An unexpected find in Berryville
Happy 144th birthday, Eureka Springs!
The city celebrates its founding as July 4, 1880. Sure, it wasn’t incorporated until the next Feb. 14, but Eurekans like being the exception to the rule.
My upcoming book, Welcome to Eureka Springs: The I-Sh*t-You-Not History of America’s Quirkiest Town, will feature the story of how the town was named. Actually two or three, since every story has multiple variations here.
The town was named that long-ago Fourth of July, after news of Judge Saunders' cure attracted hundreds to a healing spring in remote forests. One version says Judge’s son Buck came up with the name, while the others credit a Mr. McCoy or McKay.
Intrigued by the mystery, I recently checked out the Saunders Memorial Museum in Berryville, 12 miles east of Eureka Springs.
Wow. Young Buck went on to have a storied, globetrotting life, and became a renowned marksman. He went hunting with Teddy Roosevelt and performed in Wild West shows with Annie Oakley.
The Saunders museum showcases the eclectic artifacts Buck gathered across four continents before his death in 1952 at age 89.
In one room, you’ll find stunning Chinese and Japanese antiques alongside quilts from the 1870s. In another, you’ll find Art Nouveau vases, and in the next a circa-1920 Arabian tent Saunders won in a shooting bet with a sheikh.
The most surprising item, by itself worth a side trip for art aficionados, is an exquisite 17th-century oil portrait by Baroque painter Guercino.
The centerpiece, however, is one of the nation’s premiere collections of historic pistols and revolvers. Among hundreds of matchlocks, flintlocks, Derringers, Colts, and more are side pieces carried by famous lawmen, outlaws, and entertainers.
Frank and Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickock, and Pretty Boy Floyd are just a handful of the many represented.
So happy birthday Eureka Springs, thank you Berryville for preserving history with a dash of steampunk, and quite the life you had there, Buck, whatever happened July 4th.