Arkansas Times - October 13, 2016 by Arkansas Times

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

ARKANSAS’S SOURCE FOR NEWS, POLITICS & ENTERTAINMENT 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201

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PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt EDITOR Lindsey Millar SENIOR EDITOR Max Brantley MANAGING EDITOR Leslie Newell Peacock CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mara Leveritt ASSOCIATE EDITORS Benjamin Hardy, David Koon COPY EDITOR Jim Harris ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Stephanie Smittle EDITORIAL ART DIRECTOR Bryan Moats PHOTOGRAPHER Brian Chilson ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Mike Spain GRAPHIC DESIGNER Kevin Waltermire DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Phyllis A. Britton DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS Rebekah Hardin ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Brooke Wallace, Lee Major, Ashley Gill, Stephen Paulson ADVERTISING TRAFFIC MANAGER Roland R. Gladden ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Jim Hunnicutt SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING DIRECTOR Lauren Bucher

We’ll take you there Arkansas Times travels the back roads.

IT DIRECTOR Robert Curfman CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Anitra Hickman CONTROLLER Weldon Wilson BILLING/COLLECTIONS Linda Phillips OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTS PAYABLE Kelly Jones PRODUCTION MANAGER Ira Hocut (1954-2009)

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n the road, again! We waited a year to get back on the road with the Arkansas Times’ second annual Road Trip issue. Last year, we named a destination in every county in Arkansas. (Surely you kept a copy of that — if not, find it at arktimes.com/roadtrip15.) This year, we’re heading a different route, taking a guess at what most appeals to readers itching to get going. We’re not into drugs here — at least not until the General Election — but sex and rock ’n’ roll are right up our alley. So check out our listing of sugar shacks, out-of-the way weekend retreats for sweethearts (and families); and, read about our off-the-beaten track places to hear music, from Texarkana to Paragould. We’ve created tours of real Arkansas — history museums that hearken to when we were French and Quapaw, when we were oil barons, when we were the residence of law school professor Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham — and reel Arkansas, places preserved on popular celluloid. We’ve also got something for design buffs, a quick tour of the architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks. For folks who want to go fast on two wheels, we offer rigorous rides: cycling trails for tires fat and thin and, borrowing from Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s guide, motorcycle trails. Folks who like to take it slow to better appreciate the beauty that is Arkansas — and sometimes Arkansas’s alone — will find an excellent guide to natural areas, compiled by one of the state’s top botanists. And now, after all that travel, you’ll be hungry. So hit the tamale trail, Little Rock to points south. Ole and bon voyage.

VOLUME 43, NUMBER 6 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, 201 EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $74 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

STONEFLOWER

Whoa baby! Sugar shacks Sweet getaways, from lavish to laid-back. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

LONGBOW RESORT Prim $200 to $285 weeknights (rates depend on the cabin); $225 to $350 weekend nights. longbowresorts.com Prim, for the uninitiated, is famous among geologists and other petraphiliacs for its round rocks. The little unincorporated town in Cleburne County has ancient spherical sandstone boulders all over the place; they’ve apparently popped free of whatever concretion they were once part of. Of deeper interest, perhaps, to someone who wants a bit of seclusion, is Longbow Resort, where famous Arkansas archer Ben Pearson built a getaway amid the bluffs, crevasses and streams of a ridge formation — you might call it the toe of the Ozarks. His son, Ben Pearson Jr., and family run the resort now. Longbow has four private luxury cabins

nly the homiest homebody doesn’t want to leave the house and get away for a bit, spend some time in a nice secluded spot where you don’t hear traffic or your neighbors or, for that matter, your children. It helps us all to get a little peace and quiet, and if there’s water nearby, that’s even better. Trees help us chill. Stars remind us how insignificant it is that the laundry has piled up. Fortunately, there are a zillion places in Arkansas that will afford respite. Here we write about a few of them, places you might want to go with your sweetheart, or other couples, or other couples and their children, or your far-flung family. We have our reasons for the ones we picked, as you’ll see. We start with the pricey and move to the home-away-from home-types.

on two acres with hiking trails. One of the cabins, also called Longbow, is built into a cliff and has a 30-foot waterfall and spring-fed pool — always cool, even in an Arkansas summer — at the back in which to take a private dip. A stone patio overlooks the waterfall and pool. Longbow is well appointed, with a JennAir cooktop and such. A walking bridge leads to another cabin, Bushmaster; a short hike away is Diana’s pool, formed by another spring-fed waterfall from a rocky overhang. Bois d’Arc cabin is bowshaped (hence the name) and one-story. In the Sovereign cabin, a cliff wall supports the sleeping lofts. Since Cleburne is dry, the proprietors remind you to stock up on the booze before you come; you won’t get cell service, either, in the Longbow or Bushmaster cabins, so deep are they in their box canyon. That’s good, right? Sovereign has two queen-sized beds; the others have one, though there

BEN PEARSON

ENGLISH COTTAGE IN THE OZARKS

LONGBOW RESORT

are couches. Longbow plans to open a larger facility, Longbow Lodge, which will accommodate 50 guests, a banquet room and bar, in 2017.

STONEFLOWER 704 Stony Ridge Road Heber Springs $199 a night stoneflower.info Stoneflower, on a prominence above Greers Ferry Lake, is an architect’s

retreat: E. Fay Jones designed this tall, narrow haven for landscape architects Bob Shaheen and Curt Goodfellow in 1963. It resembles Jones’ famous Thorncrown Chapel, but here’s the thing: He designed it before Thorncrown. Its inspiration (and Thorncrown’s afterward) came from the building materials that Shaheen and Goodfellow salvaged: 2-by-4 timbers and big stones. The oneroom-wide cottage, with a Frank Lloyd Wright/Fay Jones Arts and Crafts aesthetic, features a stone “grotto” shower with a man-made waterfall on the lowest level and redwood board and batten siding for the upper levels. According to an article on stoneflower.info, the rear gable’s vertical beams were designed to defend it from stray golf balls. You can see a hint of the Thorncrown to come in the cross-braced beams that support the walls. A 30-foot-long deck extends over the back slope of the ravine that Stoneflower is built on and is eye level with the tree canopy. Though there are other homes nearby, the trees keep the feel of privacy. There is one queen bed on the third level and benches on the second level that can serve as single beds.

RIVERSIDE RETREAT West of Hatfield $155 a night vrbo.com Riverside Retreat, south of Mena, sits on a bluff overlooking the Mountain Fork River, which flows into Oklahoma. The exterior is nothing fancy — just your 21st century long-cabin look — but it has direct access to the river, a screenedin porch out back with a view of the water and woods, a fire pit (wood provided) and a two-person Jacuzzi tub. arktimes.com

OCTOBER 13, 2016

You don’t even have to haul your canoe here; there’s one provided for you, along with life jackets and paddles. The Upper Mountain Fork is seasonal, so go in late fall, winter and spring if canoeing, kayaking or fishing is your thing (the river is calm here; the rapids are downstream). If just vegetating in the woods is your thing — and why shouldn’t it be? — or if you’ve decided to bring along the kiddos (there’s a sleeping loft with twin beds for them) and want them out of your hair, there’s a 32-inch flat-screen TV with a satellite feed that provides 250 channels, on which there should be one or two you’d let the kids watch. There’s also a washer and dryer.

HISTORIC LOG CABIN

historiccottages.com

ENGLISH COTTAGE IN THE OZARKS

COVE CREEK CABINS 872 Cove Creek Road Malvern $145 (Retro), $175 (Creekside) covecreekcabins.org

RIVERSIDE RETREAT

ENGLISH COTTAGE IN THE OZARKS Rural Boone County, outside Harrison $150 a night airbnb.com The family that built the English Cottage — on their family farm — modified a floor plan from New Orleans after Katrina, their daughter Christine says. So you’d think it would be a French cottage. But whatever, this little stone house, surrounded by the formal gardens much like Christine’s mother has seen abroad (except for the corn patch), is surpassingly beautiful outside, with bronze herons cavorting in a pond in front and a rocky water feature and lily-pad pond out back, all connected by tile and gravel paths. There’s a meadow view backed up by the Boston Mountains, a porch complete with swing, a fire pit for fireside chats. Indoors, the cozy living room features a very British tile-surround fireplace and a country chic kitchen with copper counters. This looks like the place to be in spring, with a pot of tea (or maybe a glass of Guinness), binoculars and a guide to butterflies, for surely those flowers bring in the beauties. The main farmhouse is nearby, but the owners are often traveling, Christine said. They’ve been known to leave baked goods to welcome their guests.

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

Take your pick at Cove Creek Cabins: There’s the “Creekside,” a new blond wood one-and-a-half story, with picture windows and deck overlooking the stream, and the older “Retro Cabin,” which looks sort of a like a fishing lodge at an old-fashioned country club, with a tin roof. Both are near the creek and a swimming hole below the barn on the property, and each have distinct attractions: The Creekside, which can sleep six, has modern furnishings, TempurPedic beds and a private outdoor bathtub facing the creek, with privacy curtains. The Retro (sleeps two) is 1950s style, outfitted with an aluminum table topped with Formica and aluminum chairs to match in the kitchen (but the countertops are granite, so the cooking area isn’t out of date). There’s a hot tub outside. But this is what grabbed our notice about Cove Creek Cabins: The barn is a fully stocked bar, with lots of Louisiana State University memorabilia. The owners also offer dinner cruises on Lake Hamilton.

HISTORIC LOG CABIN Lake Catherine Hot Springs $125 a night vrbo.com This 1,000-square-foot log cabin on a rise above Lake Catherine was built around 1920 as part of a workers’ campground, manager Nathan Schanlaber says, and was at one time owned by the Bale family of Little Rock. Schanlaber

COVE CREEK CABINS

says the restored cabin must be seen in person to be fully appreciated: It has “an aura to it that you can’t describe.” From pictures, it appears it’s the aura of a quiet, simpler time in nature outside the Spa City. The cabin has a beautiful view of the lake from its covered front porch and a wrap-around deck with lovely deck furniture. There are vaulted ceilings in the living room and the modern kitchen, a stone fireplace, a spacious bedroom (and an air mattress for extras), lots of light, and, oh yes, a flat-screen television for those who can resist the lure of the outdoors. The furnishings include leather couches and craftsman tables and chairs; pets are allowed. The cabin is only 2 miles outside Hot Springs, and if you stay three nights, you get two passes to the Quapaw Bathhouse. Schanlaber said the owner of the cabin is renovating the Thompson Building downtown as a boutique hotel, so he’s already in the lodging business.

LAKE LUCERNE Eureka Springs $130 and up

The fortunes of Lake Lucerne, a resort that dates to 1920, have been up and down. The “Coolest Spot in the Ozarks” was a thriving vacation spot until the late 1960s, but declined. It went under in 2001. California transplant Faryl Kaye began buying up parcels of the original property in 2004, and by 2008 she’d pulled together 40 acres of the resort, which now features nine cabins and a six-acre pond. Five of the cabins are restored older cottages with jetted tubs and fireplaces and nice furnishings, including feather-top beds. Two new cabins, Sassafras and Valerian, are the honeymoon spots, stylish and outfitted with what a newlywed couple needs: A private location, a fancy tub, a king-sized bed and a minibar. Some of the cabins, like Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher, which date to the 1980s, overlook Lake Lucerne; all have decks. Lake Lucerne, by the way, feeds Keel Creek (as in Keel Creek Winery downstream), and an otter family sometimes pays a visit to the lake. Besides the setting and its proximity to Eureka Springs, here’s something many people will especially love about Lake Lucerne: Kaye’s hobby farm, which includes alpacas, donkeys, chickens and a llama named Atticus. You can visit during feeding time and learn about the animals.

GRACE COTTAGE Washington $130 a night washingtongracecottage.com Historic Washington State Park, the state’s Confederate capital, is a destination for people whose hearts beat faster when they’re surrounded by historic houses and big Magnolia trees and can dine family-style dining in an antebellum cottage. Now, thanks to the 1920s Grace Cottage in the town of Washington, you can stay near the park in homey circumstances rather than in the motels at the Hope exit on Interstate 30. There are two bedrooms and one bath in this simply appointed cottage, and no charge for additional guests. There is a television (no cable, but Wi-Fi) and DVD player, antiques and a screen front

Little Rock’s dining and craft food and beverage scene is on the rise. Whether enjoying a romantic dinner for two, using our Locally Labeled Passport program to sample our city’s ever-expanding offerings of ales, wines and spirits, or savoring any of the amazing products our artisan food producers are making, there’s never been a better time to enjoy great food and drink in Little Rock. • Little Rock named one of “Five Secret Foodie Cities” Forbes Travel Guide, 2014 • Loblolly Creamery’s ice cream named a “Superior Scoop,” Saveur, 2014 • One Eleven at the Capital Semifinalist, Best New Restaurant, James Beard Awards, 2015 • Rock Town Distillery “2015 U.S. Micro Whisky of the Year,” The Whisky Bible, 2015 Edition • Big Orange Midtown “Great American Beer Bars” CraftBeer.com, 2016 • Trio’s Restaurant named “Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant in Arkansas,” Travel + Leisure, May 2016

IN GREATER LITTLE ROCK

Lost Forty Brewing > To see more, visit LittleRock.com

LAKE LUCERNE

GRACE COTTAGE

door to the big porch. The big draw is its proximity to the park, where 30 restored historic homes and buildings create the atmosphere of Arkansas in the 19th century. You can dine in the 1832 Williams Tavern, stop in at the blacksmith’s shop and learn about Bowie knife maker James Black, visit a weapons museum and a cotton gin, dip candles, visit the antebellum cemetery, do research at the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives … or just walk around town. Then head back to Grace Cottage to sit and think about your day. Josh Williams, who happens to be the park curator, and his wife, Jaimie, live near Grace Cottage, and are on hand if needed. Jaimie is a baker, so the couple usually provides baked goods for guests.

view. There is an outdoor pavilion with a grill for dining and a milelong hiking trail is being built from the house to a bluff overlooking the Kings River. If you want to paddle the river, there’s a canoe outfitter nearby.

ENGEDI LAKE HOUSE RETREAT

she do otherwise, and she ended up with a cabin she named Engedi, for the Ein Gedi oasis in Israel, referred to in the Song of Songs. Fido is welcome to Engedi, and if you must leave the

And for families…

KINGS RIVER DECKHOUSE AND BUNGALOWS Off Rockhouse Road (County Road 302) Eureka Springs

KINGS RIVER BUNGALOW

$650 a night Deckhouse (two-night minimum), $950 a night Deckhouse and two bungalows kingsriverdeckhouse.org The Nature Conservancy owns this sumptuous lodge-like property overlooking the Trigger Gap Valley area of the Kings River Preserve. It can sleep 20, so it’s a suitable, and beautiful, place for a retreat. The den features an oversized rock fireplace, and windows form one wall of the house. There is also a wraparound deck from which to enjoy the view. The Deckhouse sleeps 12 people in two bedrooms and two sleeping lofts. The bungalows sleep four each in two bedrooms and each has a porch and 8

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

ENGEDI LAKE HOUSE RETREAT Lake Moore, near Heber Springs $285 a night (two-night minimum) vrbo.com Picture a five-bedroom house atop a hill on a 27-acre spring-fed lake, a wood-and-stone getaway with a fireplace, a double oven in the kitchen, two decks off each story providing a view of the lake. That’s not what owner and writer Ginny Edwards envisioned — she thought she would build a little cabin on the lake. The topography suggested

woods to shop, there’s historic downtown Heber Springs, where you can buy art and antiques, see a movie at the Gem, or get coffee at the Jitterbug cafe. If kayaking, canoeing or fishing on Lake Moore isn’t exciting enough for the crew, Greers Ferry Lake nearby will accommodate. Engedi sleeps 14; there are also a few safety features for older folks, such as accessible bathrooms.

