I spent New Year’s Eve in a weird, spooky little town called Eureka Springs. Nestled in the Ozark region of Arkansas, Eureka Springs has a large, beautifully preserved Victorian historic district surrounded by the Ozark mountain forests. Overlooking the Victorian district is a beautiful inn built in 1883 called the Peabody House, named after its original owner, Dr. Adams Peabody.
The inn has two suites in the main house on the second floor, each with a bedroom, bathroom, and sitting room. The cottage that is adjacent to the main house has a living room, bedroom, and bathroom. The first floor has a living area, kitchen, half bath, and a bedroom/bathroom that is currently not being used. On the top floor is “the perch,” a large space intended to be the innkeeper’s quarters.
And back behind the main house? This creepy cave thing that I love.
When I was in Eureka Springs over the holidays, I saw that the Peabody House had just been put on the market. I thought to myself, “what if I just bought this inn and moved to Eureka Springs?”
So, that’s what I did.
The local indigenous tribes considered the area Eureka Springs sits on to be a sacred area of healing. The Osage who lived near the “magical spring” would bathe in the waters, believing them to have healing powers. Despite being hostile to the nearby Cherokee, the Osage would allow the Cherokee to bring their sick to the land that Eureka Springs now sits on so that they too could benefit from its healing powers.
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