Don’t Miss the 2024 Solar Eclipse

The next Great American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse running diagonally across the US, Texas to Maine, will occur April 8th, 2024. This amazing natural event sweeps right past Beaver Lake, promising one heck of an amazing natural show over the lake. If you’d to be here, now is the time to make those reservations before we’re all booked up!

Partial and total solar eclipses occur far more often than we realize. In fact, one occurs about every 18 months or so – but you have to be in the right place, at the right time to catch one. Those not in the narrow band directly under the eclipse, known as a “path of totality,” will only see a partial eclipse or, if farther away, nothing at all.

This rarity, coupled with the sheer uniqueness of the event, makes experiencing a solar eclipse a real treat. Especially a total eclipse, like the upcoming one on April, 2024.

Here in Northern Arkansas, we can expect partial coverage of the sun to begin around 12:37pm, with full coverage at 1:54pm. Everything will back to normal by about 3:15pm. That’s nearly three hours, start to finish.

Of course, since Beaver Lake is not directly under the path of totality, we’ll only experience a partial eclipse. We’re not that far away though, so should still be treated to an amazing natural show. One made even better by the view from our Beaver Lake, AR cabins and suites.

2024 Solar Eclipse Over Beaver Lake

As I say above, the 2024 eclipse will occur on April 8th. The eclipse’s path of totality is set to run in a diagonal arc across North America; through Sinaloa, Mexico, up across the US, and out through Newfoundland.

Solar eclipse totalities can last anywhere from only 10 seconds to almost 7 and a half minutes long. The April 2024 eclipse totality will last around 4 minutes long in northern Arkansas. Not bad!

2024 Solar Eclipse path of totality over North America

Arkansas expects somewhere in the neighborhood of 180,000 outside visitors for the eclipse. Of course, most will head for the path of totality. Those interested in less of a circus and more quiet, lakeside views are urged to book now, before we fill up.

Predicting an eclipse is one thing, predicting the weather is another. While I’d love to promise clear skies for this event, I cannot – but at least you’ll be at beautiful Beaver Lake!

If it’s overcast, you can always go hiking, boating, birding, or explore the region. Eureka Springs is right nearby, after all, and much more, too. You can also just kick back somewhere comfortable at the resort and take in those stunning, Beaver Lake views.

Visit www.greatamericaneclipse.com for more information about the upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse over Arkansas.

Pivot Rock Park and Natural Bridge

If you enjoy unique rock formations, you’ll want to make time to visit Eureka Springs’ Pivot Rock Park and Natural Bridge, less than a half hour’s drive from our Beaver Lake.

Arkansas is full of fascinating natural wonders. Caves, natural springs, lakes, mountains, and parks that can amaze, baffle, and even inspire you. Of course, guests of our Beaver Lake cabins and suites will not need to go far for that. You can easily fill your days with good ol’ mother nature right here on the lake. Hiking, fishing, paddling, swimming, and so much more.

That being said, sometimes even the best places can get stale and a simple change of scenery can do wonders. Luckily, the surrounding area is loaded with things to see and do, no matter which way you turn. Eureka Springs is right next door, after all. Home to shopping, dining, museums, live entertainment and, yes, plenty of natural attractions, too. Things like Pivot Rock Park and Natural Bridge!

Pivot Rock Park & Natural Bridge

Pivot Rock Park is located a few miles north of Eureka Springs, just off of Highway 62 West, at 1708 Pivot Rock Road. This is, as I mentioned above, just a short and scenic drive from Sugar Ridge Resort.

The park, a small and historic roadside attraction, is full of small caves, deep gullies, and strange, stacked rock formations. In fact, the area is so unique that it was once featured in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Legend has it the area also once served as hideout for Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang. That’s such a common claim around these parts, however, that you can very much take the claim with a grain of salt.

Visitors to the park pay a small fee to enter and explore at their own pace. Pivot Rock and the Natural Bridge formations are reached via a short hike on a paved trail, through a nicely wooded area.

Natural Bridge is the first big attraction along the trail, found jutting up from the rugged hillside. The trail allows you to view this curious and weathered stone arch from all sides. It really does look like just a bridge, albeit from some fantasy illustration.

Pivot Rock is next along the trail and impossible to miss. The naturally formed, 12 foot tall, upside down, pyramid-shaped rock looks to be balancing on its tip. The top is about ten feet wide, yet the base only around a foot thick! Ripley’s billed it as the largest freestanding rock formation with a base ten times smaller than its top. You’d think it would fall right over but it’s really very stable and the perfect subject for fun photos.

Pivot Rock Park is open March to October, 10am to 5pm, everyday but Thursday. Learn more about the park by visiting it on Facebook.

