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Hot Springs National Parktable with dried botanical specimens mounted on paper, basket with nuts and turkey feather
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Hot Springs National Park
Grand Promenade
View of some visitors strolling on the tree lined Grand Promenade, a wide red brick walkway with a buff brick zigzag border pattern on each side
Hot Springs area EAST Labs

Running parallel with Central Avenue and Bathhouse Row from Reserve Street to Fountain Street, the half-mile Grand Promenade offers views of historic downtown Hot Springs, the Arlington Lawn, the hot springs cascade, quartz veins in the sandstone and tufa cliffs. The brick promenade has been a National Recreation Trail since 1982. It is a must-see for all visitors.

The north end passes the site of the first superintendent’s residence, demolished in 1958. The south entrance is below the impressive Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center. Built in 1933 as the second Army-Navy hospital, it has been used by the state for over 40 years.

The Grand Promenade started as part of a Public Works Administration project in the 1930s and was completed in 1957. Several park trails begin and end from the Grand Promenade.

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Red aerial map of Hot Springs National Park, with the Grand Promenade highlighted in aqua
 
Gulpha Creek in fall, below campground amphitheater, with bridge over Gorge Road in right background  

Did You Know?
The name Gulpha Creek is a corruption of the French name for the stream. Explorer William Dunbar reports the name "Fourche á Calfat" in the journal of his visit in 1804. Calfat eventually became Gulpha.

Last Updated: July 13, 2007 at 13:40 EST