BEACH NUT RETREAT North of Kingston, off U.S. Hwy. 412 $200 a night beachnutretreat.com, vrbo.com

BEACH NUT RETREAT

Yes, it’s Beach Nut, not Beechnut. This four-bedroom log cabin on a hilltop offers the same respite from busy lives that a view of the ocean might provide. The cabin, open only since Memorial Day, has a woodstove and lots of loggy furniture indoors; outdoors there’s a panoramic view of the rolling Ozarks. Beach Nut distinguishes itself by letting guests bring their horses for riding on the farm’s 500 acres (updated Coggins test required), and there are ATV trails as well. If you want Beach Nut to buy your groceries for you, that’s possible with a fee and 48 hours’ advance notice. The cabin is far away from city lights, so stargazers will appreciate a nice, dark night sky. One unusual touch: There’s a treadmill in the cabin. The owners say it makes a nice place for a small wedding party, since it can accommodate 12 guests.

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Enter your favorite tailgating recipe to win a $100 Gift Card from Edwards Food Giant! The winner will be announced in the Nov. 3 issue of the Arkansas Times, where we will publish your about-to-be-famous recipe! Email edwardscontest@arktimes.com today! Make your football season sizzle with the Certified Angus Beef ® brand. 10320 STAGE COACH RD 501-455-3475

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Masa and the middle Hit the trail for hot tamales across the Natural State. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

“Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got ’em for sale Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got ’em for sale Me and my babe bought a V-8 Ford Well we wind that thing all on the runnin’ board, yes Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got ’em for sale, I mean Yes she got ’em for sale, yeah.” PASQUALE'S

— Robert Johnson, “They’re Red Hot,” 1937

ike the Cornwall pasty or the Jiaozi dumpling, the tamale’s composition follows its primary purpose: utility. Tamalii, in the Aztec language of Nahuatl, means “wrapped food,” and thanks to some creative cooks in pre-Columbian history, tamales were invented for soldiers as a substitute for decidedly nonportable foods like stews and chilis. Tamales could be made in mass quantities before an expedition, the large yield serving as justification for the labor-intensive process of nixtamalizing, or breaking down corn and maize into a dough such that it’s malleable and cohesive enough to be flattened into staples like tortillas. Even if you start out as we do now, with treated corn, making tamales can take days, which is why nobody ever makes just a few tamales at a time, or for a weeknight

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

dinner. It’s probably also why we’re so willing to buy someone else’s tamales at a substantial markup, unless there’s a spacious kitchen and a holiday weekend to kill. It’s precisely those qualities that make tamales the quintessential road food, and why you should allot an empty corner of the ice chest for stashing a dozen of the Delta variety that’s prevalent here in Arkansas.

PASQUALE’S TAMALES 1005 Little Rock Road Helena-West Helena 870-338-3991 Were it not for the linguistic similarities between Italian and Spanish — elongated vowels, roots in ancient Latin — Pietro Santo Columbia, a Sicilian immigrant to Helena in 1892, might not have

slipped so easily into friendships with the farm workers who emigrated from Mexico to the same area. Discovering that there was a demand for portable food to take into the fields and that the immigrants missed the tamales they’d come to associate with home and the holidays, Columbia learned the recipe. (Only a year later, as Kathryn Schulz notes in a New Yorker article about tamale vendor Zarif Khan, tamales were the “hit of the 1893 World’s Fair” in Chicago.) Nearly 100 years later, in 1987, Pietro’s grandson Joe revived the family tamale business and named it after his father, Pasquale. Just west of the Mississippi River, Pasquale’s serves as an unofficial mile marker for those passing between Arkansas and Mississippi by way of the Delta, a precursor to the river bridge itself and a destination-worthy

DOE'S EAT PLACE

concession stand that predated the food truck craze in Arkansas by more than a decade. Pasquale’s tamales are made biweekly in batches of 200 dozen, and are filled with a blend of chuck roast and top sirloin. Unlike his grandfather, who hand-rolled the tamales, Joe and Joyce St. Columbia use an extruder to form the yellow cornmeal tubes, a machine that rolls out coils of tamales like a sausage grinder attachment. They’re then

hand-rolled in dried corn husks from Mexico — a tradition that Joe told former Southern Foodways Alliance writer Amy C. Evans he felt was important to keep — and simmered in a spiced broth for at least six hours, which is probably what earned the business its slogan: “So good you’ll suck the shuck.”

DOE’S EAT PLACE 1023 W. Markham St. Little Rock 376-1195 Though Pasquale’s may claim closer proximity to that wellspring of tamale authenticity, the Mississippi Delta, Doe’s connection to its Mississippi roots is one of direct lineage. The weathered landmark tucked away on Markham Street just down from the Union Train Station is the offshoot of an original location in Greenville, Miss. Founded by Dominick “Doe” Signa in 1941 in the former location of his father’s grocery store, the establishment is still run by Signa’s sons and still uses the recipe of Doe Signa’s wife, Mamie. George Eldridge owns the Doe’s incarnation in Little Rock, where tamale tradition is either thrown to the wind or reinvented altogether: cornhusks and pork are nowhere to be found. Doe’s thin tamale fingers arrive in wax paper that’s coated, in turn, with a sheen of oil rendered orange by the pepper and chili powder in which they’ve been simmered. As if echoing Doe’s reputation as a steak place, Doe’s tamales have a generously spicy all-beef center, the white cornmeal serving as a firm, dense vehicle for the finely ground meat at the heart of each tube, a statement that’s bolstered by the addition of a generous bowl of Doe’s beef (and bean, but barely) chili alongside.

at Doe’s in Little Rock now come by way of The Tamale Factory, a large white barn on state Hwy. 33 in Gregory that Eldridge transitioned from its former use as a quarter horse stable to a restaurant in November 2012. The menu there mimics Doe’s offerings, and boasts a banquet hall and full bar to boot.

HEIGHTS TACO & TAMALE CO.

from Greenville, he took matters of masa into his own hands. The tamales served

L O C AT E D

HEIGHTS TACO & TAMALE CO. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. Little Rock

313-4848 Easily the poshest of tamale eateries on this list and definitely the newest, Heights Taco & Tamale has traded out the brown-and-beige “Tex-Mex Bar & Grill” decor of its predecessor, Browning’s, for the sort of Southern chic environs we’ve come to expect from restaurants owned by Yellow Rocket Concepts: intricate mosaic-tiled flooring, white tin ceilings, light bulbs hung from the same kind of cord with which

BEAUTIFUL BAXTER COUNT Y

A F I R S T -C L A S S T I M E ... E V E RY T I M E . America’s #1 Trout Fishing Resort is Gaston’s. Our White River float trips for lunker trout are legendary from coast to coast. We do the work. All you do is fish – in style and comfort. Then there are the extras that make “resort” our last name. First-class lodging. One of the South’s finest restaurants featuring a spectacular view. A private club. Tennis and a pool. Nature trails for mountain biking and hiking. A conference lodge for your group meetings or parties. Even a private landing strip for fly-in guests.

THE TAMALE FACTORY

THE TAMALE FACTORY 19571 State Hwy. 33 Gregory (Woodruff County) 870-347-1350 When Uncle Sam cracked down on George Eldridge’s practice of hauling tamales to the Little Rock Doe’s directly

1777 River Road, Lakeview, AR 72642 870-431-5202 • Email gastons@gastons.com Lat 36 20’ 55” N Long 92 33’ 25” W

www.gastons.com

arktimes.com

OCTOBER 13, 2016

you’d fashion a campsite clothesline, turquoise leather barstools and the kind of oversized marquee that those of us from small towns are accustomed to seeing in front of the volunteer fire department, alerting us to the “PANCAKE SUPPER ON SATURDAY.” Pinterest “outdoor wedding” vibe notwithstanding, Heights Taco & Tamale Co. sequesters that compound-butter-and-frozenmojito aesthetic from the tamale portion of the menu: the tamales are kept pure and simple, served in a light tomato broth with Saltine crackers (for scoop-

ing or maybe just for respite), wrapped in paper that resembles corn husks but (lest you care) is too uniformly patterned to be the genuine article. Inside, in an act of defiance of eaters who cry “too much masa!” when confronted with tamales that are more direct reflections of their Latin American ancestry, the strict cannoli structure is abandoned in the name of flavor and heft, each an irregularly shaped pocket of masa-meat swirl.

KARA’S PACKING CO. 23049 State Hwy. 5

Ouachita Arts Celebration Downtown Arts District, Mena Sat. Nov. 5 10am-4pm

Artists will be doing demonstrations and sharing their techniques. • Antique Pre 1943 Vintage Tin Fall Tour Featuring “Doc Hudson” (From the “Cars” movie) • Flint Knapper • Belly Dancers • Martial Arts Demo • Art of Falconry with live Birds of Prey by Tommy Young • Children’s Activities • Fashion Show • Live Music by Logan Lind • Culinary Arts • Fancy Faces (face painter) • Shopping & Downtown Dining • Art Vendors

$250

Giveaway Must be 18 • Must be present to win

For more information contact the Mena Art Gallery at 479-394-3880 SPONSORS: Mena Advertising & Promotion Commission, Mena Art Gallery, Rich Mountain Community College, Union Bank of Mena, Washburns Home Furnishings, Aleshire Electric, Sterling Machinery, Sign FX, ReMax facebook.com/OuachitaArtsCelebration ADVERTISEMENT PAID FOR BY THE MENA ADVERTISING & PROMOTION COMMISSION

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

For those willing to sacrifice an extra half-hour on the way to Hot Springs by way of scenic state Hwy. 5, a.k.a. “the Old Hot Springs highway,” there’s a roadside jewel in Owensville (don’t be fooled by the Lonsdale mailing address) between Crows Station and Lake Balboa, a white cinder block building with a marquee that reads “Spicy Polish Sausage” or “Kara’s One-Stop, Shop ’Til You Drop!” Kara’s Packing Co. is 47 years old this year and open seven days a week. The one-room father-anddaughter storefront is lined on one wall by shelves stacked high with a panoply of jars of jams, jellies and pickled goods: polish sausage, okra, pepper jelly, red link sausages, tomato relish, hot sauce, dried spice rubs and pickled eggs. The other two walls are lined with deep freezes packed neatly with all manner of steaks, sausages, bratwursts, boudin and some beloved frozen tamales. Though Chicago transplants John Kara, 86, or his daughter, “Miss Kitty,” can heat one up for you right there in the microwave while you peruse the faded photos on the walls, these tamales are best served intermittently from your freezer at home, on a night when a hearty hunk of greasy cornmeal filled with meat will count as dinner. Kara’s offers two styles of tamales: a steamed “Chicago style” white cornmeal version available with beef, chicken, or chipotle chicken, and a substantially more decadent version from Texas filled with pork and, notably, textured vegetable protein.

pies people lined up for: “I didn’t know how to do that stuff until I obeyed Him … My auntie got me started on the hot

KARA'S PACKING CO.

RHODA’S FAMOUS HOT TAMALES AND PIES 714 St. Mary’s St. Lake Village 870-265-3108

Lonsdale 501-939-2252

If there’s a trinity of places in Arkansas that perfectly demonstrate an inverse proportion between the opulence of the building and the quality of the food inside, I’d name the following establishments: Jones Bar-B-Q in Marianna, the Pie Shop in DeValls Bluff (rest in peace, Miss Mary Thomas) and Rhoda’s Tamales in Lake Village. In a video for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, Rhoda Adams introduces herself by saying, “My name is Rhoda. I been doing this over 39 years, that’s what they tell me.” In the beginning, Adams made and sold pies to benefit her local church, crediting God for giving her the expertise to craft the kind of

RHODA'S FAMOUS HOT TAMALES AND PIES

tamales, and the Lord got me started on the pies.” And, while her “half-andhalf” pies (coconut alongside chocolate,

sweet potato alongside pecan) pies keep the oven at her storefront occupied, it’s the tamales that get top billing on the sign, and for good reason. When Rhoda was still making the tamales by hand rather than with a tamale machine, as she does now, she could make about 24 dozen a day, which would be gone within about an hour of putting them out for sale. Now, they’re available frozen, but unless you’ve got a tamale simmering method you’re especially proud of, the best way to enjoy them is right on the spot — served by the dozen in a coffee can, if you’ve got someone to share with. They’re a contradiction in terms, structurally; so juicy that it’s hard to believe they keep their shape at all, likely because of the chicken fat Rhoda mixes with the beef filling.

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MEREDITH YORK

Arkansas sprouts

A brief tour of the state’s ecological riches with one of Arkansas’s foremost botanists. BY BENJAMIN HARDY

ind your way down a highway in the Ozarks and it’s easy to get the impression Arkansas is still a fairly wild place. Beautiful as the state may be, though, its landscapes have been transformed over the past 200 years: Forests have been cleared, rivers dammed, wildfire suppressed, invasive species introduced and wilderness converted to cropland or city or suburbia. As a result, many of Arkansas’s unique

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Arkansas Times

natural communities have diminished in diversity and shrunk dramatically in size. It’s the mission of the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission to protect the best of what remains, in part through the establishment of “natural areas” around the state that preserve ecosystems of exceptional quality or unusual diversity. In such special places, hundreds of species of native wildflowers, grasses, trees and other plants may coexist within a

few dozen acres of land — a breathtakingly complex latticework of botanical life. (And that’s to say nothing of the fauna both large and small living in, on and among the flora.) Unlike the public lands held by Arkansas State Parks, which are largely intended to serve as recreation areas, the main objectives of the ANHC’s holdings are conservation and research. “We allow recreation, but our main purpose is conservation,” said Theo Witsell, the ANHC’s senior botanist. “Our sites are picked because they’re really high quality examples of natural communities.” (The Arkansas Times profiled the Little Rock native as a Visionary Arkansan in 2013 for his extraordinary plant knowledge: Witsell can identify some 5,000 species, he estimates.) There are 71 natural areas statewide, he said, encompassing 63,585 acres as of the time of this writing. For most of the natural areas, he said, “Anybody can go there as long as they follow the rules.” We asked Witsell to lead us through

CRAIG FRAISER

MILLER COUNTY SANDHILLS

MIDDLE FORK BARRENS

a survey of some of the state’s most ecologically interesting spots, most of which (but not all) are ANHC-designated natural areas. From the blackland prairies of Southwest Arkansas to the bluffs and glades of the White River Hills, here are his top picks. Some are easily accessible and some are remote, but all are open to restricted public use. Before you plan a trip, take into account the time of year, recent rainfall, what’s in bloom and whether it’s hunting season. Glades and prairies are typically at their best in the spring or fall; woodlands are worth a summertime visit, too. Remember: It is illegal to collect plants from state lands without a permit. Enjoy them, but don’t dig them up.

Saline County Region: Ouachita Mountains

The shale barrens of the eastern Ouachita Mountains, Witsell said, are among the most botanically diverse and interesting habitats in Arkansas. Rocky, thin-soiled grasslands, barrens occur in widely scattered pockets where shale bedrock outcrops or comes close to the surface of the ground. “These treeless or sparsely treed areas — glades — are often wet in the winter and spring but are among our driest habitats the rest of the year,” Witsell said. “The number of plant species found in these is remarkable in and of itself, but especially significant is the number of rare species they report. Shale barrens support the greatest number of ‘globally rare’ species of any habitat in Arkansas [meaning species that are rare on the global scale, as opposed to being rare within the state but more common elsewhere].” Many of these are endemic to the Ouachita Mountains — meaning their range is restricted to that particular region — and many are endemic to glade habitats in particular. Several of these species have been dis- CLIFTY CANYONS covered and described by science for the first time relatively recently, Witsell said, “the most noteworthy probably being Pelton’s rosegentian [Sabatia arkansana], discovered by retired mechanic and amateur naturalist John Pelton and new to science as of 2005. It is known only from seasonally wet glades in Saline County and nowhere else on Earth. These shale barrens also support desert flora such as yucca, false aloe, prickly-pear cacti, stonecrop and rock-pinks.”

