Baño de Oro

The Baño de Oro Historic Site (Spanish for golden bath) is a historic recreation center and swimming pool located in the Baño de Oro area of El Yunque National Forest in Río Grande, Puerto Rico. The site of Baño de Oro gets its name from the Baño de Oro Creek,[1] which itself is named after the former Spanish gold panning sites in the area.[2] The wider Baño de Oro Natural Area where the historic site is found was named a National Natural Landmark in 1980 and it is the only contiguous area in Puerto Rico that contains a subtropical wet forest, a rainforest, a dwarf forest, and a Pterocarpus forest.[3]

Baño de Oro
Baño de Oro Historic Site
Baño de Oro is located in Puerto Rico
Baño de Oro
LocationRoad 191 km 11.9 Río Grande, Puerto Rico
Coordinates18°18′09.8″N 65°45′16.6″W
Built1934
ArchitectH. Randolph, Civilian Conservation Corps
Architectural styleModerne Spanish Revival Craftsman style
NRHP reference No.100004891

La Piscina Pequeña
Abandoned rec center and pool

Baño de Oro, also known as La Piscina Pequeña (the small pool),[4] is the smaller of the two historic swimming pools located in El Yunque, the other being the Baño Grande located nearby. Although no longer in use or operational, Baño de Oro is preserved as a historic site, and it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on January 27, 2020, due to its importance as one of the New Deal Era Constructions in the Forest Reserves in Puerto Rico (1933–1942).[4][2]

The Baño de Oro swimming pool was the first recreation site built in El Yunque National Forest, then known as the Luquillo Forest Reserve (until 1935 when the national forest was proclaimed as the Caribbean National Forest).[5] It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps using stone masonry and it was refurbished later with reinforced concrete. The pool was operational from 1934 until the latter half of the 1960s when it was closed due to safety reasons. It remained closed and abandoned until 2019 when the ruined recreational area was revitalized as a watershed garden.[2]

  • Trail in the Baño de Oro site
    Trail in the Baño de Oro site
  • Endemic vegetation in the Baño de Oro Natural Area
    Endemic vegetation in the Baño de Oro Natural Area
  • Invader-like urban art
    Invader-like urban art

References
  1. United States Department of Agriculture, El Yunque National Forest. "Baño de Oro".
  2. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. "El Yunque's Historic Properties / Propiedades históricas de El Yunque".
  3. "National Natural Landmarks - National Natural Landmarks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  4. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Baño de Oro" (PDF).
  5. Davis, Richard C. (2009-09-29). "National Forests of the United States" (PDF). The Forest History Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)


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