Crystal River Tourist Camp (formerly Crystal River Cave Court, today Cave Courts Motel) is a motor inn built in 1932 in Cave City, Arkansas

Cave City, Arkansas

Cave City is a city in Independence and Sharp counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The population was 1,946 at the 2000 census. The city was named for a large cave underneath the Crystal River Tourist Camp, which is the oldest motor court in Arkansas...

. It is the oldest operating motor court in the state. It is built of fieldstones from the Ozarks

The Ozarks

The Ozarks are a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas...

.

History

Prince Matlock built the motel in 1932 by setting thousands of rocks from the area. He used geodes and quartz

Quartz

Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...

 as decorative rocks and created many designs of crosses and animals to add to the rock walls. Underneath the motel is a large cave for which Cave City

Cave City, Arkansas

Cave City is a city in Independence and Sharp counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The population was 1,946 at the 2000 census. The city was named for a large cave underneath the Crystal River Tourist Camp, which is the oldest motor court in Arkansas...

 is named. The subterranean

Subterranean river

A subterranean river is a river that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground surface – one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth ....

Crystal River runs through the cave's five chambers.

Today

The motel was abandoned for several years before being purchased and restored. It is now reopened as the Cave Courts Motel.