Battlefields, Bentonville and Eureka Springs

June, 2014.  First stop after leaving Tahlequah, the Battlefield of Prairie Grove.   My great, great grandfather served with the Kansas Guard and from what I can find, fought in this battle.  After surviving the battle, he died at the Fayetteville hospital from what was probably appendicitis just several months later.

Interesting note, look at the date.  Dec 7th.  I wonder what it is about that date.

Not too far down the road was Bentonville and the Walmart Museum.  I thought it was interesting to find the Walton family hasn't really been directly involved in running the company for 20 years.  None of the Walton children followed their fathers footsteps as CEO, although some did work as VPs and were on the board.  So maybe, instead of blaming the Walton's for all of Walmart's problems, we should blame the stockholders and their greed since this is a publicly held company.

We ended the day at a RV park outside of Eureka Springs.  The site of the historic Southern Hotel.  The original wood structure was built in 1880.  Damaged in the fire of 1890, it was rebuilt and enlarged, even claiming an outdoor elevator.  It burnt to the ground in 1932 in a spectacular blaze.

The town was initially built around this spring, claimed to have healing waters.

Not only are there three flat iron buildings in this town, every street is built at a different level.  

We found a place to sit and listen to some local music.

Sitting on top of the cliffs, overlooking the town, is the Crescent Hotel, built in 1886.  It is again in operation today as a hotel, although it has seen itself as a school and even a hospital over the years.

Still very opulent, it is easy to see how this was a place for the rich and famous to come and experience the waters of this area.

This Seeburg H complete orchestration piano, was built in 1918.  There are only 25 left in existance.  This one even spent time at Walt Disney's Main Street before arriving here in 1997.

Max had just returned from Ireland, so he was happy to find this Irish bar.

The back wall is stone, which is actually built right into the hillside.

Across the street was another place we just had to check out.

Not only was there a bar, but a gift shop, hotel and restuarant.

History says it really was a cat house back in the day.