SKY ISLANDS Rich Mountain and Mount Magazine Polk County Region: Ouachita Mountains

Rich Mountain is perhaps best

known to Arkansans as the site of Queen Wilhelmina State Park and its mountaintop visitors’ lodge. To ecologists, the allure of the state’s second highest peak (2,681 feet) is its status as a “sky island”: Rich Mountain’s higher elevations enjoy more rainfall and somewhat lower temperatures than the surrounding lowlands. The result is an outpost of “cool, often moist habitat in a lowland sea of warmer, drier conditions,” Witsell said. (Mount Magazine, the highest peak in the state, is another sky island.) Both Rich and Magazine are home to some species whose main range occurs in northern states or the Appalachian

longed freezing conditions during the past ice ages.

BLACKLANDS Terre Noire Natural Area/ Rick Evans Grandview Prairie Wildlife Management Area Clark and Hempstead counties Region: Coastal Plain

Perhaps the most spectacular wildflower displays in the state can be found in the blackland prairies of Southwest Arkansas. These prairies, Witsell said, “are actually complexes of open grass-

viewing is typically from mid-April through June, with another, smaller peak in September and October (the fall season is best if the preceding summer didn’t experience drought conditions, the botanist added).

BUILT ON SAND Miller County Sandhills Natural Area Miller County Region: Coastal Plain

Although it’s only 274 acres, this preserve is home to 41 rare plant species tracked by the Natural Heritage Commission, Witsell said, a higher concentration than any other natural area in the system. It’s an ecosystem distinguished by its topography of rolling hills and sandy soils. “Deep sand deposits in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Southwest Arkansas support a rich assemblage of habitats ranging from open, dry sandhill grasslands and sandhill woodlands to wooded seeps and shrub swamps,” Witsell said.

SALT SLICKS AND PALMETTOS Warren Prairie Natural Area Bradley and Drew Counties Region: Coastal Plain CRAIG FRAISER

TEEMING BARRENS Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area

Mountains, Witsell said. Such “disjunct” species include prickly gooseberry (Ribes cynosbati), spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) and Appalachian cliff-brake (Woodsia appalachiana). There are also a number of species endemic to the mountains, like Ouachita blazing-star (Liatris compacta), Ouachita goldenrod (Solidago ouachitensis), Church’s wild rye (Elymus churchii) and Ozark hedge-nettle (Stachys iltisii). The latter two were first described to science in 2006 and 2008, respectively. “Both mountains support ‘boulder field’ or ‘rock glacier’ habitat,” Witsell said, or “large areas of deeply piled large boulders with little plant cover.” The origins of such geological features are still poorly understood, but they may have been formed as a result of pro-

lands, savannas and woodlands, maintained in part by soil conditions and in part by fire. They’re found on calcareous [limey] soils that were formed under the ancient Gulf of Mexico. These prairies share many species with the limestone and dolomite glades of the Ozarks, but others with western grasslands in Texas and Oklahoma.” Birds and butterflies also abound. The state’s largest protected blackland prairie complex is the Rick Evans Grandview Prairie Wildlife Management Area, a 4,885-acre area managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; for nonhikers, it includes a driving tour with interpretive signs. The Terre Noire Natural Area near Arkadelphia is also of exceptional quality, Witsell said. The peak time to visit for wildflower

Pine plantations may be what come to mind when one thinks of South Arkansas, but there’s more to the region’s botanical life than the timber industry. Across the Saline River from Warren lies a region of stunted grassland interspersed with bottomland hardwoods and stands of dwarf palmetto: the Warren Prairie Natural Area. Naturally high amounts of sodium and magnesium salts in the soil are behind the woodlands’ irregular distribution. The salt slicks and barrens of the area are home to a large population of Geocarpon minimum — also called tinytim or earth-fruit — a miniscule succulent listed as a federally threatened species. Birders should look for the threatened red-cockaded woodpecker; a breeding population was established here in 2012.

BOTTOMLAND REFUGE Striplin Woods Natural Area, Dale Bumpers White River arktimes.com

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Monroe County Region: Delta

National Wildlife Refuge Arkansas County Region: Delta

Perhaps no part of the state has been transformed by settlement as fully as the Delta, which 200 years ago was dominated by immense hardwood forests on both sides of the Mississippi River. Most of the great trees have long since been replaced by row crops, but the Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge still contains a sizable remnant

To access this site in the heart of the Big Woods, take to the water. A canoe trail through the area has been created in recent years, with multiple access points on Bayou DeView and the Cache River. The largest and oldest trees, Witsell said, are located on the portion of Bayou DeView between the Benson Creek Natural Area on state Hwy. 17 and the Dagmar Wildlife Management Area on I-40. The water trail includes “extensive tracts of old growth cypress-tupelo swamp forest with cypress trees as old as 800 to 1,000 years and tupelo gums as old as 500 years,” Witsell said. “The site is not especially diverse botanically — few plant species can withstand the long periods of flooding in the area — but it is spectacular for its majestic forest of giant trees. It also offers good birding opportunities.” If any ivory-billed woodpeckers still fly in Arkansas, this is where you’ll find them.

THE GRAND PRAIRIE Railroad Prairie Natural Area/Downs Prairie Natural Area/Konecny Prairie/Roth Prairie

ANHC

Lonoke, Prairie and Arkansas counties Region: Delta

DOWNS PRAIRIE

of old bottomland forest. A part of the larger White River refuge, the Striplin Woods Natural Area is co-managed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As the woods slope down toward the White River floodplain, white, black and red oaks give way to overcup oak, bald cypress and willow oak, with many trees exceeding two feet in diameter. The site has been equipped with an elevated boardwalk, which provides visitors with year-round access to the frequently flooded bottomlands.

TO THE BIG WOODS Bayou DeView/Cache River near Brinkley

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Arkansas Times

In its heyday, Witsell said, “the Grand Prairie of eastern Arkansas was an anomaly in its own right — at least 400,000 acres of treeless grasslands surrounded by savannas and woodlands in the middle of an area (the Arkansas Delta) otherwise occupied by bottomland forest.” But as the woods have gone, so have the grasslands. Only about 420 acres of the Grand Prairie remain today; the rest has been swallowed by agriculture. About half of that acreage is protected in four natural areas spread across three counties: Downs Prairie (near DeValls Bluff), Konecny Prairie (south of Hazen), Roth Prairie (just south of Stuttgart) and Railroad Prairie (an area between Carlisle and DeValls Bluff, so named because it includes portions of the abandoned right-of-way of the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad). “A recent study documented 769 species of native plants occurring, or historically occurring, in grasslands and associated savannas and woodlands in the Grand Prairie,” Witsell said, includ-

ing 40 considered to be of conservation concern in Arkansas. “The Grand Prairie is also known for harboring the Stern’s medlar [Crataegus × canescens], one of the rarest shrubs in the world. It is known from a single site in a rare type of prairie-edge woodland called a ‘prairie slash.’ Believed to have originated by the hybridization of an Old World medlar and a native North American hawthorn, its existence is one of the greatest mysteries in North American botany.”

CARVED BY WATER Clifty Canyon Botanical Area/North Sylamore Creek Stone and Baxter counties Region: Ozark Mountains

About 10 miles southeast of where the Buffalo River empties into the White River lies the rugged Sylamore District of the Ozark National Forest, a favorite destination of backpackers. North Sylamore Creek finds its head-

CROWLEY’S RIDGE Bear Creek Lake Recreation Area/ Mississippi River State Park

Through the northern half of the pancake-flat Arkansas Delta runs a low ridge composed of sand, gravel and loess (a fine, windblown soil) that extends from Missouri south to Helena-West Helena. Toward the southern end of Crowley’s Ridge lies the St. Francis National Forest, a place in which “the rugged ravines and rich soils have produced spectacular hardwood forests more similar to those east of the Mississippi River than to anything else in Arkansas,” according to Witsell. “The St. Francis National Forest includes a few areas of very mature rich hardwood forest with stately beech, white oak and cucumber magnolia trees. This is the only region of the state where tulip poplar [Liriodendron tulipifera] is considered native. It is also one of the last holdouts for the butternut, or white walnut tree [Juglans cinerea], a species which is being wiped out across its range by a nonnative fungal pathogen called butternut canker. And, southern Crowley’s Ridge is the only place in Arkansas where certain other rare plants such as Virginia pennywort [Obolaria virginiana] and climbing magnolia vine [Schisandra glabra] can be seen.” The nature trail at Bear Creek Lake winds through forests that are both spectacular and accessible, Witsell said. “The Turkey Ridge Research Natural Area on the southwest side of Storm Creek Lake is especially impressive, but is so rugged and remote as to be only for the most adventurous,” he added.

JENNIFER AKIN

Lee County Region: Crowley’s Ridge

DEVIL'S EYEBROW

waters in these mountains, its three forks flowing through deep gorges of limestone and sandstone. Nonetheless, the area is accessible by road and trail. “So many rare plant species are found in this area that a portion was designated as the Clifty Canyon Botanical Area,” Witsell said. “It’s well known for a number of northeastern and Appalachian species not found anywhere else in Arkansas. These mostly occur deep in the canyons and include slender bunchflower [Veratrum latifolium], miterwort [Mitella diphylla], barren-strawberry [Waldsteinia fragarioides], white trillium [Trillium flexipes], interrupted fern [Osmunda claytoniana], shining fir-moss [Huperzia lucidula], Bowman’s root [Gillenia trifoliata], running strawberry-bush [Euonymus

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

animals such as the eastern collared lizard can also be spotted in the area. Witsell said the Natural Heritage Commission is working to remove eastern red cedar from the glades — an invasive species that often disrupts Ozark woodland ecosystems in the absence of regular fires.

OZARK CROSSROADS Devil’s Eyebrow Natural Area

Carroll County Region: Ozark Mountains

Benton County Region: Ozark Mountains

Dolomite glades — so named for the type of rock that underlies these diverse natural communities — are common in the Ozarks, and two easily accessible sites in Carroll County contain particularly good examples. Northwest of Eureka Springs is Lake Leatherwood,

GLADES AND WOODLANDS Lake Leatherwood Park/ Saunders Heights

We laymen typically think of the Ozarks as a single region, but scientists divide the hill country of North Arkansas and southern Missouri into a number of more precisely described ecoregions. Devil’s Eyebrow, a newly designated ANHC natural area north of Beaver Lake, sits at the junction of three such subdivisions: the Springfield Plateau (a generally flat highland area that was historically prairie and savanna), the White River Hills (rugged country along the White and its tributaries that includes bluffs, glades and barrens) and the Dissected Springdale Plateau (a rugged area with deep hollows that support several types of woodlands). This makes Devil’s Eyebrow one of the most botanically diverse areas in the Arkansas Ozarks, Witsell said, and it is home to several species typically found EASTERN YAMPAH AT KESSLER MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK in other parts of the U.S. “Having all these different habitats and ecoregions packed which is surrounded by a large municitogether has resulted in exceptional pal park of the same name. “The entire botanical diversity, with over 700 area is comprised of alternating bands of species generally, and rare elements dolomite glade and woodland,” Witsell present from all points of the compass. said. “Cedar has encroached on many There are southeastern rarities like of the glades — as it has throughout ovate-leaf catchfly [Silene ovata] in the Ozarks — but some are still open deep narrow gorges, western elements and support a rich flora characterisin the glades and on dry bluffs, and tic of the dry, rocky grasslands of the rare northern species like white ratregion. Among the wildflowers to see tlesnake root [Prenanthes alba], black are the Ozark endemic Trelease’s Larkmaple [Acer saccharum var. nigrum] spur [Delphinium treleasei], blue false and rock elm [Ulmus thomasii].” Rare indigo [Baptisia australis] and purple 18

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

prairie clover [Dalea purpurea].” Witsell also suggests Saunder’s Heights, a lesser known public park in nearby Berryville. “It sits atop a dolomite knob on the north side of town,” he said. “You can drive up to an overlook among the utility towers at the top. Below the summit is an area of dolomite glades that have been cleared of cedar, releasing a great diversity of wildflowers and grasses. Uncommon and rare species abound and are easily accessible for viewing. The Ozark Chapter of the Arkansas Native Plant Society regularly has outings here.”

A PEOPLE’S PRESERVE Kessler Mountain Regional Park Washington County Region: Ozark Mountains

ing a significant natural area,” he said. The woodland “will have a network of multi-use [hiking and biking] trails to allow public access to the preserved forest.” From a botanist’s perspective, it’s the mountain’s almost 550 plant species that are of most interest. “Most significant are pockets of old-growth oak woodland, bluffs with rare species and a very rare Ozark Shale Barrens community in a saddle on the ridgetop. Also, during surveys for an ecological assessment conducted by the ANHC in 2014, several small populations of Missouri ground-cherry [Physalis missouriensis] were found. This globally rare species had not been documented from Arkansas in more than 60 years. … Kessler is an easy-to-access area where you can do some quality plant-watching close to town.”

This newly created park — phase

PRAIRIES OF THE VALLEY Cherokee Prairie Natural Area/H.E. Flanagan Prairie Natural Area Franklin County Region: Arkansas River Valley

Prairies are perhaps most often associated with southern and eastern Arkansas, but Witsell said the largest prairie remnants in the state are found in the western part of the Arkansas River Valley. “There are three public preserves in close proximity to one another north of Charleston: Cherokee Prairie Natural Area and H.E. Flanagan Prairie [both managed by the ANHC] and Presson-Oglesby Prairie [managed by the Nature Conservancy]. All of these are exemplary botanical areas and are some of the last places in Arkansas that support good-sized areas of healthy, dense assemblages of prairie grasses and wildflowers.” As with many prairies, the wildflower show is especially good in the year following a prescribed burn, Witsell said. “They are also exemplary areas for bird and butterfly watching, supporting a number of grassland species that have declined dramatically from their historical population levels.” DAVID OAKLEY

obovata] and wood anemone [Anemone quinquefolia]. Glades above the streams support a totally different flora, rich in drought-adapted desert species like yucca and prickly pear cactus.” Witsell also notes that the area is “full of caves and springs and has some of the best swimming holes in the state.” And while you’re there, pay a visit to Blanchard Springs Cavern, which is just down the road on state Hwy. 14.

one was just completed in August — aims to balance public recreation and conservation goals, providing athletic fields and recreation facilities adjacent to 384 acres of Ozark forest. The city of Fayetteville worked with the Walton Family Foundation, the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association and the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust to acquire and protect the land. “Kessler Mountain Regional Park is a great example of a multipartner public/private conservation effort that is protect-

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ARLTON LOWRY

Hog the road Trails, too.

ll who like to tour Arkansas atop a chopper should check out the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s “Arkansas Motorcycling” webpage and online brochure for its great guide to motorcycling. It’s got maps on 31 routes — both on-road and off — that include information on sights, cultural stops, historic markers and descriptions of terrain. The agency did such a good job, we decided to turn to arkansas.com/motorcycling, and you should, too. Here are just a few of the routes, north to south:

ROUTE 1, THE PIG TRAIL SCENIC BYWAY Do you dare ride your hog down the Pig Trail, state Hwy. 23, understatedly described by state Parks as “exhilarating”? Some folks find driving down

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Arkansas Times

the steep and wiggly Pig Trail in fourwheeled, steel-encased transport scary as all get out south of state Hwy. 16, but if you like thrills, this is the route for you: The scenery will take your breath away, too. “Arkansas Motorcycling” starts the 80- to 90-mile route at Eureka Springs and then makes a loop (the Oark Extension) on state Hwy. 215 along the Mulberry River, which gives Route 1 the shape of the Big Dipper. The southernmost point on this trail is Altus, where you can get a glass of Arkansas wine — if this is where you are disembarking. It should be noted that Huntsville was the home of Orval Faubus, if you want to throw in a little history on your Razorback route.

