We originally intended to visit the Gardens on Sunday afternoon after church services. The weather forecast, however, was predicting torrential rains for Sunday afternoon, so after we finished touring the Bathhouses on Saturday, we decided to try our luck with the weather that afternoon instead. It turned out to be a good decision but not so much for the weather aspect but for the running into a friend from home reason! You see when we arrived at church on Sunday morning, it was to find that someone we knew from several years ago at home was now living in the Hot Springs area - we didn't realize that's where they were currently living - so we used the time to go out for lunch and visit instead of rushing off to sightsee. It was a happy bonus for us! (There was a bit of rain on Sunday afternoon but not like was originally forecast.)
So off to the Gardens. The Garvan Woodland Gardens are now part of the University of Arkansas, so University of Arkansas policies and procedures apply - which means that as of April 1st, they are restricting bags to clear only - unless apparently they are really small personal bags. I didn't have a clear bag, but I did have a very small bag I could take my phone and hand-wallet in. This leads me to a travel tip -- always check a venue's website just before going to visit in case things have changed. I hadn't looked at Garvan's site since back in March, so I wasn't aware of the policy change. It would have been frustrating to get there and have to swap out bags or be inconvenienced because of their new security procedure. My personal bag was checked before entering.
We joined the American Horiticultural Society in March so we could take advantage of their Reciprocal Garden Network while on this trip. We paid $50 for a two-person membership which entitles us to two admissions per garden visit. We had already visited a participating garden at home, so our visit to Garvan put us into the "paid for itself" category for the membership. Garvan tickets for adults are $20/person if you purchase your ticket online, or $25/person if you buy them at the entrance.
When we visited Callaway Gardens in November, we saw a lot of people using rented golf carts to get around. I had seen mention of the availability of golf carts at Garvan for $20. So I thought since we didn't spend money on the entrance fee, we'd rent a golf cart to drive around. Well, I have to say I apparently have no concept of space because while Callaway is 2,500 acres, Garvan is less than a tenth the size. The golf carts they mention are actually $20/person and it is a golf cart RIDE - complete with a narrated tour by the driver. We decided to still do that as we had been walking around a lot that morning already, and I'm glad we did. The pathways are winding and their map was a little hard for me to follow when we tried to walk back to look at a few spots more closely. Plus the narration included the history of the Garvans and information about Mrs. Garvan herself.
One of the best stops was at the scenic overlook where the Gardens end and Lake Hamilton begins. This was the one place on the golf cart tour where we stopped and were able to get off to take a picture. This is the Perry Wildflower Overlook. Mount Riante is in the distance. Mt. Riante has an interesting story behind it as it was won in a poker game, and then years later lost in a poker game. The name Riante is made up of the initials for the man's children - I can't remember the Ri, but An for Ann, and Te for Ted. I wasn't able to find a version of the story online to link to, but if I do, I'll come back and edit this to include it.
Here are some of the other highlights of the Garvan Woodland Gardens.
The bricks were manufactured in 1885 and recovered from a chimney at the Wisconsin-Arkansas Lumber Company.
This wooden bridge is interesting because of the way the wooden planks have been made to bend and curve.
The Garvan Woodland Gardens are located about 20 minutes outside of Hot Springs.
Let us know if you've ever been.
~ Cindy D.
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