About Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo
The Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo has been surprising Hot Springs visitors since 1902. Behind its roadside entrance are alligator pools, animal exhibits, a petting zoo, and a compact museum filled with artifacts that range from natural history to old-fashioned sideshow curiosity.
Founder H. L. Campbell believed the spa town needed an attraction beyond its famous thermal baths. The business once raised alligators for hides and sold live animals to zoos and parks. Early visitors could even purchase baby alligators, a practice that belongs firmly to another era of roadside tourism.
The strangest museum resident is a dried creature presented as a merman. The display resembles the fabricated mermaids once shown in traveling carnivals and curiosity museums. A small headstone in the main alligator pit reportedly memorializes a fox terrier killed there in 1906.
The property also has an unexpected connection to baseball history. Babe Ruth is said to have hit a tremendous home run from nearby Whittington Park in 1918. The ball traveled across Whittington Avenue and landed in an alligator pond. A marker at the attraction commemorates the feat.
Modern visitors can see alligators along with animals such as lemurs, goats, emus, turtles, and other petting-zoo residents. Feeding demonstrations are offered during warmer months on selected days. Hours and programs can change seasonally.
The combination of living reptiles, century-old tourism history, baseball folklore, and a supposed merman makes this far more than a small zoo. It is a surviving piece of classic American roadside culture.