ROUTE 4, THE JASPER DISASTER

This snaky route through the beautiful (and distracting) scenery of the Ozarks goes from Jasper to Ponca to just short of Harrison and back on state Hwys. 7, 206 and 43. This route takes you through the “Arkansas Grand Canyon” south of Jasper, by the Elk Education Center in the beautiful tiny town of Ponca and up Gaither Mountain. Route 4 has something else special, too: the Hub motorcycle resort, at the former Marble Falls convention center and motel just off Hwy. 7, with 50 rooms, Scooter’s Restaurant and free Wi-Fi.

ROUTE 28, THE CRYSTAL SPRINGS RIDE

western is Mena, its southern is the Shady Lake Recreation Area and its eastern is Crystal Springs. From Parks, on state Hwy. 28, the route south runs through the Muddy Creek Wildlife Management Area and over Mill Creek Mountain, then west on U.S. 270 at Buck Knob to on National Forest road 172 on Fourche Mountain, then to County Road 760 down to state Hwy. 88 and on to County Road 68 and state Hwy. 8. (Parts of this section are rough with narrow, steep drops.) The route continues through the Caney Creek Wilderness Area to Shady Lake to Polk Creek Mountain and the Crystal Park Recreation Area.

This 140-mile route includes on- and off-road riding, much of it through the Ouachita National Forest. Its northern point is Parks (south of Waldron), its

ROUTE 25, THE GREAT RIVER ROAD NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY

O C T O B E R 2 1 – 2 3  L U C Y L O C K E T T C A B E F E S T I VA L T H E AT R E

ROUTE 24, THE DELTA MUSIC RIDE This route, 272 miles that will take you from Helena-West Helena to Corning, was added to the state’s guide in 2016. It’s called the Delta Music Ride because it takes riders to the Delta Cultural Center (and the King Biscuit Blues Festival in fall), the marker designating where B.B. King rescued his guitar “Lucille” from a burning dance hall in Twist, the Rock ’n’ Roll Highway 67 Museum in Newport, Johnny Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess and the sculpture commemorating the day the Beatles landed in Walnut Ridge. It also goes by the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza (read more about that in our museums section) and Parkin State Park, neither of which has anything to do with the Blues but are good stops. At Parkin, you can stretch your legs by walking what is thought to be the ancient village of Casqui, visited by Hernando de Soto in 1541. De Soto probably caused the blues there, too.

ROUTE 20, BAYOU BARTHOLOMEW/ ROHWER MEMORIAL LOOP Here’s a 123-mile detour off the Great River Road route that Parks and Tourism calls “one of the most fascinating motorcycling routes in Arkansas” because it crosses two major geographical divisions. On one side of Bayou Bartholomew (the longest bayou in the U.S.) is the Delta; on the other are timberlands of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. If you didn’t visit Rohwer on your Great River Road trip, you’ll see it on this route. The other great stop on this route is Cane Creek State Park, which features campsites for weary riders, bicycling and hiking trails, and fishing and kayaking on the bayou and Cane Creek Lake.

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Ever heard of Shives, Arkansas? (Us, neither.) It’s on the southeast shore of Lake Chicot and it’s the southern end of the 312-mile Great River Road route. Blytheville is the northern terminus. In between are a series of state and national highways that connect to take riders through the Arkansas Delta. One place to stop: Lakeport Plantation, the antebellum home that avoided the fiery fate that Union troops inflicted on other Arkansas plantation houses on the Mississippi River. It’s operated by Arkansas State University and its interpretive focus is on the people who shaped plantation life. Others: Rohwer, where Japanese Americans were interned during World War II; Arkansas Post, the oldest European settlement in the state; Helena-West Helena and the Delta Cultural Center; and the astonishing town of Wilson, where private investment has built a new school, a farm-totable garden/cafe arrangement and more among the town’s Tudor architecture chosen by the Wilson Co., which built Wilson as a company town in 1886.

ROUTE 19, RIDE THE NOTCH This is a new, 200-mile route around Arkansas’s notched southwest corner, passing through Doddridge, Fouke, Garland City, Texarkana, Fulton, Saratoga, Ashdown, Foreman and Alleene. If you know anything about Alleene (and we didn’t), you’ll know it is an unincorporated community in Little River County; the Will Reed Farm House, an 1895 dogtrot built by a blacksmith that is on the National Register of Historic Places and is now operated as a museum, is there. “Arkansas Motorcycling” passes this up; call it an oversight. Alleene is also the birthplace of Chester Lauk of “Lum and Abner” radio fame, which “Arkansas Motorcycling” does mention. The route also passes by the Texarkana Regional Arts Center, Lake Millwood and the Monster Mart in Fouke, and shares a stretch of road with the Talimena Scenic Byway (Arkansas Parks Route 15). Garland City, pop. 237, would make a good stop for the hungry: It has not one but two famed catfish restaurants: Doc’s Fish and Steak, and Westshore. They’re open for dinner.

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

Wheel life stories

f you want to have something to brag about next time you’re quizzed on why you live in Arkansas, say, “Bike trails. That’s how we roll, pal.” Arkansas is increasingly becoming a cycling destination, from the brilliantly conceived Razorback Regional Greenway to the Arkansas River Trail (central to the Big Dam Bridge 100) to the Delta Heritage Trail rail-to-trail conversion. You can find information on the road and mountain bike trails of Arkansas at arkansas.com/bicycling, traillink.com, arkansasrivertrail.org, bikearkansas. com, nwatrails.org and mtbark.com. Mountain bikers can find great trail maps for Northwest Arkansas at fasttrails.org. Here we cover just a minute portion of what could someday be laced together to form the Tour de Arkansas.

Bike routes, paved and rocky. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

SLAUGHTER PEN Bentonville (part of the Razorback Regional Greenway) Slaughter Pen, which is actually a network of trails in the Bentonville city limits, is one of the several mountain bike systems off the paved (mostly bikeand hike-dedicated) 36-mile Razorback Regional Greenway that runs from Bentonville to Fayetteville. Slaughter Pen features 20 miles of beginner, intermediate and expert mountain bike trails, with names like Seed Tick Shuffle (.74 miles) for first-time bikers to the more difficult Medusa (1.43 miles), Tatamagouche (1.97 miles), Cry Baby (.17) and the challenging Choo-Choo (.21 miles). The backbone of Slaughter Pen is the All-American trail, a section of 22

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

the Razorback Greenway that hugs the edge of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s woody grounds. Slaughter Pen’s mountain bike trails are single-track soft routes with features like log runs, wall rides and downhills. There’s also a free ride park for riders who like to be in the air as much as on the ground. Slaughter Pen con-

nects to Lake Bella Vista and Blowing Springs routes on the north through the Greenway. Other mountain bike routes off the Razorback Greenway include Lake Atalanta in Rogers, 10 miles of flow and fast downhills; the nearby Railyard, for riders of all skills; Hobbs State Park in Rogers, 20 miles with sections for all

riders; the new Thunder Chicken trail in Springdale for more downhill and wall rides; the Lake Fayetteville Trail, 7 miles of single track shared by hikers, runners, mountain bikers and birdwatchers; the 10-mile Mount Sequoyah trail in Fayetteville, a hilly route close to town; and the 7-mile Mount Kessler Trail outside Fayetteville, a challenging

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Arkansas Times

Mountain bikers confident enough to rattle along ledges only a foot or two wide should check out The Ledges, the 3 1/2-mile offshoot of the new Back Forty trail outside Bella Vista. The Back Forty, developed by the local International Mountain Biking Association chapter F.A.S.T., circles the east side of the town. The first 15 miles of the 40-mile track are now open, allowing a zip through a landscape of bluffs, waterfalls and deep woods. Access to the Back Forty is from Blowing Springs Park, the Buckingham Trailhead, Lake Ann Trailhead and Bear Hollow Trailhead.

SWEET SPOT TRAIL (Ouita Coal Co. Trail) Russellville Mountain bikers describe this trail as a roller coaster that takes cyclists by the water’s edge of Lake Dardanelle in places and provides challenging climbs in others, including a tight curve that

one cyclist warned could send you flying into the lake if you aren’t careful. The trail was once used by motocross bikes, but no more, and the ruts those bikes created have been smoothed out. You access the trail at the Sweet Spot landing. Other trails in the area include the Old Post Park and the Illinois Bayou trails; north of Russellville, on Mount Nebo, is the Nebo Bench Trail and the more difficult Moccasin Gap trails. Russellvillearkansas.org has links to trail information.

WYE MOUNTAIN LOOP Road bikers in Little Rock who like to pedal in low gear while standing up should check out the Wye Mountain Loop on the pastoral and hilly lanes of westernmost Pulaski County. Wye Mountain is known mostly for its thousands of daffodils, but to cyclists it’s also known for its category 5 climb up the Ouachita Mountain foothills. The route circles Lake Maumelle. Head south from Pinnacle Mountain State Park (Hwy. 300) to state Hwy. 10, turn right and then right again on Hwy. 113, where you’ll head up Wye Mountain, a

climb that will take you from 335 feet above sea level to 834 feet asl. Then wheee! There’s a fast 3-mile descent and you’re halfway through the 37 mileroute, with just rolling hills to Roland and back to Pinnacle. (A category 5 climb is the least difficult of all, if that makes you feel any better.)

ARKANSAS RIVER TRAIL The Big Dam Bridge, the longest pedestrian bridge in the U.S. until the Big River Crossing was built across the Mississippi River between West Memphis and Memphis, threw Central Arkansas’s interest in biking into high gear. It connects the River Trail (Ride No. 10 on arkansas.com’s Road Cycling section) that loops north and south of the Arkansas River. The original 16-mile route, a paved, mostly dedicated (on the north side) route from the Clinton Presidential Center on the east and the Big Dam Bridge on the west, has been extended to Two Rivers Park on the west. The 88.5-mile “Grand Loop” starts at Two Rivers and runs on state roads to Natural Steps, Roland, Wye and Bigelow south of the Arkansas

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Arkansas Times

River, over the Toad Suck Ferry Lock and Dam to Conway and then south to Mayflower to its connection with the dedicated trail at the north end of the Big Dam Bridge. The scenery along the River Trail on the north side is sandy, riparian grasslands and willow trees; Two Rivers Park includes marsh and meadow; the Grand Loop takes you into the Ouachita Mountain foothills and along the ridgeline between Conway and Mayflower.

SUNKEN LANDS CULTURAL ROADWAY Turrell

The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 shifted and sank parts of East Arkansas, allowing us to give this area its wonderfully poetic name. The Sunken Lands bike ride, which starts in Turrell and goes through Tyronza, Lepanto, Dyess and Marked Tree, is elevated by all kinds of cultural stops: The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza; the Painted House (the set for the movie based on John Grisham’s book, in Lepanto); the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess; the Marked Tree Delta Area Museum; Whitton Farms; and the Hampson Archeological Museum State Park that features

Buffalo National River near Ponca

ARKANSAS ORIGINALS

Sulphur Springs

Bentonville Gentry Cave Springs

Siloam Springs

Beaver

Pea Ridge

Bella Vista

71 62

Berryville

49 Rogers Lowell

Harrison

Tontitown

Boxley

West Fork

Pelsor

Mulberry

Van Buren

49 Charleston

Greenwood

10 Hackett

Subiaco

Greenbrier

64 Morrilton

Oppelo

Ola

Conway

Jessieville

270 Pine Ridge

Mena

270 Royal

Norman

278

Daisy

71 Dierks De Queen

Lonoke

Rock

Keo

England

167 530

Malvern 270

Murfreesboro

Okolona

26 30

Sheridan

Stuttgart

Altheimer

165

Pine Bluff 530

Gillett

167

Star City

371

Prescott

Hope 278

371

Camden

82 371

On any road trip, there’s a short list of things to see and do. These are the ones on our list – the things you can only see and do in Arkansas. Most locals will say they know and love these places and will direct their friends and family from out of town to them. But, be honest, how many of these “Arkansas Originals” can you actually check off of your bucket list? (We’re missing a few, too.) If you haven’t been there, done that, now is the time to do it. It’s perfect road tripping weather, and these aren’t just places that are close to home: This is your home. Get out there, and get to know every corner of it.

Jersey

Smackover

167

Magnolia

Only in Arkansas

278 278

El Dorado

Monticello

Arkansas City

63 165 425

Jerome

Hamburg

Lake Village

165

63 Emerson

Junction City 167

Rohwer

Tillar McGehee

79 7

Bradley

278

McNeil

Warren

Hampton

371

425

167

278

Dumas

Fordyce

Texarkana

Helena-West Helena

St. Charles

530

270

Arkadelphia

Marianna

Barton

165

Ashdown

Columbus Washington

ARKANSAS.COM

Hazen

167

278

Brinkley

49 79

Scott

371

DeValls Bluff

West Memphis

Bismarck

Nashville Foreman

Bauxite

Forrest City

Des Arc

630 440 30 Little

Bryant

Kirby

26 27

278

Hot Springs

70 270

Glenwood

Wickes

Benton

Mountain Pine

Mount Ida

430

Earle

Madison

Cabot Jacksonville

North Little Rock

10 7

Mayflower

Waldron

McCrory

Wilson

Turrell

Wynne

67 167

Perryville

Searcy

Dyess

Marked Tree Tyronza

Augusta

Pottsville

270

Lepanto

Harrisburg

Centerville

Mansfield

Newport

167

55 Osceola

Jacksonport

Bald Knob

Dardanelle

Booneville

Jonesboro

Heber Springs

Russellville

Blytheville Manila

Fairfield Bay

Dover

Magazine

412

Paragould

Walcott

Paris

Batesville

Clinton

40 Clarksville

Walnut

412 Ridge 412

Mountain View

Shirley

Wiederkehr Ozark Village Altus

167

Leslie

Piggott Rector

67 Powhatan

St. Francis

Marshall

Winslow

Alma

Pocahontas

Ash Flat

Norfork

Gilbert

Jasper

Fort Smith

5 Calico Rock

Ponca

Prairie Grove Lincoln

Cotter Yellville

Hardy

67 Corning

412

Huntsville

Fayetteville

Salem

Mountain Home

Flippin

Maynard

Dalton

412

Lakeview

Springdale

412

Bull Shoals

Mammoth Spring

Gamaliel

Eureka Springs

Garfield

82 7

Crossett

425

65 Wilmot

Eudora

Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs

The Beatles Sculpture, Walnut Ridge

Museum of Discovery, Little Rock

Riv

cis ran

Jonesboro

55 t

ac Bl

Rig h

DeVie

u Ba

Rive St. Francis

guille L’An

e Cac

Ca ch

55 Earle

64 49

Turrell

Rive r

Riv

Wynne

McCrory

Wilson

Marked Tree Tyronza

Lake Poinsett

Dyess

Lepanto

Harrisburg

Newport

Osceola

Augusta er

Blytheville Manila

St .F

Cache

Riv

49 63

Riv

Chu te

412

Jacksonport

Wh ite

Paragould

Walcott

rry

Powhatan

Lake Charles

raw St

Walnut 412 Ridge 412

Rector

Riv

St. Francis

Piggott

Corning

Lake Ashbaugh

62 r

Bl ac k

Pocahontas g R ive

67 67

Riv er

t oin nP er Riv

Dalton

in Spr

rent Cur

ve Ele

Maynard

Forrest City

Madison

70 Francis

Mud Lake

64 West Memphis

Horseshoe Lake

P IP

UPPER D E LTA Legendary sounds and spirit Two national scenic byways cut across this part of the state – the Great River Road and Crowley’s Ridge Parkway, which runs along an unusual geological formation, one of only two like it in the world. Crowley’s Ridge State Park is located here on the only elevation in the otherwise ﬂat Delta lowlands. On this land, Dyess Colony was established for working farm families, one of those being the Cash family. The Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home offers tours of the home, restored to what it would’ve looked like when the Man in Black was just a boy. Another historic stop in this area is the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum with a tour of the barn studio where Ernest Hemingway wrote portions of “A Farewell to Arms” at his wife Pauline’s family home.

Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, Dyess Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum, Piggott

ARKANSAS.COM

Crowley’s Ridge State Park

Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home

“Sunshine” Sonny Payne, King Biscuit Time

LOW E R D E LTA The bayou and the blues

Bayou Bartholomew

To really know this place is to experience the sounds – the real soul of it – at Delta Cultural Center in HelenaWest Helena where the nation’s longest-running daily radio show, “King Biscuit Time,” hosted by Blues Hall of Famer “Sunshine” Sonny Payne, is broadcast every weekday afternoon. Helena-West Helena is also home to the King Biscuit Festival held annually in October. Along with the music that runs through the heart of this region, the world’s longest bayou, Bayou Bartholomew, travels for over 350 miles through the Delta and is one of the most diverse streams in North America. This part of the state is famous for its ﬁshing and hunting. Delta Resort near McGehee is the place to stay with upscale accommodations and a premier sport clay shooting range. Lake Chicot State Park is located on a 20-mile-long oxbow and one of the most peaceful settings for ﬁshing, boating and bird-watching – and a beautiful spot to catch the sunset at the end of a big day in the outdoors. DeView

Brinkley

Riv

Fra ncis Ri ve r

Bay

St.

Lake Chicot

Bayo

Dumas

Rohwer

278 me

Crossett

425

Lake Village Lake Chicot

165

65 Wilmot

Eudora

Lake Lee

MISSISSIPPI

Hamburg

Macon Lake

River

Jerome

eu f

Lake Jack Lee

65 165

425

Lake Beulah

Arkansas City

Bartholo

Seven Devils Swamp

Bayou

Creek Lake Georgia Pacific

Monticello

River

igie

L. A r

278

Tillar McGehee

Cr.

Bayou

Lake Monticello

Macon

t-o

Jersey

ne Sali

278

RIVE

425

hita

SIP

SIS

MIS

e om ol

er Riv

Ouac

Gillett

Ba rth

RIV

165 Flag Lake

Star City

Warren

167

u yo Ba

Meto

530

Pine Bluff

270

St. Charles

79 White Hall

530

ue Gr

Barton

Stuttgart Little LaGrue

W ab

ite

Cascoe

Bear Cr. Lake

Helena-West Helena

63 165

Marianna

Bayou

Delta Cultural Center

Moro

Delta Resort near McGehee

Grand Lake

ARKANSAS.COM

Little

ve Ri

Red

167

Bald Knob

Nimrod Lake

Riv

Mayflower

Sherwood

River

r Riv e

Hazen Peckerwood Lake

165

lin

England

DeValls Bluff

Clear Lake

Keo

Des Arc

30 67

167 530

Bauxite

RIVE

Bryant

Old Riv. Lake

Lonoke u yo

Fork

10 Little Rock 40 630 430 Little440 Scott 30 Rock

Riv er

Cabot Jacksonville

Benton

ite

Bay

Bearskin Lake

rth

dle

40 North

Lake Maumelle

yp ess Cypr

Lake Conway

7 Mid

67 167

ARKANSAS

H Harris Brake Lake

ave

F S. Fourche La

Perryville

Conway

che

Searcy u

Oppelo

Des Arc

yo Ba

Morrilton

Greenbrier

Cr .

Brewer Lake

Ca dr

Overcup Lake

CENTRAL Capital city scene Little Rock is the place to start with its walkable and bike-friendly downtown. Pop into local shops, restaurants, museums, craft breweries and a distillery. From the Clinton Presidential Center and Park, continue on to the world headquarters of Heifer International, which works to end hunger and poverty across the globe. If you haven’t toured the ESSE Purse Museum, it’s also downtown on South Main Street and is the only brick-and-mortar purse museum in North America. Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site remembers the integration of the Little Rock Nine in 1957. On the north side of the Arkansas River is the USS Razorback, a submarine present at the signing of the treaty that ended WWII. Another one-of-a-kind spot in Central Arkansas is the Gann Museum in Benton, the only known structure in the world built from bauxite. Cotham’s Mercantile in Scott is famous for its Hubcap Burger, which you can also get in the city, but the original is totally worth the drive. Petit Jean State Park in Morrilton is the ﬂagship of the parks system and just a short drive from Little Rock. Petit Jean State Park Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Heifer International, Little Rock

ESSE Purse Museum, Little Rock

Gann Museum, Benton

Historic Washington State Park

SOUTHWEST A diamond in the Ouachitas

Wegner Crystal Mine, Mount Ida

Hot Springs Baseball Trail

Crater of Diamonds State Park

e lin

Cr.

Magnolia

R iv er

Smackover

El Dorado

eat

167 Moro

yo u

Cr .

63 Emerson

rch

Bayou

278

Cane

167 o Tw

Hampton 278

371

82 371

pagnoll e am Ch

Camden

278

McNeil

Lake Columbia

Bradley

Lake Erling

Fordyce

Riv

White Oak Lake

371

7 r

Rive

Bodcau

Cr.

r Te

Prescott

Hope 278 Re

hu r

Texarkana lp

sou

hit

Mis

Millwood Lake

167

67 371

Columbus Washington

River

Arkadelphia

26 30

Okolona

270 Sheridan

River

Red

Ashdown

Little

278

270

Te r

Nashville

Malvern

Murfreesboro

at Riv

Fork

ss Co

26 371

Bismarck r

26 27

278

530 167

DeGray Lake

Lake Greeson

Dierks

Kirby

Lake Hamilton

Daisy

rth

70 270

Glenwood

Gillham Lake

De Queen

278

Little

Hot Springs

270 Royal

Norman

Little

Mountain Pine

Lake Ouachita

Mount Ida

Wickes

Pine Ridge

dle

Mena

Mid

Lake Wilhelmina

Foreman

Jessieville

270

DeGray Lake Resort State Park

In the Ouachita Mountains lie many natural wonders â&#x20AC;&#x201C; lakes, rivers, crystals, diamonds and hot springs. Come soak in the history and culture of the area on Historic Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park. Here, you can also learn about infamous mobsters at the Gangster Museum of America and famous baseball players on the Hot Springs Baseball Trail. Other special spots in the region include Crater of Diamonds State Park, the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only diamond mine open to the public; Mount Ida, Crystal Capital of the World; and Historic Washington State Park, where you can take a horse-drawn surrey ride through town.

Junction City 167

Lake Jack Lee

ARKANSAS.COM

Fayetteville

Eagle

W .F or k

Ponca Boxley

Buffalo

Jasper

Winslow

Mulberry

Altus

AS KANS

Greenwood

Sugarloaf Lake

40 Clarksville

Charleston

10 Booneville

Paris

RIVER

Lake Dardanelle

Subiaco

Dover

Russellville Centerville

10 Pe

tit

s oi

Ill

Jean

Pottsville

Dardanelle

Magazine Blue Mountain Lake

Mansfield

Big

Cr.

Wiederkehr Ozark Village

Van Buren

Hackett

River Horsehead Lake

Alma

Pelsor Bayou

Mulberry

. Cr

Oark

Lake Fort Smith

e Le

49 Mountainburg

Fort Smith

v Ri

rk Fo

West Fork

Crooked Cr.

412

Huntsville

ite

dle Mid

Lincoln

Harrison

Cre

Prairie Grove

Bull Shoals Lake

Ri ve r

Tontitown

Rive

Springdale

412

Bull Shoals Lake

62 Beaver Lake

ge sa

Cr.

Osa

49 Rogers Lowell

Berryville O

Gentry Cave Springs

Eureka Springs

Garfield

71 62

Kin gs

Bentonville Siloam Springs

Beaver

Pea Ridge

Bella Vista

Cre ek

Sulphur Springs

River

Ola

71 Poteau

Riv

Waldron

Lake Hinkle

River LaFave

Nimrod Lake

Fourche

270

NORTHWEST Arts and outdoors in the Ozarks There’s always a new exhibit or a new way to experience Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, like on a guided or self-guided tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright BachmanWilson House or on the Crystal Bridges Trail. Bike rentals are available on the Bentonville Square, home of the Walmart Museum, commemorating Walton’s 5 & 10, Sam Walton’s original store. The Razorback Regional Greenway connects Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and other downtowns. And IMBA, the International Mountain Bicycling Association, designated this area the ﬁrst regional ride center because of the bike-friendly amenities. Other unique places in Northwest Arkansas include: Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Whitaker Point near Ponca and Mount Magazine State Park atop the state’s highest peak.

Whitaker Point, Ponca Walmart Museum, Bentonville

ARKANSAS.COM

Thorncrown Chapel, Eureka Springs

Mount Magazine State Park

Ozark Folk Center State Park

Mammoth Spring State Park

Blanchard Springs Caverns, Fifty-Six

NORTH CENTRAL Mountain music and culture In this part of the Ozarks, old-time traditions are preserved at The Ozark Folk Center State Park, the only park of its kind, where working artisans demonstrate skills like basket weaving, blacksmithing and quilt making. The park hosts concerts and workshops seasonally. Also in this region is the Little Red River, a world-class trout fishing stream; Mammoth Spring, a National Natural Landmark, that pumps more than nine million gallons of water an hour and flows south to form the Spring River; and Blanchard Springs Caverns, an underground wonderland that contains one of the world’s largest flowstone.

M tt

Mammoth Spring Cr. Cherokee Salem Fork Village

Bull Shoals Lakeview

Yellville

Cotter

Hardy

63 St

Norfork

Crooked

Cr.

Mountain Home

63 rin

Flippin

412

th Sou

Norfork Lake Bull Shoals Lake

Ash Flat

Riv

Calico Rock r ve

Little

Riv

167

r Greers Ferry Lake

Heber Springs Little

Red

ve Ri

Fairfield Bay

Batesville

Riv

Shirley

Clinton S. Fork

ve r

tle

Lit

Leslie

167 W

Mountain View

Archeys

Gilbert

id d

River

ffa

St. Joe

Little Red River

ARKANSAS.COM

artifacts from a 15th century Indian site. This route is used for the Tour duh Sunken Lands Cultural Bike Ride each November.

HOT SPRINGS AREA TRAILS There are on-road and mountain bike trails galore in the Hot Springs area, ranging in difficulty from “I just had a beer at the Superior Bathhouse and want to cruise a bit” to the Ouachita National Recreation Trail, a 108-mile International Mountain Bike Association “Epic ride” from Hot Springs Village to Mena through the Ouachita National Forest. You’ll have to dismount on the most rugged areas of this trail, and it is shared with hikers. It’s the longest mountain bike trail in the state, so you’ll be glad to get to civilization in Mena, where you’ll be able to get a meal and a drink (via the old “private club” method in dry Polk County). Speaking of libations, you won’t be too far away from the Superior Brewery if you ride the Hot Springs Loop, which starts and ends at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Central Avenue and loops on U.S. Hwy. 70 on the south loop and state Hwy. 5 on the north. Another kind of wet you’ll pass: Magic Springs. For beginners, there’s the 2.25-mile Creek Greenway Trail that will one day connect Hot Springs to wetlands near Lake Hamilton. Bike Hot Springs at hotsprings.org is another good resource for trails, including maps.

Lexa This rails-to-trail endeavor of Arkansas State Parks began construction in 2002, 11 years after it was endorsed by the agency’s commission. One day, it will run 84 miles from Lexa to Arkansas City; today, 20 miles are complete, from Lexa south to Elaine. The trail is densely packed gravel, like the 240-mile Katy Trail in Missouri, suitable for hybrid mountain-road bikes and mountain bikes. There are additional trailheads at Wal-

nut Corner at the U.S. 49 overpass, Lick Creek (state Hwy. 85 just south of Barton), and Lake View. Another 7 miles, from Arkansas City along the Mississippi River mainline levee, is paved and for vehicular traffic as well. A visitors’ center at Barton occupies a former cotton gin and serves as headquarters for the state park. There are 10 campsites there as well, rental bikes and a small gift shop. The trail follows the old Union Pacific line from a mile south of Lexa to Rohwer; Union Pacific

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CANE CREEK LAKE TRAIL Star City The Lake Trail at Cane Creek State Park, near Star City, is a 15.5mile shared trail that should provide three to six hours of mountain biking through forest, over creeks and three suspension bridges, and by Cane Creek Lake. Given that it’s in South Arkansas, you might think the trail is perfectly flat, but Cane Creek State Park is on the edge of the area of the state known as the Timberlands, hilly forests of pine and cypress. The trail crosses into the Delta, so geology buffs will appreciate the transition. You can camp and fish at the state park; there is also a secluded camping shelter in the woods. More at arkansasstateparks. com/canecreek.

DELTA HERITAGE TRAIL

donated its right-of-way to the state in 1992. To date, the state has spent $7.7 million on the trail; the total cost (most of which is unfunded) is estimated at $51.3 million in state and federal sources. More at arkansasstateparks. com/canecreek.

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

BTW

Reel Arkansas

Take a jaunt to some of the places made famous on the big screen. BY DAVID KOON

“SLING BLADE” SHOOTING LOCATIONS Benton BACK IN 1995, AN largely unknown actor and screenwriter from Arkansas named Billy Bob Thornton got a weird haircut, stuck his jaw out, and managed to star in and direct one of the handful of truly great movies made in Arkansas. After it debuted in 1996, “Sling Blade,” a film about a mentally challenged man 36

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Arkansas Times

who befriends and becomes the unlikely protector of a fatherless boy, went on to become a beloved classic of American cinema and arguably one of the best films of the 1990s. Thornton was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar that year for his multilayered portrayal of Karl Childers, and the film won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Though Thornton has since gone on to film stardom, it was the low-budget film shot in Benton that started it all.

ith mountains, delta, rivers, piney woods and prairie flatlands, Arkansas can serve as a passable big-screen stand-in for almost any place in the U.S., save the frozen wastelands of Alaska, the Rockies or the beach. As such, several films have been wholly or partially shot in the state over the years, from out-and-out wastes of celluloid to certified classics. Below are a few of the more notable examples of places where the Natural State got her close-up.

Many of the original shooting locations are still standing, including Garry’s Whopper Burger (now called Garry’s Sling Blade Drive-In to cash in on its cinema fame) at 619 Cox St., which featured in a pivotal scene between Karl and Vaughan (played by the late John Ritter). Also of interest is C.W. Lewis Stadium at 1004 Washington St., where Karl, young Frank (Lucas Black) and Frank’s friends play a game of pickup football; and the little house that served

as Frank’s home at 522 S. Main St. (the home is a private residence, so please don’t disturb the occupants). If you’re willing to drive a bit down to Haskell, you can also see the Arkansas Health Center, a real-life state psychiatric facility that plays itself in the beginning and end of the film.

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ARKANSAS, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! FIVE PLACES MENTIONED IN RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IN OR NOT! Bridge Street Hot Springs The 98-foot-long street was listed by Ripley as “The World’s Shortest Street in Everyday Use,” a distinction the city has capitalized on by making Bridge Street the route of their annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The Basin Park Hotel Eureka Springs Eureka Springs, with its hilly streets and Victorian architecture, was a favorite of Ripley’s over the years. Ripley noted the Basin Park as a wonder because every floor of the eight-story hotel, the back side of which stands against a mountain, features a ground-level entrance. St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church Eureka Springs

Another Ripley find in Eureka Springs, Ripley wrote about St. Elizabeth’s because — due to the rugged terrain where it was built — visitors to the church enter and exit the grounds through the church bell tower. Arkadelphia Might be hard to believe today, given that Arkadelphia is the home of Ouachita Baptist University, but in 1932, Ripley singled out the city because it had more service stations than churches. The grave of Daniel Richmond Edwards Cunningham Cemetery, Royal The Texas-born Edwards, who died in October 1967 having served in both World War I and World War II, was noted by Ripley as one of the most decorated American soldiers of all time, receiving 83 medals during his military career, including the Silver Star, the Distinguished Service Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was reportedly wounded 55 times in combat.

