Arkansas

The alpine town of Eureka Springs (population 2,400) sits in northwest Arkansas' Ozark Mountains and receives raves reviews from just about everyone.     It is a Victorian village, an artists' retreat (named as a top art town by several publications) and a fun tourist destination all rolled into one.  Small but lively, the town came to be during the mid-1800s when the local spring waters were said to cure everything from blindness to gout.   People, including Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde and Carry Nation, traveled from all over to drink the water, and at one point Eureka Springs was nearly as large as Little Rock.  After the railroad arrived in 1882, local leaders promoted their town as a retirement and vacation destination for the upper classes, and grand Victorian homes were built.  Today the entire town of Eureka Springs is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The median home price is $155,000, and the average cost of living is 12% below the national average.  The crime rate meets the national average, and of the population, 54% is age 45 or better.
	Steep, winding streets are lined by stylish and elegant 19th-century residences, and the center of town is a step into an earlier time with commercial stone buildings that evoke a movie-set Victorian streetscape.  Eureka Springs also has some other unusual architecture.  The Basin Park Hotel is built on a hill and all eight stories have a ground floor entrance.   Penn Memorial Baptist Church connects to three different streets at three different levels and has three addresses.   St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church is the only church with a bell tower entrance.  The stunning Thorncrown Chapel, literally nestled in the woods, has 425 windows and has won numerous top design awards.
Events and festivals are many.  The Blues Weekend, the Ozark Folk Festival, the Food and Wine Festival, the Fall Art and Antique Festival, the Kite Festival and the Victorian Classic Run are just a few of dozens.   There are studio and gallery tours, including A Gallery Stroll each Saturday, as well as holiday parades and street markets.  Many of these activities are geared to tourists, but residents enjoy them as well.   One particular claim to fame is the Great Passion Play, now in its 40th year.  It is a lavish annual production that brings together hundreds of actors and animals to tell the story of Jesus Christ's last days on earth and his death and resurrection.   The theater is also home to a 7-story tall white concrete statue of Jesus known as Christ of the Ozarks.   Seven miles west of town, the 60-year-old Opera in the Ozarks presents three productions each summer season (recent productions have included Carmen, Tosca and Don Giovanni).   The Eureka Springs School of the Arts offers classes to emerging artists.
Most shopping consists of locally owned specialty shops.  Downtown has coffee shops, boutiques, bookstores and restaurants, and there are more than twenty art galleries.   Musicians have also settled here, and when the sun goes down, music from numerous taverns wafts onto the streets.  Eureka Springs continues to be a place of healing as twenty or more spas and massage therapy establishments provide a way to relax and rejuvenate.     The Carnegie Public Library, a classical revival-style structure built with money donated by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, has computers with Internet access.  For outdoor lovers, northwest Arkansas is a wonderful spot.   Surrounding mountains, rivers and lakes provide great venues for abundant fishing, boating, camping, birding, hiking and more.
T The public transportation system consists of a trolley, which caters to tourists, but it covers most of the town and runs year-round, although operating days are limited during winter months.  Fares are $3 (one ride), $5 (all day) and $15 for a month if age 65 or better.   Eureka Springs Hospital is small with just 22 beds and meets national averages in most specialty areas.  It recently partnered with Allegiance Health Management, a Louisiana company that works with rural hospitals, as a way to improve its services and medical care.  Medicare patients are accepted.  Three more hospitals are within twenty miles.    There are no city sponsored senior services or programs and no local senior center (although Meals on Wheels is active).   Northwest Arkansas' Area Agency on Aging's Carroll County Senior Center in nearby Berryville, however, has a bus that comes to Eureka Springs twice a week and picks up residents at their homes and takes them to the Center ($3 donation requested).  Participants must be age 60+  and activities include line dancing, bingo and shopping outings to Wal-Mart.  Congregate meals are also available for a $3 donation. Precipitation ranges from 2 to 5 inches a month, and snow does happen, as does the occasional ice storm.    In summer, temperatures can reach the 90s and usually do not dip below the mid-60s.  Winter temperatures are in the 202, 30s and 40s.  On the comfort index, a combination of temperature and humidity, Eureka Springs comes in below the national average.  Large tornadoes are relatively rare, but small ones do occur from time to time.  The air quality and the water quality are both outstanding.

Recommended as a Retirement Spot? Yes, but.... Have a town in mind for retirement?  Write to us and we will review it in a weekly issue!

Eureka Springs has a lot going for it.  It is vibrant, safe, affordable, artsy, beautiful and protective of its architectural and cultural heritage, but its hilly terrain, mediocre medical facilities, tourist crowds and lack of senior programs should be carefully considered before retiring here.

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