Those looking to spend a little more time in the area should consider a stop by the stunningly beautiful Thorncrown Chapel, just 10 minutes from Pivot Rock at 12968 US-62, Eureka Springs, AR.

Then it’s just a short hop back to your digs at Sugar Ridge Resort. Perfect!

Tour Cosmic Cavern

Spelunkers staying at Sugar Ridge Resort will be excited to learn that one of the country’s top ten show caves, Cosmic Cavern, is less than an 45 minutes away. The “Must See” attraction is located in Berryville, AR, half-way between Eureka Springs and Branson, Missouri.

Arkansas is home to a lot of fascinating caves and many are within easy distance of our Beaver Lake cabins and suites. None are quite as famous as Cosmic Cavern, however. This historic attraction is the largest, and considered one of the prettiest, privately owned show caves in the state.

The cave, while known to ancient Native Americans, was not discovered in the modern era until 1845, when it was mined for its onyx and other minerals. Cave ownership changed hands repeatedly until 1980, when it was purchased by the Langhover family, who still operate it today.

Inside, you’ll find a variety of unusual features, such as a 9-foot soda straw formation, the longest in the Ozarks. In fact, Cosmic Cavern has many unique and beautiful rock formations, or speleothems, to admire. Stalactites and stalagmites, flowstone, helictites, cave bacon, draperies, and more.

The cave is also home to two “bottomless” lakes. One, South Lake, has a long-term population of trout, some of which have lost their sight and pigmentation from being underground for so many generations. The other lake in the cavern was only discovered in 1993. Consequently, it is incredibly pristine and clear.

Cosmic Cavern is also unique for its temperature, which stays a relatively balmy 64°F with 96% humidity throughout the year. Most other caverns are lucky to hover around the mid to upper 50’s.

Touring Cosmic Cavern

Visitors to Cosmic Cavern can enjoy both Guided Walking Cave Tours and Wild Cave Tours.

Guided Walking Cave Tours take around an hour and 15 minutes and cover a distance of approximately 1/3 mile. Your path is well lit and, while there are some stairs, most of the tour is level. This tour will take you past many unique stone formations, as well as the two subterranean lakes. You may even see blind cave trout and blind cave salamanders. Fascinating!

Wild Cave Tours, on the other hand, are offered after normal hours and take you to deeper, undeveloped parts of the cave. You’ll definitely get a little wet and muddy but gloves, hard hats, and lights are supplied. Fun and exciting!

Cosmic Cavern also offers a gift shop, lunch pavilion, museum, and gemstone panning station. Here, youngsters (or the young at heart) can amuse pan for various crystals and keep what they find. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, quartz, and more.

Cosmic Cavern is located at 6386 Hwy. 21 North, in Berryville, AR 72616. – just 45 minutes drive from our Beaver Lake Cabins and Suites.

Cavern hours are 9am to 5pm daily, March through December. Visit the cavern website for more information. You can also find the cavern on Facebook.

More Local Caves

You say you like caves? Well, you certainly came to the right place! As we say above, Arkansas is home to many caves, some of the best of which are right here in the local area.

For more underground fun near Sugar Ridge Resort, consider visiting War Eagle Cavern on Beaver Lake and Onyx Cave Park in Eureka Springs.

What things do you hope to do during your Beaver Lake getaway? Let us know and we’ll help get you on your way! Sugar Ridge Resort loves sharing beautiful Arkansas with our guests!

Explore Quigley’s Castle

Those looking for a unique experience will enjoy visiting Quigley’s Castle, an unusual and historic family home known as “The Ozarks’ Strangest Dwelling.”

The Beaver Lake area is home to a number of unique and memorable attractions. Thorncrown Chapel, War Eagle Cavern, Christ of the Ozarks, Blue Spring Heritage Center, and so much more. None are quite as idiosyncratic as Quigley’s Castle, however.

The “Castle” is really a farm house, built just south of Eureka Springs in the 1940’s – but that’s where what’s normal about this family home ends.

When visiting, one of the first things you’ll notice about the property is all the plush and colorful foliage. Wildflowers, antique roses, and 400+ varieties of perennials surround the home. Then again, maybe the towering, vine-covered rock pillars, “bottle trees”, and other rock sculptures will catch your eye first. Or perhaps the two-story, plant-filled, stone/shell/fossil/arrowhead-covered house will be what first grabs your attention.

Whichever detail, you can credit Elise Quigley (1910-1984).

A Castle’s Humble Origins

When Albert and Elise Quigley first moved onto the property in 1930, their only dwelling was an old lumber shack. Albert promised he’d build Elise a real home and that she could design it. Excited to move out of the decrepit old shack, she got right to it.

