Caching & Sightseeing in Eureka Springs 9/27-28/2010

Well our last gasp at caching around this area before we hopefully get back on the road. We headed for Eureka Springs about 8:30 and hit one cache at the Luther Owens Park and Muzzleloading Firing Range in Berryville, AR that was hidden in a hole in the foundation of the building. Then it was up to Eureka Springs and our first cache in a rockwall at a huge motel and conference center that is closed. Third was a cache at a small church in the woods. Next was a cache at a overgrown seldom used baseball field, then it was off to the Chamber of Commerce and a cache under the bench outside. Seventh was at cache in a bush at the Heartstone bed & Breakfast. Next cache was at Califf Springs which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the 62 springs in Eureka Springs.

Ninth cache was at Gavioli Chapel. As Eureka Springs was growing, the need for churches arrived with the newcomers and several were built around town. Tents and shacks were going up quickly and buildings were being built just as fast. In 1879, a City Improvement Company had been formed, and that company submitted to Mr. Shadrach Turner, a trustee of the already organized Christian Church, a plot of ground across from what was then the Red Brick Schoolhouse on Prospect Avenue. Soon a small frame building was erected and painted white, and became known as the "Little White Church", its formal name being the First Christian Church of Eureka Springs
During the period between the establishment of the Church and the creation of official records there is little information available except for the Church Roll of FCC. This roll showed a membership of 204, which probably necessitated the remodeling of the building in 1912.
According to the minutes from April 15, 1932, the church membership now numbered 92. By this time the depression was well underway, and the church had its share of hardships along with everyone else. Members were urged to pay in pledges to help with expenses and debts. The pledges ranged from five cents to two dollars per week and collections were unbelievably low.
In 1999, the First Christian Church sold the building to a private owner, a family who tried to preserve it as a Church as well as a historical site. There were no set congregational meetings. The building was being used mostly for weddings and other religious events, such as baptisms and memorial services under the name of The Old Stone Church.
With the buildings natural acoustics, there have been several local musicians who have recorded music here. The church has been featured in the news and has also been used in a film project by a local youth group.
This historic structure is currently experiencing yet another renaissance. In June of 2006, noted preservationists Marty and Elise Roenigk purchased the building and have been using it not only as a wedding chapel but also as a museum for special pieces of their world-renowned mechanical music collection. One such piece is their Gavioli Fairground Organ that has 59 keys, 210 pipes, is 15 feet wide and 11 feet tall. This ornate mechanical "orchestra" that plays everything from festive turn-of-the-century dance tunes to sweet, melodic traditional wedding songs will be the interior focal point of the chapel. The organ is so spectacular that the Roenigks have even renamed the historic structure Gavioli Chapel.
A prominent member of the Church, with his own pew, was Gerald L K Smith, who moved to Eureka Springs in 1964. Smith began construction of a planned religious theme park. Although the park was never fully developed as originally planned, in 1966 the centerpiece, the Christ of the Ozarks statue, was completed, overlooking the town from Magnetic Mountain at an elevation of 1500 feet.
While visiting the Gavioli Chapel take a short walk down Mountain Street and check out Penn Castle. Constructed in the late 1880's by Major W. E. Penn, a prominent Lawyer and evangelical leader of his time. The Castle was also home to Gerald L. K. Smith and is still a lovely home.

Next was a cache at the old Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway. The train still operates on a 4 1/2 mile train ride which also serves lunch and dinner in a dining car.

Eleventh cache was at Magnetic Springs another of the many springs here. It was said that any metal object put in the springs would become magnetized. It was also claimed that exclusive use of the water from the springs would aid in overcoming physical disabilities and aid in overcoming drug addiction.

Next cache was at the Eureka Springs Carnegie Library inside in the chimney of the fireplace. this library was among the fortunate communities of America to receive funds from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to build a free public library. The initial request for help was made by a "Mr Southerland," who to the best of knowledge was a visitor to Eureka Springs, but not a resident.
By 1910 a Board of Trustees was organized. RC Kerens, a prominent investor in the Crescent Hotel, donated the building site. The design was prepared by St Louis architect Geroge W Hellmuth, who also designed Kerens Memorial Capel, later to become part of St Elizabeth's Church.
The building was completed in 1912. One of four Carnegie buildings in Arkansas, the Library has always borne the name of the donor. Initially open only three afternoons a week for the first few years, the Library depended on memberships and contibutions for income.
By 1920 the Library was open 6 days a week, and a year later the building was supplied with electrical lighting. Patrons and other interested citizens carried on endless fundraisers to keep the Library open. A succession of fine, dedicated Librarians served throught the years, and the collection of volumes grew steadily.
In 1956 the Library became part of the Carroll County Library System and began receiving tax funds. Presently it is a member of the two-county Carroll and Madison Library System.