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

Set in the vast, mountainous beauty of Montana,

BEYOND THE DIVIDE is a feature-length documentary film about war, peace, and the courage to find common ground. Almost 50 years have passed since the beginning of the Vietnam War. The politics and casualties are history yet deep scars remain between those who served and those who fought a different war at home. In Missoula, Montana, a mysterious graffiti peace symbol inflamed the enduring animosity, dividing a community for decades. Through the courageous acts of a Vietnam veteran and a peace advocate, BEYOND THE DIVIDE illuminates a path to healing old wounds and demonstrates authentic peace building. The story inspires audiences to take courageous first steps to reach beyond polarization in search of what unites us instead of what divides us.

October 19, 2016 • 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. “MUD” SHOOTING LOCATIONS Dumas

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Supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Movies at Macarthur 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock • 501-376-4602 • arkmilitaryheritage.com

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“MUD,” WHICH SHARES a lot of themes with the aforementioned “Sling Blade,” is the work of another brilliant writer/director from Arkansas: Little Rock native Jeff Nichols. The 2012 film, centering on two boys who stumble across and seek to help a man on the run, stars Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland and Reese Witherspoon. It was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival the year it was released, and took home a basketful of awards from the Independent Spirit Awards in 2014, including Best Director for Nichols. Though Nichols and the studio could have gotten tax breaks to shoot the film in neighboring (and just as river-laced) Louisiana, the young director was firm that it should be shot in his home state. As such, “Mud” is rooted in the dark earth of Southeast Arkansas, and particularly the rivers and bayous of the area. Though many of the locations in “Mud” are too remote to be reached easily — including the island where the boys first meet McConaughey, which is a real island in the Mississippi River near Eudora, and the ramshackle houseboats on the White River that served as the homes of some of the characters — there are quite a few locations in Dumas that can be seen on a road trip, including the Piggly Wiggly store at 358 U.S. Hwy. 65 south, the Executive Inn just down the street at 310 U.S. Hwy. 65, Gail’s Sports Bar (which appears to have closed since the filming) at 1470 U.S. Hwy. 165 and the Big Banjo Pizza Parlor at 720 U.S. Hwy. 65 south.

“A FACE IN THE CROWD” LOCATIONS Piggott WITH DONALD TRUMP surfing a populist wave of low-information voter adoration, it’s useful to revisit director Elia Kazan’s 1957 film “A Face in the Crowd.” Originally something of a flop when it came out, it’s since been proved prophetic for its dark portrayal of what fame — especially TV fame — can do to a person’s mind. It’s the story of a layabout from East Arkansas named Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes (Andy Griffith, who is amazing in his first big-screen role — and miles away from the jovial Matlock or Sheriff Andy Taylor), who rises from life as a shiftless drunk to a serious contender for a seat in the halls of political power after being plucked from obscurity to sing on a local radio show called “A Face

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in the Crowd.” That appearance leads him to TV stardom. Rhodes’ narcissism and ego ascend in lockstep with his popularity, until the waxen wings that had held him aloft suddenly melt in the limelight. By then, he’s nothing short of an amoral monster, a character so dark that Griffith swore off playing anything but good-natured everymen for the rest of his career. “A Face in the Crowd” is a film that owes quite a bit to the terrain and attitudes of Northeast Arkansas in the 1950s. While a good bit of the film was shot on sound stages in New York City, Kazan and his crew came to Arkansas in the summer of 1956 both to shoot some pivotal scenes and to recruit extras. Many of the original shooting locations are gone, including the old Clay County Courthouse, which was replaced by a more modern building in 1966, but several locations seen in the

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film can still be visited today, including the Piggott town square and the Matilda and Karl Pfeiffer Museum at 1071 Heritage Park Drive, a 1930s mansion that served as the shooting location for several scenes between Griffith and co-star Patricia Neal.

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

“PARADISE LOST” LOCATIONS West Memphis, Gould, Jonesboro and Corning IT’S HARD TO TALK ABOUT locations in the “Paradise Lost” documentary trilogy without having the conversation smack of Murder Tourism, but the three documentaries that brought about the groundswell of public support that eventually freed Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin from prison 18 years after they were convicted of a murder they said they didn’t commit are inarguably landmarks of American nonfiction cinema. Joe Berlinger and his directing partner, the late Bruce Sinofsky, believed they were coming to Arkansas to film the trial of three devil worshippers who had committed the May 1993 murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis until they arrived and realized they were witnessing a modern-day witch hunt. Released in June 1996 on HBO and featuring footage shot inside the courtroom (a rarity, even then), “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” pointed out the failures of the police investigation and prosecution in the case, leading to a global Free the West Memphis Three movement. The film would be followed by two sequels, eventually bringing enough pressure to bear from both the public and famous advocates that Baldwin,

Echols and Misskelley were released from prison in August 2011. For those not morbid enough to seek out the scene of the gruesome crime near Interstate 40, locations seen or mentioned in the trilogy include the former Bojangles Chicken restaurant at 1551 N. Missouri St. in West Memphis, about a mile from the crime scene, where a mysterious man covered in mud and bleeding from a cut on his forearm was reported to police the night of the murders; the Clay County Western District Court at 800 W. Second St. in Corning, where Jessie Misskelley was convicted in January 1994; Varner Supermax Prison, at 320 State Hwy. 388 in Gould, where Damien Echols was held in near solitary confinement on death row until his release; and the Craighead County Courthouse at 511 S. Main St. in Jonesboro, where Echols and Baldwin were convicted in 1995. The three were freed from the same courthouse in 2011.

THE OLD MILL

Also in Arkansas …

LAMAR PORTER FIELD 3200 W. Seventh St., Little Rock Seen in “A Soldier’s Story” (1984)

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

Nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and co-starring a young Denzel Washington, “A Soldier’s Story” is a largely overlooked classic of 1980s cinema shot completely in Arkansas, including scenes filmed in Clarendon and at Fort Chaffee. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Charles Fuller, it’s the tale of Capt. Richard Davenport (Howard Rollins), who is sent to Louisiana to investigate the murder of a black Army master sergeant in 1944. During that investigation, Washington’s character flashes back to an important baseball game. That scene, complete with more than a hundred extras in World War

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THE OLD MILL

Though Cameron Crowe — the writer/director responsible for newish classics like “Almost Famous” and “Jerry McGuire” and the screenplay for “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” — has had some big hits in his day, a film that’s clearly not among them is the muddled “Elizabethtown.” Starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and Jessica Biel, the film surely had star power, but the road-flick-meets-manic-pixiedreamgirl plot fell flat with audiences. Crowe filmed several fleeting scenes for the “on the road” portion of the film in Eureka Springs, including a brief glimpse of the Christ of the Ozarks statue and a shot of a concrete T-Rex at the defunct Dinosaur World tourist trap outside town.

Seen in “Gone With the Wind” T.R. Pugh Memorial Park 3800 Lakeshore Drive, North Little Rock Featuring rustic design elements created in concrete by sculptor Dionicio Rodriguez, the Old Mill was completed in 1933 as the centerpiece of the new Lakewood neighborhood in North Little Rock, only a few years before the 1939 debut of “Gone With the Wind.” The replica mill appears in a montage of idyllic Southern scenes in the opening frames of the movie, and is believed to be the only structure seen in “Gone With the Wind” that hasn’t been demolished.

Seen in “Elizabethtown” (2005)

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

DeTonti to Hillary

t’s a given, fan of Arkansas history, that you have visited Little Rock’s largest history museums — the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum and, featuring favorite native son, the Clinton Presidential Center. The first three cover 19th- to 20th-century Arkansas history; the last shows what an Arkansan can accomplish. Outside the capital, though, you can get into some Arkansas specifics. Like what it was like to be a country doctor in Arkansas. Or be treated for tuberculosis. Or be interned because your ancestors were Japanese. There’s a museum for railroad buffs, and one for racecar fans. One museum got national airtime at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Another tells the story of Arkansas’s big oil days. Down where the Arkansas River meets up with the White River is a museum dedicated to Arkansas’s French and Indian cultures, where folks fought for who would be top nation. What follows is a trip through time in Arkansas. (We also take a detour to visit some prime kitsch in — where else? — Hot Springs. See the sidebar).

ARKANSAS POST NATIONAL MEMORIAL 1741 Old Post Road Gillett 870-548-2207 nps.gov/arpo 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays In 1686, south of what is now Gillett, Henri de Tonti created a trading post for the French near the Quapaw town of Osotouy on the Arkansas River. What ensued was years of conflict by French, Spanish and Indian forces and battling American brothers over this strategic spot at the confluence of the Arkansas and White rivers. The original Arkansas Post, half a musket shot, it’s said, from Osotouy, was moved several times because of flooding; the park site, the second and fourth locations of the Post, was once called Ecores Rouges. Much later, after the 1783 attack by the Chickasaws and English, the post became the territorial capital of Arkansas from 1803 to 1822. Today, things are pretty quiet at Arkansas Post, tucked between Moore’s Bayou and Post Lake, a backwater of the Arkansas River. The museum features exhibits on Arkansas’s colonial history, the back-and-forth ownership between France and Spain, the Louisiana Purchase, the fur trade, the steamships and keel boats that traveled up from New Orleans to the post, the culture of the Quapaw and the Civil War. The latter has gotten increasing

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Arkansas Times

attention, thanks to the sesquicentennial. Arkansas Post was the site of Confederate Fort Hindman, built to keep the Union from advancing upriver to Little Rock. The remains of the fort, destroyed by Union troops in January 1863, are under Post Lake. The park has installed wayside exhibits interpreting the Civil War past, and is partnering with the Quapaw tribe on wayside exhibits on their cultural influence on the post. You can visit the village of Osotouy, but you’ll have to walk in, and if you visit in summer, you’d be well advised to don long pants infused with barely legal bug-killing poisons. Pay attention, too, to the many alligators that make their home in the flatwaters around the post.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH CENTER University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library, fifth floor, Room 5/109 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays 501-686-6735 (see also the Country Doctor Museum) It isn’t exactly a museum, the Historical Research Center, but if you want to see artifacts and read materials that tell the story of Arkansas’s hospital history, this is the place for you. We’re not talking just old photographs (though that’s part of the collection) and records and papers on venereal disease. Director Tim Nutt can show visitors Dr. Edwin

Hit the road for a little history. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK, BENJAMIN HARDY AND DAVID KOON

Bentley’s Civil War medical scrapbook, which includes segments of shellacked intestines glued to the pages. They document the ravages of typhoid and smallpox and were used as a teaching device, rather than a collection of offbeat mementos. There’s a baby scale and a baby carrier from the 1940s that looks like the box you use to take your cat to the vet, and a bit of quackery called the Farrador conductor, a cord one would attach to a wrist or ankle at one end and cold water at the other for a little electric shock to release negative ions. The HRC also has the Civil War letters of Dr. Roscoe Green Jennings, a Union doctor, to his brother in Washington (Hempstead County). Jennings was one of eight doctors who later founded UAMS, in 1879. Nutt was formerly head of Special Collections at UA-Fayetteville.

THE ARKANSAS TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIUM MUSEUM 256 Carey Road Booneville 479-675-5009 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. weekdays It is hard to imagine, in this age of medical miracles, that scores of Arkansans were once cut off from their families and shipped far from home because they suffered from a disease that can be quickly cured today with antibiotics. Such was the case, however, with the scourge of tuberculosis. In 1910, the

ARKANSAS POST NATIONAL MEMORIAL

Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium was established on a windswept mountaintop outside Booneville. Over the next 40 years, the 1,000-acre complex would become a self-contained city, with farms, a cannery, a dairy, a slaughterhouse, a fire department, a dedicated water treatment plant, and everything else needed to keep the facility running and as isolated as possible from the outside world. In 1941, the property was crowned by the Nyberg Building, a blond brick monolith six stories high and tenth of a mile long that served as the main hospital. There, thousands of Arkansans were treated, and untold numbers met their end. Better medicines eventually made the sanatorium obsolete, with the last patients leaving there in 1973. Now home to the Booneville Human Devel-

opment Center, “The Hill,” as locals call it, can still be quite a moving place to visit. The small Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium Museum was opened on the grounds in September 2010, featuring historic photos, documents and medical equipment. But the real attraction — if it can be called that — is the sanatorium complex itself. Many of the original buildings, including Nyberg, remain. While The Hill is not exactly a feel-good destination, it’s definitely one that will make a future dweller thankful that we live in these times. To see the museum, go to the headquarters building, sign in and get a key for a self-guided tour.

ARKANSAS COUNTRY

sle) of today’s health care system. The Country Doctor Museum features medical instruments, including an iron lung and a birthing bed, in a building that was the primary clinic for the town from 1936 to 1973. The museum’s greatest appeal should be to researchers interested in the early medical community of Arkansas, with its records on more than 200 Arkansas health professionals and oral histories. Here you can learn about Ruth Queenie Eldred (1903-1983), said by Sparks Regional Medical Center to be the first trained and certified nurse anesthetist in Arkansas; Dr. Fred Thomas Jones (1877-1938), an AfricanAmerican doctor who built the Booker T. Washington Memorial Hospital (later renamed the J.E. Bush Memorial Hospital) in Little Rock, which operated from 1918 to 1927, and the Great Southern Fraternity Hospital, where he was chief surgeon; and Dr. Edward Pelham McGehee, who, according to the museum, got “stranded in Lake Village,” and set up his practice and a small hospital locals called the “Mayo of the South.” Outside is a Model T. Dr. Herbert Boyer was the last doctor to practice in the home; the museum was created by his son, Dr. Harold Boyer.

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DOCTOR MUSEUM 109 Starr Ave. Lincoln 479-824-4307 drmuseum.net 1-4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday Lincoln is a little town of 1,752 people in Washington County, and is known, to those who know it, for the annual Arkansas Apple Festival, held the first weekend of October every year to commemorate the town’s erstwhile heritage of big apple orchards. Lincoln also pays homage to the early days of medicine, when doctors paid house calls, might accept a chicken for pay and did their best without the technology (and has-

First discovered in El Dorado in January 1921, oil was very good to South Arkansas, a region that had previously been a dusty backwater relying mostly on lumber mills. After drillers struck paydirt in nearby Smackover, the hamlet of less than 100 people soon bustled with over 25,000 residents. Though the boom quickly faded, the 40-acre Smackover oilfield produced more black gold than anywhere else in the U.S. for five straight months in 1925. The Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources, originally established as the Arkansas Oil and Brine Museum in 1986, celebrates the area’s boomtown heritage and fossil fuel-entangled legacy. Inside the museum’s 25,000-square-foot exhibition hall, visitors can look at exhibits on geology and how crude oil deposits form. There are also historical exhibits featuring period photos and artifacts. Especially impressive is a scaled-down re-creation

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of Smackover’s Main Street in the boomtown days, complete with stores, shops, figures in period dress and 1920s vehicles. Also on display is a rare 1927 Ford Model T circus wagon that was once the home of Smackover resident Rhene Miller Meyer, a.k.a. “The Goat Woman,” a former circus performer who settled in the area with her husband during the Great Depression. Outside the museum, visitors can visit Oil Field Park and see examples of vintage and modern oil producing machinery, including a 112foot wooden derrick like the one that brought prosperity to the area almost 100 years ago.

SOUTHERN TENANT FARMERS MUSEUM 117 N. Main St. Tyronza

RAILROAD MUSEUM 1700 Port Road Pine Bluff 870-535-8819 arkansasrailroadmuseum.org 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Mon.-Sat. Housed in a 70,000-square-foot train shed built in the 1890s, the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff is a true unsung gem of Arkansas museums, something like the mother church of a bygone age of steam and smoke. An air-conditioned room at the front features all the things you’d expect from a museum about rail travel: timetables and dining car menus, pocket watches and toys. Out in the engine shed, though, are the real stars of the show: long

elbow out the window of Engine 819. How this place exists without trainobsessed kids and their parents lined up out the gate every morning, elbowing to get in the minute the door flies open, we’ll never know. For anyone who ever loved a choo-choo, it’s a sooty sort of heaven.

WWII JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT MUSEUM 100 S. Railroad St. McGehee 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. The Japanese American Internment Museum operates in a renovated railroad depot building in downtown

One July night in 1934, in the depths of the Great Depression, 18 desperate men gathered in a country schoolhouse about 30 miles northwest of Memphis. Seven were black and 11 were white, but all were tenant farmers or sharecroppers left devastated by drought, the economic collapse and the predations of local landowners, many of whom were diverting New Deal payments intended to aid farm laborers into their own pockets. Thus was born the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, which over the next four years grew to include some 35,000 members throughout the Arkansas Delta, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and beyond. The organizing successes were short-lived, however: By the end of the decade, the union was collapsing as a result of internal struggles, harassment from landowners and the federal government’s exclusion of farm workers from many of the labor protections afforded to industrial workers by the New Deal. Nonetheless, the formation of a racially integrated union of poor farmers in the heart of the South was a landmark in the history of both labor and civil rights. The struggle is memorialized today in the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, which is operated by Arkansas State University and located in the building once occupied by Harry Mitchell and Clay East, two local businessmen and avowed socialists who led the creation of the union.

THE ARKANSAS

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

BRIAN CHILSON

9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays, noon-3 p.m. Sat. stfm.astate.edu

THE ARKANSAS TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIUM MUSEUM

rows of retired rolling stock, including five or six diesel locomotives, three restored cabooses, a black iron snowplow, and the star of the collection: St. Louis Southwestern Engine No. 819, a 200-ton steam-powered behemoth that was the last locomotive built in Pine Bluff and the state. Completed during World War II, she ran the Cotton Belt Line until her retirement in ’53. After languishing in a park for decades, the engine was restored to working condition in the 1980s. Scattered amongst the rail cars and engines are other beauties, including a roofless 1940s Sebring fire truck, pumper handcarts, model trains and flashing lights and railroad-related signage by the ton. Best of all is the fact that, other than a few spots blocked off with cones, everything is open for visitors to explore at their leisure: cabooses, sleeping cars, the fire truck, everything. One can even scale the steps to the cabs of the big diesel locomotives, or cock an

McGehee, about 12 miles from the camp in Rohwer where some 8,500 men, women and children were imprisoned from 1942 to 1945. A second socalled “relocation center” in nearby Jerome held another 8,500 detainees. All were U.S. citizens or residents of Western states torn from their homes, jobs, schools and businesses in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack. Their crime was simply being of Japanese descent. Photos document families being “evacuated” from California — fearful parents, crying children, “Everything Must Go” signs hanging in San Francisco storefronts — and the new normal of life under armed guard in the Arkansas Delta. Existence at Rohwer was backdropped by row after row of military-style barracks, and, beyond that, row after row of cotton. In the words of one inmate quoted in the exhibit, Eiichi Kamiya, their new residence was

“far enough south to catch Gulf Coast hurricanes, far enough north to catch Midwestern tornadoes, close enough to the river to be inundated by Mississippi Valley floods, and lush enough to be the haven for every creepy, crawly creature and pesky insect in the world.” The museum includes letters and newspaper clippings, school assignments and personal effects, but nothing is more striking than the artwork that came out of Rohwer and Jerome. There are reproductions of murals painted by children in the Rohwer camp’s school, a wooden owl in bas relief, a carving of the Japanese characters for “gaman” — a Zen Buddhist term meaning “stoically enduring the unbearable.” Yet for all the indignities suffered by camp residents, the museum also notes that Desha County life outside the fences was in some ways worse than life within, at least if you were unlucky enough to have been born poor, or, especially, African American. The authorities stripped Japanese inmates of their rights and their liberty, but it gave them sufficient food, clean water and electricity. Delta sharecroppers often lacked those privileges. After exploring the museum, make the drive to Rohwer itself. All that remains of the complex is a smokestack in the distance and a cemetery memorializing both the inmates who died there and the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the legendary Japanese-American unit that fought for the U.S. in World War II. There’s a walking tour narrated by recordings of George Takei of “Star Trek” fame, who was imprisoned at Rohwer as a small child with his mother and father. Takei’s baritone aside, the land is quiet and still, barracks and sharecroppers alike long since cleared away by the march of industrial agriculture.

CLINTON HOUSE MUSEUM 930 W. Clinton Drive Fayetteville 877-BIL-N-HIL clintonhousemuseum.org $8, free Oct. 11, the Clintons’ wedding anniversary 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. If you heard Bill Clinton speak at the Democratic National Convention this summer, you heard about his courtship of fellow Yale Law School student Hillary Rodham. After they graduated from Yale, they took a trip to Europe,

BTW where he proposed. She declined. In May 1975, Clinton, who was teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School, bought a house at 930 California Drive that Hillary had admired and apparently that won her over; they were married in June in the living room of the house. If Hillary Clinton wins the election in November, the house would be the only museum in the country where two presidents wed each other. That should sharpen the interest in this museum, and perhaps encourage the contribution of more artifacts to it. As it is, there’s a reproduction of Hillary’s wedding dress, video of Bill’s campaign ads from 1974 (unsuccessful, against John Paul Hammerschmidt for U.S. House) and 1976 (successful, to become state attorney general), copies of his political speeches, observations by friends of the couple’s time in Fayetteville and photographs. In 2010, a First Ladies Garden was added, planted with favorite plants of the nation’s first ladies. Completely unrelated, but fun to see, is the elaborately painted hog statue on the lawn, no doubt a part of the “Pigshibition” public art event of 2012. The museum is skimpy compared to the Clinton Presidential Center, but if Hillary wins, expect it to get a lot more traffic.

MARK MARTIN MUSEUM AND GIFT SHOP 1601 Batesville Blvd. Batesville 800-566-4461 markmartinmuseum.com 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. There’s a theory that our secretary of state got elected because many voters thought he was the winningest stock car racer in the International Race of Champions, Mark Martin. Secretary of State Mark Martin is not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, nor any other hall of fame, unless it’s a hall that honors faulty voter information. Racecar driver Mark Martin now operates a Ford dealership in Batesville, and there you can see Martin’s past race cars, including the No. 6 Viagra Coca-Cola 600 winning car (sounds like it had a lot of pickup), the 1990 Folgers Thunderbird, the ’89 Stroh’s Thunderbird, the No. 60 Win Dixie Busch car, and the car in which Martin won his record fifth IROC race. There are also race helmets, firesuits, trophies and other memorabilia, and things for sale, like autographed T-shirts and die-cast cars.

SEE SPA CITY! THE TOURIST TRAP LIVES IN HOT SPRINGS. BY DAVID KOON WHILE THE PHRASE “A SUCKER is born every minute” wasn’t coined about Hot Springs, it could have been. Only 20 years ago, the city was awash in tourist trap kitsch, everything from an exhibit of deadly snakes on Bathhouse Row to chickens trained to play — and win — tic-tac-toe at the I.Q. Zoo on Whittington. Though a lot of the old roadside attraction-style stuff from early Hot Springs is gone, there’s still plenty to fill the itinerary of day-trippers on a search for the quirky.

The Galaxy Connection 626 Central Ave. thegalaxyconnection.com $10 Let’s speak plainly: The geek funk surrounding the “Star Wars” films can get a little strong. Never, for example, ask a person wearing a Darth Vader T-shirt on it which film was best, because that will require access to a whiteboard. If, however, you’re one of those who still believe in the magic of a galaxy far, far away — or just the idea that all those action figures you’ve been handling with white gloves since childhood will be worth a fortune someday — you should definitely check out The Galaxy Connection. Featuring the personal collection of “Star Wars” and comic book superfan and cosplayer John Clowers, the museum is a kind of temple to all things geek, including a giant diorama of original “Star Wars” toys in their original boxes, fan-made takes on vehicles from the films, and full-size replicas of favorite characters, including Yoda, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Han Solo, frozen in carbonite. Most endearingly, one room features Clowers’ childhood bed, complete with beloved Batman sheets and surrounded by the superhero toys he played with as a kid. It’s all a bit corny but definitely heartfelt, with a DIY sensibility that speaks to the padawan in us all. The Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting

Zoo 847 Whittington Ave. Adults $9, kids 12 and under $7 When it comes to tourist traps in Hot Springs, pretty much only the hot springs themselves are older than the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo. Opened in 1902, the alligator farm is a classic road trip attraction, one of the last links to the golden age of Hot Springs as a tourist destination. As the name suggests, the farm features over 300 alligators, from little nippers to 10-footers that could star in their own low-budget film starring Traci Lords on Syfy —”Gatoricane!” perhaps. For our money, the time to go is in the winter, when the alligators are housed indoors in lumber and chicken wire pens that look like they couldn’t keep in a mildly aggravated iguana. All perfectly safe, but it does get you up close and personal. In addition to the gators, there’s a menagerie of other animals, including cougars, giant snapping turtles, a stuffed sawfish, turkeys, peacocks and a heinous-looking “Merman,” which appears to be the conjoined remains of a monkey and a fish melded around the time “Moby Dick” was written. On the other side of the walled compound are ostriches, goats, donkeys and tame deer that can be fed the bread every visitor receives when they pay their admission. There’s a top-notch old-timey gift shop, too, in case you want to get grandma an Alligator Farm coin purse or taxidermied alligator head. It’s all loads of fun, if you can stand being that close to reptiles that could likely move you a notch down on the food chain. The Gangster Museum of America 510 Central Ave. $15 for adults, $6 for children Back in the good ol’ days when a paper cut could kill you, the supposedly healing waters of Hot Springs drew in everybody from baseball greats to movie stars in search of rest and relaxation. Also drawn to the steam — and the gambling and vice Hot Springs was known for until police crackdowns in the late 1960s — were plenty of less savory types, including Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Nitti, Owney Madden, Bugs Moran and a laundry list of other storied underworld figures. Though the gangsters are gone (the ones who are semi-public about it, anyway), the underworld history of Hot

Springs is celebrated at The Gangster Museum of America, which opened in 2008. Beginning with displays on how illegal gambling came to the city and was allowed to thrive by police and city officials who turned a blind eye, the museum also features history and artifacts related to Capone, Madden and the New York mob and explains how so many dangerous men wound up choosing Hot Springs as their playground. On the way out, be sure to hit the well-stocked gift shop, including The Hatterie, where you can pick up a smart fedora just like your favorite gangster or G-man would have worn.

Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum 250 Central Ave. $10 for adults, $7 for children hotspringswaxmuseum.com When it comes to cornball, so-badit’s-somehow-good attractions in Hot Springs, it doesn’t get any better than the Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum. The museum’s figures remain largely unchanged since the museum opened in 1971 in the location of the once lavish Southern Club. Thrill to such supernovas as Sir Richard Burton, Jumpsuit Era Elvis and Neil Armstrong! Still, as folks who love kitsch, we can’t crack too hard on the classic museum, which features over 100 figures divided among seven different “worlds,” including horror (featuring gruesome scenes of medieval torture), battles, religion (with a life-size re-creation of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”), fairy tales, royals, and a “Stairway of the Stars,” with famous movie stars and political figures of the past. A groundbreaking leap in photorealistic representation of the human form it ain’t. If, however, you’re looking for some throwback touristing the way grandma and grandpa did it, look no further. In that sense, the place does have its hipster charms.

arktimes.com

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Far-flung and undersung

his year’s Road Trip issue coincides with an election year, one that’s rife with talk of “echo chambers” — various ways in which we, faced with a universe of choices about what to think and what to consume, create our own little comfort zones and snuggle up inside them with a heaping cup of ideas that look pretty much like our own. While that talk’s often focused on the political sphere, the same might be said of our behavioral patterns when it comes to hearing music. In the spirit of burning rubber on the open road —

THE ARROW BAR 112 E. Fifth St. Texarkana 10 a.m.-2 a.m. daily 870-772-1171

JUST ACROSS FROM THE federal courthouse on Texarkana’s town square, there’s a reliable little dive called The Arrow Bar. It’s the oldest bar in town and — thanks to Jase Bryant, who tends bar and books the music — it’s been home to shows this year from the likes of Dirty Streets (Memphis), Mothership (Dallas) and Slow Season (Visalia, Calif.), as

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

well as Central Arkansas regulars Stephen Neeper & the Wild Hearts, Adam Faucett, American Lions and Iron Tongue, all of whom played on The Arrow’s boxy stage lined with a corrugated metal backsplash (pierced in its center to hold up a window unit air conditioner) and decked out with Razorback flags and stray cardboard cutouts of country singers Luke Bryan

Take your travel playlist live with historic and unusual music venues around the state. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

and all the possibilities that are opened up when we veer from our well-worn paths — we’ve decided to highlight a few undersung and far-flung (at least for our Central Arkansas readers) spots to hear original music in Arkansas: a historic bar with a sordid past on the Arkansas-Texas line, a south Fayetteville upstart that pairs punk rock with fancy cocktails, a DIY labor of love that’s become the hub of Russellville’s creative scene, and a 1925 vaudeville theater that’s staging some of the best bluegrass shows in the state.

and Jason Aldean. Stained glass lamps, vintage beer signs, strings of Christmas lights and a barrage of photos and memorabilia create a glow around the bar. A few steps up into another room, regulars gather around pool tables. The owners, Tony and Carolyn Couch, have been constructing an informal history of the place, mostly “lots of people saying they came in with their dad and ate hamburgers and drank a Coke.” Built in 1938, the cavernous rock-and-mortar building with a showy, scalloped facade was home to the Rock House Liquor Store before that business moved across the street, and later, Alfredo’s, an Italian restaurant. Carolyn Couch said

the bar, which she and her husband purchased six years ago, once housed a brothel: “The rooms are still numbered, and the beds and sheets are all still up there.” The patrons and employees of the brothel, she said, “came out the back and could walk across the building right to the bar, which was kind of handy.” The business there these days is decidedly less sordid, but it’s still a charming, low-key place to grab a pint after work or a drink on Margarita Wednesdays, and it is obviously beloved; the bar tends to fill up rapidly with servers and cooks when Texarkana’s restaurants close their doors for the evening.

