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The final part of my recent adventures through northwest Arkansas. In this part, I saw some cool sites, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

After visiting some spectacular scenery in the Ozark Mountains (see Part 2 of the trip), I arrived in Eureka Springs.

The town was established as a spa resort by European settlers in the second half of the 19th century, who picked this location based on reports of native tribes that the water springs here have healing powers. It proved to be a successful concept; Eureka Springs became one of Arkansas' biggest cities by the beginning of the 20th century.

The boom was gone by the First World War, so it happened that the historic downtown was spared large-scale demolition to make way for wide highways, as occurred in many other municipalities between the 1950s and 1960s. Given its preservation, the entire city got listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 70s, and nowadays, besides being a tourist attraction again, it is also known as one of the AR destinations for wealthy people to retire.

Eureka Springs has a nickname, "The Little Switzerland of America," but honestly, neither the surrounding landscapes nor the city's vibe felt anywhere remotely close to Switzerland.

If anything, its atmosphere felt like a mix of New Mexico's Santa Fe and Ouray in Colorado's San Juan Mountains: It has a historic district, art places, and one could see a plethora of high-dollar 4x4 rigs all over the place. Only here, the surroundings were greener.

Funnily enough, Ouray also likes to call itself the "Switzerland of America," but at least it has some mountains to back that claim up. Anyway, Eureka Springs was interesting on its own, and I had a great time exploring its vibrant streets.

Later in the evening, I went to Beaver, a small town north of Eureka Springs. They have a cool suspension bridge from 1949, and it is cheaper to sleep there.

The following morning I checked out Eureka Springs's railroad station...

..and visited the Thorncrown Chapel. I love places where sharp geometrical shapes of modern architecture go hand in hand with nature, and this place fits the description 100%.

It was built in the 1980s, joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, and in 2006, the American Institute of Architects presented its "Twenty-five Year Award" to this place.

Later, I continued over the local wavy horizons towards Bentonville.

The reason I headed to Bentonville was that it has another place with bold, modern architecture: the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

It is a privately owned complex designed by Moshe Safdie, a guy known for Montreal's Habitat 67, or the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. The Crystal Bridges architecture, combining concrete, wood, and glass, was intriguing and pleasing.

And while, for once, it does not claim anything about Switzerland, it got me thinking about the country: in particular, about Goetheanum in Dornach, one of my favorite buildings featuring bare concrete. But there's more to unfold than the architecture of the place: Crystal Bridges exhibits world-class artists, with free general admission as a bonus!

Places that make culture accessible for free are rare in America, so I found something of this scale and quality pretty remarkable, especially since it operates without public funding.

But as it sometimes is, not everyone felt appreciation for something they got for free. In the hallway pictured above, I overheard one guy going on and on about how he dislikes the Crystal Bridges design and how "unbelievably inefficient" it has to be. Thank goodness not everyone thinks like that guy; otherwise, everything would look like any local big-box store: efficient but rather ghastly. There is an interesting note on this matter: the museum is conceived and funded by the family that owns the king of big-box stores: Walmart. Although some of my experiences from their stores have been less than impressive, I have to give them a big thumbs up for this initiative.

I also went to check the surrounding park, which was lovely, too.

Besides having more sculptures linked by nice hiking trails, they also had MTB tracks with obstacles and berms! How cool is that!?

And I found a construction hinting that the site is about to get even better. They are relocating Frank Lloyd Wright's 1954 Bachman Wilson House here, preserving the structure from its original, unstable location in New Jersey.

Hitting the road again, I crossed the Arkansas border and stopped to see the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri. And once back in Kansas, I went by the Big Brutus, the largest electric shovel in the world that's still in existence.

The biggest power shovel ever built was reportedly more than twice this one's size, but it was scrapped. The Big Brutus is, however, with its 160 feet (49 m) height and 11 million pounds (nearly 5000 tons) of weight, quite a machine as well. It is preserved as a National Landmark.

I really like large industrial machines such as this one, so I wouldn't mind paying the entry fee to see it up close, but when I arrived, it was about 15 minutes before closing, and heavy rain started. With these factors, I kept going.

When I arrived back in the Flint Hills, the storm had already poured down like mad, causing flash floods on the road. But I arrived home safely.

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