Carrie Nation Spring is not one of the city’s public spring reservations; it is on private property. So if you visit, please respect that. Local legend has it that alcohol abolitionist Carrie Nation — who lived across the street — saw the cleft in the rock and intuited that there must be a spring behind it, so she took her bar-chopping hatchet to it and water dripped forth. Carrie was a formidable woman, feared by many men (especially bar-owners), and is mentioned in a true anecdote in my first novel, “The Water Cure.”
Carrie, about to purchase a train ride to one of her public events, so startled North Arkansas Line ticket agent Ernie Braswell that when he turned and saw her, he nearly choked on his chaw.
Carrie Nation’s “Hatchet Hall” as you approach on Steele Street.The spring, approaching from the south.The gated spring entrance, almost obscured by a tree.Please be courteous if you visit. (Photo taken from the street, zoom lens.)Hatchet Hall was also once home to local artist-legends Louis and Elsie Freund. They were the drivers of the visual arts movement in Eureka Springs. A mural of the town that they painted inside this home has been removed and preserved in the Eureka Springs Historical Museum.
W. Keith Brenton is a retired communication specialist, minister and passenger train conductor, living and writing in the historic resort village Eureka Springs, Arkansas. He is the widowed adoptive dad of Matt and Laura, and Pop-Pop to one grandchild. He enjoys drinking the local water, but unfortunately doesn’t look any younger than his actual age.
W. Keith Brenton 