Next cache was at the Adventure Mountain Outfitters store. Then it was off to Grotto Spring for a cache hidden in the rocks behind the fountain.

Our last cache was at the Crescent Hotel built in 1886 and said to be haunted. The 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa has a rich and fascinating history. Read about some of the earliest accounts from these stories taken from the Eureka Springs Times Echo, one of Eureka Springs' early newspapers which is still in existence today and some fascinating information on Dr. Norman Baker, one time owner of the Crescent Hotel who ran a "Cancer Hospital" in his "Castle in the Air".
"For the first 15 years after its grand opening, The Crescent Hotel was operated by The Eureka Springs Improvement Company as an exclusive year-round resort hotel catering to the carriage set. During those Victorian Years, the years of grandeur, the gracious southern hospitality of the Crescent Hotel became well known."
"A stable with a hundred sleek-coated horses was provided for the guests' riding pleasure on early morning canters over the trails. Often as many as 75 riders could be seen making their way along some remote mountain trail - the ladies in their long skirts, hats and veils, mounted fashionably on sidesaddles while the gentlemen were gallantly astride mounts with English saddles."
"Visitors could enjoy tea dances during the afternoon and dance parties each evening with music provided with an in-house orchestra maintained by the hotel. Other forms of recreating available to the guest included picnics, hiking, streetcar rides, and the ever-popular Tallyho rides to Sanitarium Lake or some other attraction locale. The Tally Ho was a large open coach drawn by teams of four, six or eight horses."
In the spring of 1930 John Tunis's wife Lula was dying of cancer. In his private moments he must have alternately begged God not to take his wife and cursed him for letting her suffer such a cruel end. By the end of May, Lula was running out of time. John placed her and their dwindling hopes in the hands of a man named Norman Baker. They prayed he could provide the cure that the medical establishment could not.
With the opening of the grandiose Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs entered a new and exciting era. Notables from afar are arriving in our fair city and soon many others will follow.
The Crescent, built by the Eureka Springs Improvement Company and The Frisco Railroad is America's most luxurious resort hotel. Featuring large airy rooms, comfortably furnished, the Crescent Hotel offers the visiting vacationer opulence unmatched in convenience and service.
Tonight's gala ball will find in attendance many of the leaders in business and society. As guest of honor, the Honorable James G. Blaine, the Republican presidential nominee, will attend with his charming wife Laura. The very popular Harry Barton and his orchestra will play for tonight's festivities.
In the Grand Ballroom of the new Crescent, the opening banquet for the 400 celebrants will be followed by a dedication ceremony where the honorable Mr. Blaine will be the guest speaker. His introduction by Mr. Powell Clayton will follow an invocation by Reverend McElwee.
It was two years ago that Powell Clayton and his associates chose the site of the new Crescent Hotel.. twenty seven acres at the north end of West mountain, a majestic location overlooking the valley. The commissioning of Isaac Taylor as architect was announced and construction commenced.
Seldom has such a formidable construction undertaking been accomplished with such efficiency. Special wagons were constructed to transport the huge pieces of magnesium limestone from the quarry site on the White River near Beaver. Due to the density of this special stone, and the precision necessary in cutting and fitting, a group of specialist from Ireland was brought here to assist and advise in construction.
Mr. O'Shawnessey, the spokesman and leader of the imported group, was interviewed by this reporter before his return to Ireland. We recall that "Throughout the many years of his stoneworking, he has never encountered a stone with such density and quality as the White River Limestone". He predicts it will become a popular building stone in the future and further stated that because of its unique characteristics, the eighteen inch thick walls of the Crescent, fitted without the use of mortar, would withstand the destructive forces of time and retain its original beauty for many years to come.
The magnificent structure was then furnished in the most exquisite manner. It is lighted with Edison lamps, furnished with electric bells, heated with steam and open grates, has a hydraulic elevator, and is truly a showplace of today's conveniences.


