Now that life has slowed to a meander, I'm walking around more. I take the dog on increasingly longer and longer walks. We are passing the days and wandering around Hot Springs.
I love seeing old stone work, often times abandoned. Handsome steps going up, into the honeysuckle . Grand stone entrances to....nothing. Beautiful walls protecting weeds. The houses and homes and buildings are gone but the exquisite and random stone work are still here.
Much of the stone work was laid by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 30s. Their
work has endured. Hot Springs also had several brilliant stone masons, Fred Mills and his father Gibson Mills. My Aunt Margret McDaniel, told me about her grandfather Gibson Mills. He immigrated to America from England in the 1870s. He built castles there. Gibson Mills and his workers were responsible for the awesome eagles downtown in the National Park, and most of the Promenade.
Still, my favorite random stone work in Hot Springs is the stuff I don't know anything about. The mysterious and sometimes odd steps and walls and bridges. I like to imagine children 150 years ago trying to walk across or old couples walking, slowly past, holding hands at the turn of the century and the men, sweating and dirty moving each heavy stone into place.
I hope you get to take a walk today. And when you pass some random stone work, that's completely out of place, know that maybe, it was put there just for you by hardworking men long long ago.
If you like this story about things I love in
Hot Springs I hope you take a moment to checkout others at www.hotspringslove.com
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