Even the best of intentions can fall by the wayside, however. Five children into the marriage, the Quigley’s were still living in the old lumber shack. Elise had had enough. One morning, after Albert had left for work, she and the children pulled the old shack down. A replacement would have to be built now, and Elise was ready with her design.

Construction on the house began in 1943, with lumber sourced directly from the farm. A nature lover, Elise dreamed of a house that was less a box keeping nature out than one that contained and reflected the natural world back. 28 huge, picture windows in the walls remove the sense of being indoors and allow natural light to fill the space within. Her unusual design separates the interior living space from the exterior walls with four feet wide flower beds. Here she nurtured flowering, tropical plants that have since grown all of the way up to the second story ceiling!

Elise’s lifelong habit of collecting fossils, crystals, arrowheads, and other interesting small stones came into play when she decided to rock the outside of the house with her collection. The task took her three years to complete and then spread out into the garden and yard. Here she constructed fences, chairs, statues, and other whimsical forms using found stone, shell, and crystal.

Elise Quigley’s quirky love of collections can be found indoors, too. She spent forty years filling every possible nook and cranny of the house with her collections and creations. Antiques, mementos, and lots more stone, shell, and crystal. Her famous “Butterfly Wall” is a particularly spectacular example and must be seen in person to be truly appreciated.

Quigley’s Castle

Elise Quigley died in 1984, leaving her magnificently singular home behind for others to enjoy. Quigley’s Castle can be found at 274 Quigley Castle Road in Eureka Springs; just a scenic half hour’s drive from Sugar Ridge Resort and our Beaver Lake cabins.

The Castle is open March through October. Hours are 10am to 4:30pm, April 1st through October 31st. Call for March and November hours: (479) 253-8311 Closed Sundays and Thursdays. Visit the Castle website for more information.

Ozark Mountain Music Festival 2023

2022 is nearly a memory and that means it’s almost Ozark Mountain Music Festival time! OzMoMuFest 2023 is scheduled for January 19-22. Four days and more than 20 bands serving up heaping helpings of live music. Bluegrass, folk, urban American roots, and more. Don’t miss it!

Heat up the New Year with the premier winter music event of the Ozarks: OzMoMu! The Ozark Mountain Music Festival draws a diverse lineup of musicians and their fans from across the country to Eureka Springs every year. The beloved event is like an outdoor music festival but held indoors at Eureka Springs’ historic Basin Park Hotel.

Performances are scheduled to kickoff Thursday night and continue for four days on multiple stages. A popular Late-Night Jam occurs on Friday and Saturday night at Chelsea’s Corner Cafe & Bar.

One of the best aspects of the festival is that there is no backstage. Consequently, band and audience members share the same space for the event, creating a fun and lively group intimacy between performers and fans. So very unique.

Best of all, Ozark Mountain Music Festival 2023 and Basin Park Hotel are all less than half an hour’s drive from Sugar Ridge Resort! Enjoy hours of mountain music at the festival, then it’s an easy hop back to your Beaver Lake cabin or suite. What fun!

Ozark Mountain Music Festival 2023 Lineup

This year’s headliner is Lindsay Lou, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has released several critically acclaimed albums. The festival will also see performances by other top artists in the folk, bluegrass, and Americana genres, including:

Marbi
Willy Tea Taylor
The Mighty Pines
The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers
Catfish Seminar
Shakedown Strings
Tyler Gregory
Front Porch
Patti Steel
Eureka Strings
Gary Lawrence
Casey and the Atta Boys
Don & Roy
Ashtyn Barbaree
Haymakers
JP Stringfield
“Icky” Ichniowski
Dusty Rust
Danny Spain Gang
Gravel Yard
Dale Kellison
Doug Myerscough
Grace Stormont
Steve Jones
Good Morning Bedlam

Visit the festival website to learn more and buy tickets. You can also follow this event on Facebook.

Eureka Springs Great Passion Play

The Great Passion Play, Eureka Springs AR

It’s the holiday season once again and Eureka Springs is bustling with festive activity. Those looking for an appropriately themed Christmas attraction would have to range pretty far to outdo The Great Passion Play. The Christian theme park is open all year long but goes all out for Christmas with a variety of popular attractions.

You likely already know about the seven story tall Christ of the Ozarks, located on top of Magnetic Mountain. Both it and The Great Passion Play christian theme park owe their existence to Gerald L. K. Smith, a conservative politician who retired to Eureka Springs in the 1960’s.

Christ of the Ozarks was Smith’s first big project in the area and it remains one of the most popular. His next idea was even more radical: a live-action, Christian theme park. The attraction opened in 1968 and continues to draw thousands of visitors to Eureka Springs every year.

Visiting The Great Passion Play

The Great Passion Play theme park is home to a variety of Christian-themed attractions.

The most popular attraction, of course, is The Passion Play itself. This hour-and-forty-five minute presentation of the Christ’s last week of mortal life is presented on a multi-level set with special effects, live animals, and a cast of 170 actors. The play is performed several times a week each month, May to October, with special performances around Easter and Christmas. While the play is truly stunning and absorbing it’s not all you’ll find to see and do at the park. Not by a long shot!

The Holy Land Tour is another extremely popular park attraction, allowing you to step back in time to experience the people and places of the Bible first-hand. The Holy Land Tour includes such sights as the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and an opportunity to meet and speak with actors representing biblical characters.

The Sacred Arts Center is home to over 1,000 works of art, some of which date back to the ninth century. The Bible Museum contains more than 6,000 bibles in over 600 different languages. You can also hike or mountain bike the park trails, some of which lead to the base of the Christ of the Ozarks.

Other attractions include a history museum, backstage tours, screenings of God With Us: New Testament film, gift shops, dining, and more.

Christmas at the Park

The Great Passion Play goes all out for the Christmas season with two, special holiday attractions.

The first is a Christmas Drive-Through Light Display with over 250 Christmas trees and dozens of nativities leading to the Christ of the Ozarks statue, which will also be lit. The drive-through light display is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from Thanksgiving night through January 1st, 2023.

The second special attraction is the annual Christmas Snow Village with Trains display, the largest display of its kind in the south! The exhibit includes over 300 buildings, 3 0 scale trains, an 0 scale trolley, and a Polar Express train. Such tiny details! The Christmas Snow Village with Trains will also be open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from Thanksgiving through January 1st, 2023.

Other park attractions open during this season include the Holy Land Tour, museums, and Backstage Tour. Visit the park online for more details.

The Great Passion Play is open 9am to 5pm all year-round, excepting Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. Christ of the Ozarks and the park trails are open sunrise to an hour after sunset, 365 days a year.

Best of all, The Great Passion Play is located less than a half-hour’s drive from Sugar Ridge Resort! Spend a couple of hours or more at the park, then it’s an easy and scenic drive back to the comforts of your Beaver Lake cabin or suite.

Happy Holidays!

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

Fans of big cats and other exotic creatures will want to pay a visit to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The 450+ acre compound is home to almost 100 rescued animals and one of the country’s largest big cat sanctuaries.

Big cats are always fascinating and have been in the news a lot thanks to a growing awareness of how they tend to be neglected or abused in captivity. Lions and tigers may be beautiful but they make terrible pets. They’re dauntingly strong, aggressive, massive eaters, and cannot survive in bedrooms or backyards.

People still try, unfortunately, and that’s where Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge comes in. Turpentine Creek is a non-profit organization that has been rescuing animals since the 1990’s, and we mean rescue. The refuge works hard to provides safe, healthy habitats for their animals and is accredited by the GFAS. They do not breed or sell animals or animal parts, don’t allow hands-on interaction or cub petting, and don’t exhibit animals at shows.

You can, however, tour the refuge and see the animals in their spacious, permanent habitats.

Visiting Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is located just a half hour from Sugar Ridge Resort at 239 Turpentine Creek Lane in Eureka Springs, AR.

Visitors to the Refuge have a number of options during their visit. Of course, the #1 attraction is the big cats, which you can see on the guided tours of the habitat. Guests board the open-air tram for an hour-long guided tour of large cat habitats.

Visitors can also explore the refuge’s Discovery Area where you’ll see some of the smaller animal residents. The Discovery Area is also home to the bear tunnel, where you can view bears and big cats.

Those wishing to see even more can sign up for a 2 hour long, Carnivore Caravan Tour. This private, behind the scenes tour takes you through areas not open to the public in the comfort of an SUV. You’ll see all the habitats, the veterinary hospital, and the commissary where the animals’ meals are prepared.

Turpentine Creek also offers educational seminars about animals living at the Refuge. Topics include natural habitat, species conservation, biodiversity, and more.

Visit www.turpentinecreek.org for more information. You can also visit the refuge on Facebook.

Spend a few hours getting to know the good folks and beautiful animals at Turpentine Creek, then it’s just a short, scenic jaunt back to your comfy digs at Sugar Ridge Resort. Lovely!

Discover Beautiful Thorncrown Chapel

If unique and beautiful architecture in a truly sublime setting sounds like something you’d enjoy, we recommend a visit to Thorncrown Chapel. The stunningly crafted architectural marvel is nestled in the woods, just 15 minutes from Sugar Ridge Resort.

Visitors to the Beaver Lake Eureka Springs area will find no end of attractions and activities to keep them occupied. Outdoor adventure like boating, fishing, and hiking, along with some of the region’s best art, food, fun, shopping, sightseeing, and more.

The area is home to lots of unique sights and attractions, as well. Natural caverns, springs, and rock formations, along with the fascinating works of man. Things like historic downtown Eureka Springs, Christ of the Ozarks, and Quigley’s Castle. In this latter category, nothing is quite as affecting or beautiful as Thorncrown Chapel.

Thorncrown Chapel

Thorncrown Chapel is located at 12968 Highway 62 West, just outside Eureka Springs, AR, a 15 minute drive from our Beaver Lake cabins.

The chapel, built in 1980 by E. Fay Jones, stands on a narrow, wooded shelf on a north slope of the Ozarks. Landowner Jim Reed contracted Jones, who apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright, to create a structure that would attract passer-by to worship.

The chapel is simple, yet enchantingly majestic and considered one of the finest religious spaces of modern times. Many think the structure is open to the air when they first see it. That’s because the chapel walls are glass. 425 separate sheets, in fact, comprising over six thousand square feet of glass!

The rest of the chapel, with little exception, was constructed using materials taken from the local wilderness. The intricate and mostly wooden structure rises forty-eight feet up into the forest canopy. The foundation uses more than 100 tons of native stone, topped with colored flagstone, allowing it to blend seamlessly into its surroundings. Inside, angular beams support the peaked roof with perfect, interlocking symmetry.

It truly is a sight to be seen. No matter your personal beliefs, its beauty is universal.

Thorncrown Chapel is open March through November, 9am to 5pm, with occasional closings for special events. Sunday services are 9am and 11am, April through October. November through the third week in December, 11am only. Services last approximately one hour. Everyone is welcome.

Learn more by visiting the chapel online at thorncrown.com. You can also find the chapel on Facebook.

Explore War Eagle Cavern

Cavers and others after a little underground adventure will enjoy a visit to War Eagle Cavern on Beaver Lake. This unique cave is not only Arkansas’ only lakeside cavern, it’s also one of Northwest Arkansas’ largest caves, and one of the oldest show caves in the state. Best of all, it’s less than an hour from Sugar Ridge Resort!

There are no end to the activities you can enjoy during your stay at our Beaver Lake cabins. Fishing, boating, swimming, hiking, picnicking, and Eureka Springs is only 20 minutes away.

Those looking for something a little out of the ordinary, however should consider checking out War Eagle Cavern. This unusual lakeside cave is home to three stories of caverns and a wide array of strange formations. Domes, rimstone dams, huge rooms, an underground lake, waterfalls, and more. Even more unusual, a fresh water spring flows out of the cave’s mouth alongside the entry path.

Guided Tours and More

War Eagle Cavern currently offers 3 different tours.

Traditional Cavern Tours are lead and narrated by expert guides will lead you through the first half-mile of the cavern. You’ll see a variety of natural formations, learn about the cavern’s history, and maybe even see some of the resident bats and salamanders.

Lantern Tours are after-hours guided tours lit only by hand held oil lamps. You’ll also hear stories and history not told on any of the other tours. Spooky fun!

Wild Cavern Tours are just what they sound like: guided tours that take you beyond the well-maintained and well-lit walkways of the main tours.
You’ll twist, crawl and climb through 2 miles of the cave that few ever see to incredible formations, including a 100ft deep subterranean canyon. For the adventurous who don’t mind getting muddy!

After you’ve finished your tour, don’t hurry off. There’s more to see and do.

A variety of scenic hiking trails lead from the cavern, through the forest, to lovely natural waterfalls and expansive views of Beaver Lake. You can also wander down and feed the fish in the lake from the boat dock.

Those looking for further entertainment can enjoy gemstone panning, the Lost in the Woods maze, or exploring the mysteries of the Moonshiners’ Mystery Shack. There is also an on-site gift shop.

War Eagle Cavern

War Eagle Cavern is located at 21494 Cavern Drive in Rogers, AR.

The cave is open daily, March 5th through Thanksgiving Weekend, 9:30am to 5pm. The last cavern tour leaves at 4pm.

Learn more at the cavern website. You can also find the cavern on Facebook.

Spend a few hours at War Eagle Cavern, perhaps with an added stop for lunch at the nearby War Eagle Mill Bean Palace, yum! After that, it’s a just a short, scenic drive back to your cabin at Sugar Ridge Resort. Lovely!