There have been a number of strange stories coming from many guests at the Crescent Hotel. A number of rooms are haunted in the historic Crescent Hotel. Room 218 is the spot where Michael, an Irish stonemason, landed when he fell from the hotel's roof during construction. His ghost is said to bang on the walls and turn the lights and television on and off. Rooms 202 and 424 of the Crescent Hotel are also said to be haunted.
You don't need to stay in a haunted room to see a ghost at the Crescent Hotel. Outside of the Recreation Room, the ghost of Dr. Norman Baker often appears, looking a bit confused. He ran a controversial hospital and health resort in the building during the 1930s. A nurse, dressed in a white uniform, has been seen on the third floor of the Crescent Hotel. A woman in Room 419 introduces herself as a cancer patient to guests and housekeepers, then vanishes.
In the lobby of the Crescent Hotel, look for the ghost of a man who hangs out at the lobby bar or stands at the foot of the staircase.
A group of teens getting ready to take a ghost tour of the Crescent Hotel recently reported seeing a man carrying a tray of butter and dressed in a uniform similar to the waiter's uniforms. He followed them out of an elevator and towards their third floor room, where he seemed to disappear. A third girl at the room opened the door and saw him staring directly at all of them.
The Crystal Dining Room of the Crescent Hotel is particularly active, and many spirits in Victorian garb hve been spotted there at the tables or in the mirrors. Once, at Christmastime, the staff reported leaving a Christmas tree and presents at one end of the locked and empty Crystal Dining Room. Upon their return, the staff found the tree and presents moved to the other end of the room, and chairs facing the tree in a semi-circle.


Located in remote resort town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas stands the gothic Crescent Hotel. Called by some the "Grand Old Lady of the Ozarks, the hotel has served as many things over the years and yet strangely, each incarnation was reported to be haunted and each one also contributed to the legion of phantoms believed to walk the corridors of the building.

