even after working at the site for 21 years.
“I go up every day just to look,” Huff said. “Sometimes I will be checking on this or that up top, and I’ll find the time to spend some time looking around. No way will I ever get tired of the view or the job.”
The modern tower is the third built on the mountain. The first, a 75-foot wooden tower, was erected in 1877. It was struck by lightning and burned down. A steel tower with an elevator opened in 1906.
The observation platform was 165 feet above the mountaintop. The platform was deemed unsafe and torn down in 1971 to be replaced with the existing tower that opened in 1983.
Admission to the top of the tower is $7 for adults, $6 for visitors older than 55 and $4 for children ages 5 to 11. The tower can be reached by a road that leads to the top of Hot Springs Mountain from Fountain Street.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline. com.