If you are on a quest for quirky 1950s overnight properties, Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court in Hot Springs, Arkansas, delivers in spades. This motor lodge was built when folks from Little Rock and further north would hop in their cars and head to the tourist town for fun, entertainment, and a dip in the healing mineral waters.
Hot springs, soaks, and hotels are fixtures across the American landscape. But I found this place unique.
One side of the town’s main street, Central Avenue, is actually Hot Springs National Park, federally designated as Hot Springs Reservation (meaning it was reserved for preservation for the American people) in 1832. That’s where you’ll find Bathhouse Row.
Of course, indigenous peoples had sourced the spot thousands of years before.
Meeting the Owner of Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court
Just around the corner from Central Avenue, I spotted Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court with an original neon sign on Park Avenue. Pulling into the parking area, I headed to the check-in office. It was a few days before Halloween, and the office was decked out in witchy black and orange decorations.
“Are you Dame Fortune?” I asked the woman behind the counter.
Indeed, she was. Andie Roberts told me she and her two sisters bought the property eight years ago.
“I’m from Texas and have always wanted to buy a motel and fix it up. My family used to come here for vacations when I was a kid,” she explained.
She gave me a metal key (just like in the old days!), and I headed to room #10.
Motel Rooms with a Vintage Twist
Painted a fresh, clean white, it featured a fabulous Vacations Across the United States silk screen above the bed, similar to some of the scarves in my collection of vintage paraphernalia.
Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court definitely tapped into my thrift store treasure ascetic. Another fun wall hanging was a 1970s metal Slush Puppie ad, complete with bullet holes.
The room’s piece de resistance? I opened the door into a bathroom featuring the original mint-green tiles and tub. Plus, I noted that the showerhead, toilet, and sink were new additions.
The room had two Queen beds, a coffee maker, a flat-screen TV, a mini-fridge, and hooks on the wall to hang my clothes. I was delighted to find two gratis bottles of delicious Mountain Valley Spring Water as well. This is the famous mineral water, discovered in 1871, that bubbles out of the town’s surrounding Ouachita Mountains. Staying a few nights, I found it to be replaced daily.
What Else You Can Expect at Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court
Outside my room was a distressed metal lawn chair and table. You can chill in the shaded roof overhang. The area had been without rain for some time, so the grounds were rather dusty and dull, but I expect that changes with a bit of precipitation.
Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court has eight guest accommodations, ranging from a Petite Queen with one bed to Deluxe Queen and King rooms and Double Queen rooms like mine.
Each space has a themed décor, from flamingos to horses, and all feature delightful vintage finds from kitschy plates, ceramic light fixtures, and old road signs. Along with mint-green, original pink bathroom tiles are another highlight in some of the units.
Where to go for Breakfast Nearby
As for breakfast or snacks, you’re on your own. But it wasn’t a problem since bustling Central Avenue was a 15-minute walk away from Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court. That’s where I tried The Pancake Shop for a stack that did me until dinner time.
Another cool place was Kollective Coffee & Tea, which I tried for lunch. It had rib-sticking lentil soup and a “detox” salad filled with walnuts and antioxidant berries.
A Loving Touch
Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court was not always in the shape it is now. Hot Springs went into decline in the 1960s when the draw of the mineral baths lost its luster. The motel hung on, but just barely. Interestingly, it was nominated to the National Register in 2004. But it took a while for someone with a loving touch like Robert’s to bring it back from the brink.
The proprietor got into real estate after retiring from a career in the music industry in Nashville. That’s when she made her long-time dream come true.
“The motel sat vacant and boarded up since 2007. My sisters and I bought it in 2017, and renovations took around a year,” she explained.
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Dame Fortune, in the casino world, can deliver a jackpot. But, she’s also known to deal out a cruel hand. Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune and personification of luck, can be fickle. But she’s been on the winning side of Roberts’ enterprise.
“We get people from all over the world staying here,” she told me.
Vegas Before There Was a Vegas
Some locals told me that Hot Springs was Vegas before there was a Las Vegas.
But health drew the crowds first. Bathhouse Row, a string of eight gorgeous temples of wellness, was built at the turn of the last century. They were the original draw for the rich and famous who came to treat a host of ailments with the healing waters. In addition, early baseball teams would come for spring training and to “boil out” the effects of heavy partying.
In the 1920s and ‘30s, Hot Springs became a playground for gambling and gangsters. A lax mayor turned a blind eye to folks like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and John Dillinger, who came to town to relax. I went to the Gangster Museum of America and learned all about it. At the historic Ohio Club watering hole on Central Avenue, I enjoyed dinner where Capone might have sat. Down the street, Maxine’s bar was a homage to the madame who supplied the holstered vacationers with fleshly pleasures.
These days, two mineral water bathing facilities, Buckstaff Bathhouse and Quapaw Baths and Spa, are open for treatment. Plus, Superior Bathhouse is now a craft brewery, and you can take a guided tour of Fordyce Bathhouse Museum and Visitors’ Center with a National Park ranger who can give you the low down on the town’s natural and man-made features.
Rates at Dame Fortune’s Cottage Court
Rates range from $80 per night for a Petite Queen to $130 for a Double Queen. Pets are welcome at $25 per night per pet, but they must be vaccinated and tick and flea-free.
Check rates online at Expedia or Hotels.com.
Hotel feature by Toronto-based travel writer Maureen Littlejohn. Photos © Maureen Littlejohn. Visit Hot Springs arranged for her stay as she researched a larger piece. As always, her thoughts and opinions are her own.
