On the evening of February 29, 1876 — a leap day — St. John's Church in Knoxville, Tennessee filled "to its utmost capacity" for the marriage of Captain George G. Latta of Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Miss Fannie Brownlow, daughter of Tennessee governor William G. "Parson" Brownlow.
The newspapers recorded everything: the wreaths suspended from the pillars, the marriage bell whose clapper was a single calla lily, the monogram L.B. worked in white flowers, the bride's white brocaded satin with lily-of-the-valley fringe. The Nashville Daily American carried the story on March 3rd; the New York Times noted the wedding on March 8th.
Two years earlier, in 1874, Captain Latta had signed for the construction of a house on a hill above Whittington Avenue in Hot Springs. That house still stands. You can sleep in it tonight.
The single most repeated line in our guest reviews: "we never had to get in our car." Here's the walking weekend our guests keep discovering.
Morning: coffee on the veranda, then the five-minute walk down the hill to Bathhouse Row. Soak at the Buckstaff or the Quapaw. Fill a bottle at a public jug fountain — the thermal water is free, as it has always been.
Afternoon: lunch downtown, then pick a trail — Hot Springs National Park's paths start right behind the Row, and the Grand Promenade is the gentlest introduction in any national park in America.
Evening: dinner on Central Avenue, the walk back up the hill, and sunset from the gardens. Repeat tomorrow with a different bathhouse.
MORE TO COME
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