Best Healthy Places to Retire: Bella Vista, Arkansas
They don't force you to play golf here, but you might want to buy some clubs just in case
Shirley Borhauer is no Ponce de León, but the retired school nurse from Chicago seems to be the one who discovered the Fountain of Youth. On a hot August day, she's wearing a charismatic smile and a black swimsuit, ready for a dive into one of three swimming pool complexes in the retirement community of Bella Vista, Ark. She's here at least every other day—when she's not on one of the town's seven 18-hole golf courses or three walking trails. Then again, she could also be on the eight tennis courts, or fishing and boating on the eight stocked lakes, or exercising in the two recreation centers.
Borhauer, 81, thinks living in this idyllic village set among the trees and bluffs of the Ozark Mountains has "added 10 years to our lives." In Bella Vista, it's not uncommon to see a 75-year-old working out with a tennis pro or to hear that your 90-year-old neighbor just bought a new set of golf clubs. Enter the Branchwood recreation center, and you see a bulletin board overloaded with fliers for activities and clubs. Enroll in dance classes. Join the Ozark Hill Hikers, the Bella Vista Men's Chorus, or the Cycle Riders. Competitive senior softball teams tour the region, and swimmers race in the Senior Olympics. For a slower pace, you can join bowling leagues, book clubs, bridge clubs, and bingo nights.
Bella Vista was once a speck of a resort town, but developer John Cooper saw its promise in the 1960s and transformed it into a planned retirement community catering to the denizens of the snowy upper Midwest. The main attraction? Recreation, particularly golf. Today, about 24,000 people, with a median age of 61, live here, enjoying Arkansas's mild winters, recreational offerings, and reasonable cost of living. A low property owners' fee helps pay for all the golf courses and other facilities and gives the residents low-cost and nearly exclusive access (guests are welcome but pay quite a bit more) to what Bella Vista has to offer.
"Too good." Retired accountant and Kansas native Tom Pyle, 61, considered ritzier places in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas when retiring a decade ago. Arkansas was last on the list. He and his wife, Biddy, came through on a Saturday, and they bought a place on Sunday. "The economics are too good," Pyle says as he heads to the practice green of the Bella Vista Country Club. The lifestyle isn't bad, either. "People play golf in Bella Vista until they can barely walk," he cracks.
Count Dick and Jan Beck of Decatur, Ill., among them. With a red golf cart out front and a scenic view of the 15th fairway of the Highlands Golf Course out back, their house on a bluff "was our dream, and we finally accomplished it," Dick Beck, 69, says. The two say they will golf till they drop. That's a common sentiment in this retirement town where no one seems to tire. Or want to go anywhere else. "The only way I'll leave," Jan Beck, 64, says, "is feet first."
Reader Comments
No longer a retirement community
I agree with Loretta Ostenso's comments...our village is no longer a village and no longer a retirement community--there was quite a debate in the local newspapers about that because some people wanted an elementary school built here. We who wanted to keep it a retirement community were told there was nothing in the bylaws stating it was a retirement community (never mind that it had been marketed as a retirement community for the last 35 years) so they could build a school if they wanted to and now our little retirement village is a city of around 30,000 people.
My husband and I built our home here 12 years ago also and we like it here, generally. But we're greatly disappointed in the vote to become a city and other things that have gone on in the past 2 or 3 years.
Traffic is atrocious through our one highway (AR Hwy 71) running north and south to and from Bentonville to the Missouri line.
Bella Vista costs
Or perhaps, they are realistic and realize that there is more to life than living "high on the hog" and having your "every whim" catered to. Or maybe they believe that people may be just too judgemental here and do not realize that "all men are created equal". Maybe it is because they believe that you can have alot more beauty, relaxation and enjoyment in life somewhere else at half the cost. Properties from coast to coast, well, good for you. You must come back to the real world however and realize that not all people have had such lucky breaks. Be open minded, you might learn something. Chickens? I doubt if Bella Vista has chickesn, heck their executing the Geese and vultures. It is obvious that you depend on the many things money CAN buy. But the truth is the most cherished aspect of life is the things you can not buy with money - inner beauty, true friendship, honesty, an acceptance of the human race and wildlife regardless of who or what they are or where they come from. When you have these things, you are a very rich person. I feel very sorry for you.
Where did you come from?
Ok,To much whining going on.Some people sound like they fell out of a "Whinny"tree and hit every branch on the way down!
You say,"To expensive","I'd move if I could" or"Better,cheaper places".We are listening?Where are they?It is NOT expensive to live here.The problem arises from to many people wanting something for nothing.Welcome to the"give it to me" mentality.I have property and investments from coast to coast and without a doubt,Bella Vista is the most affordable place to live.It's an even better place to ride out a recession/depression or even the climate change.Water,trees,chickens,fish,golf and Wal-Mart.Ha!...what more could you want?Someone to bathe and powder your butt?You know,they really should include that in the 55 bucks they charge for TH fees.Most people spend that much on vices(cigarettes,alcohol,etc)each week Heck,they pay 350 a month in FL and that's just take out the trash and water the lawn!
Enough already!
You know,,,,perhaps they don't even live here,that they are part of an outside marketing strategy,singing the Tokyo Rose to drive people towards another area?
Maybe they do live here and they are just trying to discourage others from invading?
Honestly,if 24,55 or the minimum water charge has the ability to throw you into a panic,and can actually affect your frame of mind,you need to move in with your relatives,anywhere,but stay the he** away from here because most of us have enough issues without having them to move in next door!
Perhaps they invested poorly,listened to the experts on TV OR didn't invest at all?If they wouldn't spend so much time and energy complaining and bellyaching about the whole world,maybe,just maybe they would have the mental wherewithal to figure out how to move and do us all a HUGE favor!In the meantime,for those of us who have learned to enjoy the finer things in life....like waking up in the morning,please stop your whining.
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