If there is a single place in the Ozark Mountain region that can be called "most haunted", it is this one! This hotel is said to be the most haunted hotel in the United States.
The hotel was built on the crest of West Mountain between 1884 and 1886 and may have gained its first ghost when a workmen fell from the roof during the construction. His body landed in the second floor area where Room 218 is now located. I doubt that it’s a coincidence that this room is considered to be one of the most haunted in the hotel!
The Crescent was designed by Isaac L. Taylor, a well-known Missouri architect who was famous for a number of buildings in St. Louis and who would go on to greater fame for his designs during the 1904 World’s Fair. The financing for the hotel came from a number of wealthy individuals and businessmen, including Powell Clayton, the governor of Arkansas from 1868 to 1870, and later the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Clayton formed the Eureka Improvement Company to seek investors and to acquire land, hoping to take advantage of the "boom time" of the period. Many of the other investors included officials with the Frisco Railroad.
The construction of the hotel, and development in the area, was so important at that time thanks to the national attention that had come to Eureka Springs (and other locations in Arkansas) for the “healing waters” that were bubbling from the earth nearby. During the late 1800’s, people traveled from all over the country to take in the waters and to hopefully ease and cure their particular ailments. In addition, spring water could also be bottled and shipped out, further enhancing the small town’s reputation.
The officials from the railroad were involved in the development plans because of the excursion train trips that had become so popular in the 1880’s. The Frisco Railroad had built a spur from Seligman, Missouri to Eureka Springs to accommodate the tourists who wanted to visit the area. It was in their best interest to also develop a fine hotel for them to stay in. As the Crescent neared completion, liveried footmen would meet guests at the railroad depot and transport them by coach to the portico the new hotel.
The hotel itself combined a number of architectural styles to create a unique (and sometimes foreboding) setting. It is equipped with numerous towers, overhanging balconies and granite walls that are more than 18 inches thick. Numerous renovations have altered the five-story interior, but the lobby is still fitted with a massive stone fireplace that dominates the room. At one time, more than 500 people could be seated in the dining room. Electric lights were included in the original construction, as were bathrooms and modern plumbing fixtures. The lawn outside was decorated with gazebos, winding boardwalks and flower gardens and guests were offered tennis courts, croquet and other outdoor recreations.
The Crescent became almost immediately popular and attracted people from all over the south. It flourished for several years and from 1902 to 1907, it was taken over by the Frisco Railroad, which leased the property as a summer hotel. Not long after, people began to realize that while the local hot springs were certainly wonderful, they held no curative powers. The springs soon lost the interest of the wealthier class, who had many other pursuits in that "gilded age" and business for the town dropped off. The loss of revenue convinced the railroad to quickly abandon their attempt at running a hotel.
The next 60 years were not good ones for the Crescent. It was open year-round, but it was starting to slip into a more run-down and decrepit condition. Various attempts were made to keep the place up and running, but as time passed, Eureka Springs lost its past prominence and the hotel became a forgotten curiosity. But it did not stand empty, as history goes on to testify.
In 1908, the hotel was opened as the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women and served as an exclusive academy for wealthy ladies. During the summer it still catered to the tourist crowd, but the money it made was not enough to keep the aging monolith in business. The costs of running, heating and repairing the place were so overwhelming that they were not ever offset by the staggering tuition charged to the students. The school closed in 1924 and then reopened briefly from 1930 to 1934 as a junior college.
By the 1920's, the automobile was transforming Arkansas into a vacation state. One estimate even claimed that nearly a half million people drove to the Ozarks for vacations in 1929, a staggering number for the time. Because of this, there were a number of businesses that leased the Crescent as a summer resort after the school closed down.
However, in 1937, Norman Baker leased the hotel for another purpose altogether. These were the darkest days of the hotel and according to most, the time when the haunting really began at the Crescent Hotel. The deeds committed during this era have unquestionably had a lasting impact on the building... and perhaps on the spirits who still linger here.
When Baker took over the hotel, he had plans to turn the place into a hospital and "health resort". Baker was an Iowa-born charlatan who had made his fortune by inventing the Calliaphone, an organ played with air pressure and not steam. He had made millions of dollars by 1934 but he was never content with this. He considered himself something of a medical expert, although he had no training. He claimed to have discovered a number of "cures" for various ailments but he was sure that organized medicine was conspiring to keep these "miracle medicines" from the market. He was also sure that these same "enemies" were trying to kill him.
Baker started a hospital in Muscatine, Iowa but ran afoul of the law over his "cure" for cancer. He was convicted of practicing medicine without a license in 1936 and all of his medicines were condemned by the American Medical Association. Nevertheless, he purchased the Crescent Hotel and remodeled it, tragically tearing out the distinctive wooden handrails and balconies and painting the wonderful woodwork in garish shades of red, orange, black and yellow. He decorated his own penthouse in shades of purple. He also added a few other touches to his private rooms, hanging machine guns on the walls and installing secret escape passages that would save him should his AMA "enemies" attack.
Baker moved his cancer patients from Iowa to Arkansas and he advertised the health resort by saying that no X-rays or operations were performed to save his patients lives. The "cures" mostly consisted of drinking the natural spring water of the area and various home remedies... or so the "official stories" say. According to most reports, no one was actually killed by Baker’s medical claims, but local legend tells a different story.
The legends say that when remodeling has been done at the hotel over the years, dozens of human skeletons have been discovered secreted within the walls. It has also been said that somewhere within the place are jars of preserved body parts that were hidden so as to not scare off prospective buyers. They still have not been found to this day.
