Blue Spring Heritage Center
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Blue Spring Heritage Center (formerly known as Eureka Springs Gardens) is a privately owned
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...
in the Arkansas Heritage Trails System containing native plants and hardwood trees in a setting of woodlands, meadows, and hillsides. It is located at Highway 62 West, five miles (8 km) west of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and open daily to the public during warmer months for a fee."The Eureka Springs Story" by Otto Ernest Rayburn, Times-Echo Press, Eureka Springs, 1982. The spring pours 38 million US gallons (140,000 m³) of water daily into the trout-filled lagoon. Blue Spring has been a tourist attraction since 1948, and is now on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
for its archaeological significance as a site occupied between the
Early Archaic Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * E ...
and the Mississippian periods. Historians from several Indian nations, including the Tsalagi (Cherokee), Osage and Quapaw, say their people have been making journeys to, and living intermittently at Blue Spring for tens of thousands of years. Artifacts excavated at the Blue Spring Shelter support this, as they date back to between 8000 B.C. and A.D. 1500.Arkansas Preservation Website:


Blue Spring Shelter

The American Indian people who lived here in ancient times (10,000 years ago and beyond to 500 B.C.) are known as the ‘Bluff Dwellers’. These indigenous people populated not only the Blue Spring area, but much of the Ozark Mountains. They lived beneath giant bluff shelters such as this one. As most human beings of their time, they hunted, gathered, and planted. Tools, clothes and many other necessary items were made from many native plants and animals available to them. They also traded goods with other Indian nations. Indigenous people who lived here between 500 B.C. and A.D. 900 continued to hunt, gather, plant and trade, though planting gardens had become a more prominent activity. With over 62% of the world's food having been developed by American Indians, it is no surprise that the Indians of the Ozarks domesticated maygrass, lamb's quarter, knotweek, sumpweek, sunflower, squash, and strains of little barley. The bottomlands and terraces of the White River provided fertile garden spots for the indigenous occupants of the Blue Spring Shelter. From A.D. 900 to A.D. 1541, agriculture had become an integral part of many Indian communities in the Ozarks and Arkansas area. They depended mostly on maize, squash and beans. As always, hunting, gathering and trading remained an important part of society. The Blue Spring Shelter continued to be used by Indian people for short and long term camps, and for ceremony. In recent history (1541 to present), Tsalagi (Cherokee) people made a stop at Blue Spring on the “Trail of Tears” during the late 1830s. Indian people continue to spend time at Blue Spring and Blue Spring Shelter. Today, visits and ceremonies by Indian people such as Lenape, Musogee, Cherokee, and Lakota take place at the Blue Spring Shelter regularly. It remains a place of peace, healing, and connection.Official Website of Blue Spring Heritage Center: http://www.bluespringheritage.com/


See also

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List of botanical gardens in the United States This list is intended to include all significant botanical gardens and arboretums in the United States.National Register of Historic Places listings in Carroll County, Arkansas __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Carroll County, Arkansas. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Carroll County, Ark ...


References


External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Spring Heritage Center 2003 establishments in Arkansas Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Arkansas Heritage Trails System Botanical gardens in Arkansas Caddoan Mississippian culture Museums established in 2003 Museums in Carroll County, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Carroll County, Arkansas Trail of Tears