Grotto Spring

Grotto Spring was discovered by early townspeople under an overhanging rock ledge a short distance from Dairy Spring, and the words "esto perpetua" carved above its entrance expressed the belief that its healing waters would flow forever. In 1890, extensive street construction on The Boulevard, then called Spring Street, required the spring to be enclosed in limestone and ornamental stonework crafted by highly skilled stonemasons. Located only a few steps from the electric streetcar line, the spring was protected by some of the first city ordinances for public use in perpetuity. The wooded hillside area above and around the spring was delineated by ordinance and appears to have been Oak or Sheffield Spring as described in Ordinance No. 81 of February 15, 1886. The nearby Sheffield family lived there in 1880 and may have operated the original dairy that gave the hollow below the site its name.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas · United States