These same stories also claim that Baker was no harmless quack, but a dangerous and terrible man who experimented on both the dead and the living. One of his "miracle cures" for brain tumors was to allegedly peel open the patient’s scalp and then pour a mixture of spring water and ground watermelon seeds directly onto the brain. Dozens of the patients died and Baker was said to have hidden the bodies for weeks until they could be burned in the incinerator in the middle of night. As his publicity claimed that he could cure cancer in a matter of weeks, he had to keep the press from finding out that many of his patients died every month. It has been said that he would put the extreme and advanced cases into an "asylum", where they would die in extreme pain. That way, no one would know that they actually died of cancer.
These are the legends that have been told, although most sources will say that these events never actually took place. They will say that they are nothing more than tall tales that have been attached to the Crescent over the years. And perhaps they are right....
Regardless, federal authorities caught up with Baker and he was charged with using the mail to defraud the public about his false medical claims. He was convicted in 1940 and sentenced to four years in Leavenworth. The hospital closed and Baker vanished into history. But would those who died at his "health resort" disappear so easily?
The brooding old hotel stayed closed until 1946, when new investors took it over and began trying to restore the place. The hard years still showed and the hotel was described as being "seedily elegant". Since then however, it has started to regain it's lost glory and it remains an odd and historical piece of Ozark history. It also remains haunted.
Staff members receive frequent reports from overnight guests of strange goings-on in their rooms and in the hallways. Room 424 has had several visitations but the most famous haunted spot is the previously mentioned Room 218. Several guests and employees have encountered strange sounds and sensations in that room. Doors have slammed shut and some people claim to have been shaken awake at night. One man, a salesman, was asleep in Room 218 one night when his shoulder was violently shaken back and forth. He awakened just long enough to hear footsteps hurry across the floor. He saw no one in the room.
Who this particular ghost may be is unknown, although some believe it is the spirit of the man who was killed during the hotel’s construction. His body was said to have fallen just about where the room is currently located. Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be any particular macabre history about this room. A story of the hotel has it that the wife of one of the hotel’s past owners stayed in the room. At one point in the middle of the night, she ran screaming from the room, claiming that she had seen blood spattered all over the walls. Several staff members ran up to take a look but found no blood and nothing else out of the ordinary. Could the spectral blood have been connected to the fallen construction worker? Or perhaps an operating room from Dr. Baker’s days of depravity?
Another ghost of the hotel is that of a distinguished-looking man with a mustache and beard and who dresses in old-fashioned, formal clothing. He seems to favor the lobby of the hotel and a bar that is decorated in the style of the Victorian era. People who claim they have talked to the man say that he never responds, he only sits quietly and then vanishes. In an interview, a staff member recounted one odd experience with the silent ghost: "During the summer, we had two auditors work for us because we’re so busy. One of these men left the front desk to get a drink of water in the bar, after it was closed. He told me that he saw some guy sitting on a barstool, staring straight ahead. He didn’t say anything and he didn’t move. Our guy left to get his partner, who was still at the front desk. They came back and spoke to the man. They thought he was drunk".
When the man again did not respond, the two auditors decided to leave him alone and go back to work. As they looked back over their shoulders on the way out of the bar though, they saw that the barstool was now empty. The man was nowhere in the room.
"One of them started searching for the man," the staff member added. "He looked around the lobby, which is about 25 to 30 yards across, everywhere in that area. The auditor who was looking around went over to the steps (a staircase ascends from the lobby). The fellow from the bar was on the second-floor landing, looking down at him. He went up but as he got to the second floor, he felt something push him back down again. That’s when he got the manager and told him what had happened."
It’s possible that the era of Baker’s hospital may have left the greatest ghostly impression on the place. In July 1987, a guest claimed that she saw a nurse pushing a gurney down the hallway in the middle of the night. The nurse reached the wall and then vanished. It was later learned that a number of other people had witnessed the same vision and had seen it reenacted in just the same way.
An apparition that is believed to be Baker himself has been spotted around the old recreation room, near the foot of the stairs going to the first floor. Those who have seen him say that he looks lost, first going one way and then another. Could Baker be "trapped’ in the hotel, perhaps paying for misdeeds that were committed many years ago?
Some time back, an antique switchboard from the days of the hospital was finally removed because of all of the problems it caused. A staff member explained: "In the summer we would get phone calls on the switchboard from the basement recreation room. There was no one on the other end because the room was unused and locked. We could check it out and find that the phone had been taken off the hook. There was only one way in or out of the place and the key was kept at the front desk."
This same staff member checked out the recreation room one night after receiving another of the strange calls. He found the phone on the hook, but he still maintains that he felt another presence in the room with him. "I just wanted to get out," he added.
He locked the door and went back upstairs, but within five minutes the switchboard buzzer went off again, indicating that a call was coming from the same room that he had just left. This time, he decided not to go and check it out!
To go along with all of the stories, accounts and experiences, the hotel even has a legendary ghost photo from Room 202. No one knows who took it or why, but the photo contains a misty figure slouching in the closet of the room. The room was empty except for the photographer at the time.
So what makes the Crescent Hotel such a haunted place? Are memories from the past somehow stored here, replaying themselves over and over again on a regular basis to the fear and delight of the living? Or are the deeds of the past simply revisiting the present, reminding us that history is never really forgotten?

After we finished walking around the hotel we headed back to the coach after we stopped at Subway and picked up a sandwich. Well that's about it for today so until next time, hopefully on the road, we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick