Buckstaff Bathhouse’s Family Operators End 114 Years of Baths in Hot Springs on November 30
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The Bathhouse Row landmark opened in 1912 and has never fully closed. The National Park Service awarded the next 10-year concession to Historic Baths, LLC, which plans reservations and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. hours.
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For 114 years, the same family company has run the baths at Buckstaff Bathhouse on Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs, Arkansas. That chapter ends on November 30. “As of November 30, 2026, our family’s chapter as operator of the Buckstaff Bathhouse will come to a close,” the Buckstaff Bath House Company says on its website.
The building belongs to Hot Springs National Park, and the baths run under a National Park Service concession. In September the park awarded a new 10-year contract to Historic Baths, LLC, chosen through a competitive process, to start on January 1, 2027, the park announced on September 22.
Buckstaff Bathhouse
- Where 509 Central Avenue, Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
- Opened 1912
- Current operator Buckstaff Bath House Company, through November 30, 2026
- Next operator Historic Baths, LLC, from January 1, 2027, on a 10-year contract
- Today baths and massages, walk-in only
- Planned 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., advance reservations plus walk-ins
The bathhouse that never fully closed
Buckstaff opened in 1912 and is the only facility on Bathhouse Row that has never fully closed, according to the National Park Service. Visitors still come for a traditional bath in the park’s natural thermal water, taken on a walk-in basis with no reservations.
“For more than a century, the Buckstaff Bath House Company has provided visitors with dedicated service and helped shape the bathhouse experience at Hot Springs, and we are grateful for their longstanding commitment,” Laura Miller, the park’s superintendent, said in the September release. The park calls Buckstaff one of the best preserved of all its bathhouses.
What changes in 2027
Under the new contract, the bathhouse is set to open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and visitors will be able to book ahead while walk-ins are still accepted, the park said. The park said it expects no interruption in visitor services. Neither announcement says whether baths will be offered between December 1 and the new operator’s start.
The bathhouse posted its last-day notice on social media, and KATV in Little Rock reported it on November 9. The post thanked the bathhouse’s employees, the community and its guests.
Anyone who wants a Buckstaff bath from the family that has run it since 1912 has until November 30. The bathhouse is at 509 Central Avenue and takes questions at 501-623-2308.
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