Hot Springs (the valley called Manataka)

The springs rise at 47 points in a valley of the Ouachita Mountains, and people have come to them for their warmth and their reputation for healing for thousands of years; many Native nations used the springs as neutral, healing ground before and after European settlement. The United States reserved the site in 1832, an act that prefigures the national park idea, and Hot Springs National Park today keeps the spring water free at public fountains while Bathhouse Row's historic bathhouses sell the traditional baths.

The name Manataka belongs to a more recent story. The Manataka American Indian Council (MAIC) has promoted it since the 1990s as the valley's original sacred name, wrapped in an account of a great gathering place; linguists consulted on the word in 2005 did not recognize it as an attested historical placename, and Native scholars and watchdog groups have disputed the organization's claims. This entry records both the genuine multi-nation healing-springs heritage and the dispute, with no verdict: the water, the gathering history, and the controversy are all part of the place now.

Visiting

Hot Springs National Park is free, open year round, with public thermal fountains and the operated bathhouses on Bathhouse Row charging for services; the park's own pages carry current bathhouse operators.

Photo: The Lamar Bathhouse on Bathhouse Row, [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bathhouse_Row,_Lamar,_Hot_Springs_National_Park,_Arkansas.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, SaraDGarland.