Display Spring

Display Spring is a small open-air thermal spring just behind Maurice Bathhouse on Bathhouse Row. It seeps from a hillside, runs across exposed rock and settles in a shallow pool. This is one of the few spots where you can see Hot Springs' thermal water in a natural setting; come for a quick look and the sound of the flow, not a soak.

The approach from Bathhouse Row is very short but has some slope, and no step-free route is described. Benches and interpretive signs give you a place to pause. The upper of the two spring flows is generally a little hotter than the lower. If you touch the water, start cautiously: this isn't an outdoor soaking pool.

For decades the Display Springs sat under a grate. They were uncovered in the 1930s to show the thermal water in its natural state.

What eventually emerges as thermal water starts as rain. It moves through cracks in novaculite and chert, follows tilted rock layers about a mile underground beneath Hot Springs Mountain, and warms to about 160°F. Scientists in the 1970s estimated that a particle's full journey through the system takes more than 4,000 years.

The valley's erosion-resistant novaculite ridges were folded during an ancient mountain-building event. Two thrust faults, called alpha and beta, connect deep water to the surface in this area. One runs near Central Avenue and Fountain Street; the other reaches toward the upper slopes of Hot Springs Mountain.

After the spring water joins Hot Springs Creek, it passes beneath Bathhouse Row through the covered Creek Arch. Magnolia Walk runs above the creek, so the water keeps moving under the historic streets after it leaves the spring.

For a photo, include the shallow pool below the thin runnels spilling over mossy rock. The tree shade, green growth and pale outlet make the spring easy to recognize, and show how the water moves from hillside to pool.