THE CAVERN (THURBERDOME) 316 W. B St. Russellville 479-666-6969 RUSSELLVILLE OCCUPIES A STRANGE middle ground: It’s got just enough going on that there’s a substantial pool of musicians, but little enough going on that when it comes time for those musicians to book shows, they often have to take matters into their own hands. Such was the case when The Cavern was established a few years ago, a DIY music venue near the intersection of state Hwy. 7 and Main Street run by the Thurber brothers and lovingly nicknamed

“The Thurberdome.” It’s essentially a large concrete room with a floor-level stage area outfitted with the sort of vibrant lighting that makes the venue’s performance photos instant Instagram material, even sans a filter. Larissa Gudino (Spirit Cuntz, formerly of Mr. Tad) noted that the venue’s musical bent has shifted over the years — sometimes a punk space, sometimes leaning toward solo acoustic sets — and how a collaborative approach to the space developed. “There were a few of us playing there and booking shows, and we’d just keep track of them on a dry erase board. We’re making the switch, maybe, to Google Calendar, where everyone who practices there is an admin, [like] Forest Hittle (Half Raptor, Pecan Sandy), William

Blackart, Poor Ol’ Uncle Fatty.” Shows begin between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., and admissions are nearly always donation-based. “If we have a band visiting that’s been on a really long tour, or just needs it, we’ll do a $3 cover charge just to make sure they have some gas money,” Gudino said, but added that there’s a “pay-what-you-can” element to the cover charge. “We’d much rather have somebody actually physically present that cares about the music,” even if it means one person’s $10 donation balances things out for someone else whose larder’s running a little lean. Because of the nature of the performance space, it’s best to watch The Cavern’s Facebook page for show announcements, or go to Twitter (@RsvlCavern).

arktimes.com

OCTOBER 13, 2016

DO Â´7KH RULJLQ RI &DUGV Âľ VH X R + Â˛ %RE +XSS 'LUHFWRU

Celebrate Southern culture and heritage through food, artisan crafts and music.

SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, October 29, 11AM-4 PM

Tickets and competition entry forms at www.arkansascornbreadfestival.com Special Public Program with Caroline Randall Williams, author ofÂ Soul Food Love Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, October 28, 12 PM Free and open to the public This project is supported in part by a grant Directed by Bob HuppCouncil | Produced from the Arkansas Humanities and theby W.W. and Anne Jones Charitable Trust National Endowment for the Humanities.Â

SEPTEMBER 11-27, 2015 (501) 378-0405 | TheRep.org

BEER NIGHT

Come try a sampling before the show!

ARKANSAS ARKANSAS RREPERTORY EPERTORY T H E AT R E THEATRE Sponsored By

Before the start of the second preview of Opening Week, enjoy a complimentary beer tasting provided by Lost Forty Brewing. Friday, October 21, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 6-7pm Lobby at The Rep

For tickets, call the Box Office at (501) 378-0405 or visit TheRep.org sponsored by 48

OCTOBER 13, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

Arkansas Times

Michael Stewart Allen (Macbeth) in Macbeth. Photo by John David Pittman.

COLLINS THEATRE 112 W. Emerson St. Paragould 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 870-236-6252 collinstheatre.com DOWNTOWN PARAGOULD PROBABLY isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the first spot youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d think of if you had a mind to hip some out-of-state visitors on to Arkansasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music scene, but if your visitors are bluegrass fans, you might reconsider. Thanks to KASU-FM, 91.9, and its program director, Marty Scarborough, who hosts a vibrant daily program called Arkansas Roots, Paragould is where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find the KASU Bluegrass Monday concert series, which is in its 14th year. The series attracts national bluegrass touring acts like The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, Monroe Crossing and The Peasall Sisters (of â&#x20AC;&#x153;O Brother, Where Art Thouâ&#x20AC;? fame), drawing in regular crowds of 300 to 400 patrons. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first Bluegrass Monday at Sheffieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s [a Jonesboro restaurant] was in September 2002,â&#x20AC;? Scarborough said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had no idea what the response would be for that first show, but the restaurant was filled to capacity. Soon, we outgrew that venue, and we moved to a banquet hall in Paragould.â&#x20AC;? The banquet hall went out of business, so in 2008 the concerts

moved to the painstakingly restored 91-year-old Collins Theatre. A host of businesses in the area cover the overhead costs of production so that KASU â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which does not generate revenue from the events â&#x20AC;&#x201D; can pass donations directly to the performers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;During the show we literally â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pass the hatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; through the audience collecting money, 100 percent of which is given to the performers. It is a unique arrangement, but it works for us and for the bands that come to play.â&#x20AC;? Formerly the Capitol Theater, the building had its grand opening in 1925, when it showed silent movies. Through the 1930s, it joined the Home Theater in Blytheville and the Empire Theater in Jonesboro as part of the vaudeville and Broadway show travel circuit. A remembrance from Orris F. Collins, the son of the Capitolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original manager John A. Collins, recalls performances from Edgar Bergen, Yodeling Jimmy Rodgers, Tex Ritter, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Smiley Burnett, Cliff Edwards as Ukelele Ike, Lash LaRue and Johnny Downs and Mary Karnman, members of the original â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our Gangâ&#x20AC;? series, a floodrelief show featuring Will Rogers, and the day that George Whiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show â&#x20AC;&#x153;Scandalsâ&#x20AC;? came to town, having been booted from a performance in Jackson, Miss., by the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fathers, who deemed the show too risque.

NEW WORKS BY ARKANSAS ARTISTS presents…

Ken Bonfield KATHY BAY

JASON MCCANN

Opening Reception Saturday, October 15 • 6-9pm

Thursday October 20 7:30 p.m. The Joint 301 Main Street North Little Rock

Show runs through November 5

BOSWELL MOUROT FINE A RT

Tickets $20

Ken has toured all over North America for more than two decades and has released seven critically acclaimed instrumental CDs.

Available at the door or online at www.argentaartsacousticmusic.com

5815 Kavanaugh Blvd. | Little Rock, AR 72207 501.664.0030 boswellmourot.com

Fun. Easy. Delicious. TOP -N OTC H C U LIN A RY C L AS S ES AT T HE WI N T HR O P R O C K EF EL L ER I N ST I T UT E ATOP PET IT J EAN M OUN TAIN , ON E OF T H E MO ST B EAUT I F UL S ET T I N G S I N A R K A N SAS . L EA R N M O R E A N D REG IST ER F OR UPCOM IN G C L AS S ES AT R O C KE F E LLE R I N ST I T U T E . O R G / C U LI N A RY.

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

BTW

BRIAN CHILSON

Tickets available at CENTRALARKANSASTICKETS.COM

NOMADS MUSIC LOUNGE 1431 S. School Ave. Fayetteville 4-10 p.m. Tue.-Thu., 4-11 p.m. Fri., 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Sat., 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Sun. 479-443-1832 FAR SOUTH OF THE CULTURAL and culinary boom that’s transforming Bentonville and Bella Vista, South School Street in Fayetteville is home to time-honored venues like George’s Majestic Lounge and JR’s Lightbulb Club, as well as newer spots, notably Greenhouse Grille, the locally sourced restaurant run by Bryan Hembree and Jerrmy Gawthrop. The two are also champions of local music: They founded Fayetteville Roots Fest, which has grown from a one-day small-scale affair in 2010 to a four-day festival across multiple venues with headliners like Lucinda Williams, Guy Clark, John Prine, Fiona Apple and The Del McCoury Band, selling out tickets in short order. Nomads is a newcomer to the neighborhood, but it’s also connected to an old Fayetteville mainstay — Clunk Records. Chris Selby, a DIY show promoter deservedly credited with raising the collective musical consciousness for a particular generation in Northwest Arkansas, launched what would become Clunk Music Hall in 1998, a venue that brought acts like Damien Jurado, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, The Shins

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

and Wesley Willis to Fayetteville, and inspired the sort of loyalty that keeps the affiliated Clunk Records unicorn T-shirts in supply online, even though the venue closed its doors 14 years ago. Jeremey Brown, who renamed the spot The Music Hall, booked shows there until 2009, including sold-out shows from The Get Up Kids and All American Rejects, “where they played to, like, 30 people,” before those bands began touring the large-venue circuits. After a stint in Australia, Brown returned to Fayetteville in 2012, and started looking for a new show venue. “I found the Nomads location after Tanglewood Branch Beer Co. had closed for business. The same week they closed, I took over the lease,” Brown said. Nomads Music Lounge opened in January 2015, and Brown said he’s done about 250 shows a year, including art receptions, stand-up comedy shows, farm-to-table dinners and live metal, punk, bluegrass, hip-hop and blues shows from Fayetteville area acts like Shawn James and the Shapeshifters, Iron Iris, Listener, High Lonesome, Witchsister, Brick Fields, Cutty Rye and Cosmic American, as well as some out-of-towners. Don’t let the former gas station exterior fool you, either; Nomads is serving “hangover elk burgers” with avocado for its “Kegs n’ Eggs” brunches; unusual brews, like Boulevard’s Hibiscus Gose and Tropical Pale Ale; and craft cocktails, like the Sriracha raspberry margarita in the evening hours.

GET INTO THE GROOVE SEVEN PLACES IN ARKANSAS TO GET YOUR VINYL FIX. Arkansas Record & CD Exchange North Little Rock This warhorse of a record store looks like a pawnshop on the outside and a library on the inside, and librarian Bill Eginton has been at the helm since the shop opened in 1984. It’s easily the most respected vinyl shop in the state, a place where the collection of new vinyl and the curator’s prowess keep customers returning so frequently that many of them have earned nicknames from Eginton. 4212 MacArthur Drive, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tue.-Sat. Back Beat Music Jonesboro Back Beat’s heavy on the musical instruments — an appealing wall of beautiful guitars hangs on the wall for sale below a ceiling of vintage bass drums monogrammed with names of bygone bands. There’s a collection of vinyl, though, along with a selection of compact record players waiting to liven up an Arkansas State University dorm room. 613 Southwest Drive, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Been Around Records & CDs Little Rock John Harris’ shelved stockpile of used vinyl is dizzying, but then, he’s been growing it since 1980. Perusing shelves can be a little slower going than flipping through horizontal racks, but if you can allow at least an hour or so to disappear into the used jazz collection, odds are good you could emerge with an out-of-print gem in your hands. 1216 S. University Ave., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. Big Fish Vinyl Records & Uniques Springdale A tiny newcomer on the scene, Big Fish packs a lot of vintage vinyl into a small space, accented by the metal Scooby Doo lunchboxes, happy face clocks and Nag Champa you’d find in a head shop, as well as some locally made knick-

UPCOMING EVENTS ON knacks. 310 W. Emma St., 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. Block Street Records Fayetteville Wade Ogle, co-owner of JR’s Lightbulb Club, knows his records, and as of 2014, that savvy’s being put to use at the shop right next door to the club. The sky blue walls are lined with no-frills wooden racks loaded with pristine vintage albums and new releases from the likes of Angel Olsen, Bon Iver, Nick Cave and Nina Simone. The staff is just as on point, and they keep some vintage stereo equipment on hand, too. 17 N. Block St., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon-Thu., 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. Pour Jon’s Coffee & Vinyl Siloam Springs Modeled after a London pub, Pour Jon’s has been “helping people avoid meaningless existence since 2011,” according to the shop’s owners. If you take your analog music with a lavender lemonade or a cup from Onyx Coffee Lab or Savoy Tea Co., this stylish little spot is just right. 223 N. Wright St., 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Mon-Fri., 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Record Rack Pine Bluff Pat Strachota’s undersung little shop in Pine Bluff has an eclectic inventory: hookahs, biker apparel, vinyl, lingerie, swords, knives, incense, T-shirts and, occasionally, swimwear. It’s been in business for over 40 years and has become a fraternity/ sorority favorite in the Bluff. 2801 S. Olive St., Suite 36A, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

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Whole Hog Roast A RK A NS A S T IME S

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Craft Beer Festival Arkansas Cornbread Festival

6th Annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks

Homes in the hills, compared by style. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

e stole the title of Donald Harington’s excellent novel for this trip because a) it’s about the architecture of Ozark towns and we could not pass up the temptation, and b) like the book, we are looking at residential architecture that, as Harington says, is “bigeminal”: Separate but joined. The opening page of “Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks” is illustrated with the residence of an Indian named Fanshaw: two joined beehive-shaped homes crafted from bent timbers and thatch. The architecture of the Ozarks has moved on since then, much of it benefiting from the influence of Arkansas architect E. Fay Jones, his colleagues and his heirs at the University of Arkansas. For this tour, we compare old with new. Entirely concocted by the Arkansas Times and mostly to be conducted from sidewalks or streets because the destinations are private homes, the tour is meant to illustrate commonalities and differences in structures built, in some cases, nearly a century apart. There are, of course, many other outstanding historic and new homes to drive by up on the Ozark Plateau, but this is a start.

APPLEGATE HOUSE E. Fay Jones, architect 2301 SW Second St. Bentonville

E. FAY JONES’ APPLEGATE HOUSE, built in 1969 on nearly 17 acres for a couple who liked to entertain, is unlike other Jones designs — such as Thorncrown Chapel — in that it has no right angles. The walls, staircases and landings of the stone-clad home are sinuous, curving this way and that and unimpeded by doorways. The showers are cylinders of stone lit by a skylight; the water comes not from a showerhead, but in sheets off rocks that protrude from the walls. The 8,700-square-foot home includes a kidney-shaped indoor pool. Jump forward 47 years and 7½ miles to the Black Apple

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Arkansas Times

BLACK APPLE POCKET COMMUNITY GreenSpur design-build firm (Falls Church, Va.) NE Black Apple Lane Bentonville

Pocket Community in Bentonville, a 1-acre development of 11 houses that hearkens to a time of close-knit living and humansized homes. The brainchild of Christy Walton, the development’s houses range from what might be called “tiny houses” — 850 square feet, with loft bedrooms — to three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot homes, all placed around a central lawn featuring a fire pit and corncrib-shaped commons building. GreenSpur architect Mark Turner calls the reclaimed woodsided, farmhouse-style homes — with plenty of right angles — “modern agrarian.”

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

MOUNT NORD HISTORIC DISTRICT

ROUND MOUNTAIN HOUSE

1-5 Mount Nord Ave., Fayetteville

deMX Architecture, Fayetteville 15847 Round Mountain Road Fayetteville

PEOPLE WHO BUILD THEIR HOMES on the tops of mountains are expressing something besides a desire for a good view. High locations, high status. In Fayetteville, the homes on Mount Nord, built between 1901 and 1925, feature grand and varying architectural styles befitting their grand residents, among them J. William Fulbright, who lived at No. 5 Mount Nord in the Mock-Fulbright House, (variously dated as 1901 or 1908, Classical Revival) as a boy. The block, from No. 1 to No. 5 Mount Nord Ave., is on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District. Other houses include the Pritchard House (No. 1, circa 1907, Neoclassical), the BohartHuntington House (No. 2, circa 1901, early Colonial Revival/ Italianate), the Gulley House (No. 3, circa 1905) and the Lawson

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Arkansas Times

House (No. 4, circa 1925, Colonial Revival). (Missing is Artemus Wolf’s Arkansas Building, built in St. Louis for the 1904 World’s Fair and dismantled and reassembled on Mount Nord; it was demolished in 1939.) On a hilltop between Goshen and Fayetteville is yet another architectural standout: the Round Mountain House, built for Charles and Sharon Killian in 2010, more than a century after Mount Nord Avenue was developed. It watches over the Ozark Plateau like the Great Sphinx: The three-story “head” of the house has a one-story “lean-to” as its body. The house won the 2012 Vision Award of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce and the UA Fay Jones School of Architecture 2013 Alumni Design Award.

THE JONES RESIDENCE 3GD Architect (now BRYArchitecture), Rogers 72 S. Kestral Drive Fayetteville

CRAIG-BRYAN HOUSE 307 W. Central Ave. Bentonville

TO COMPARE THESE TWO HOUSES will require you to drive from Fayetteville to Bentonville, so here’s what to keep in your mind’s eye: wings that project forward from the central portion of the houses. The Italianate CraigBryan House, built in 1875, has gabled bay windows protruding on either side of the entrance. A central tower adds to the home’s pleasing asymmetry. The Craig-Bryan also house features iron balconies retrieved from the 1847 Benton County Courthouse that was demolished in the mid-20th century, according to the home’s nomination form for the National Register. The original builder, James Toliver Craig, was one of Bentonville’s earliest settlers; the Bryan family, who bought the house after Craig’s death in 1895, lived there for more than 70 years. Jump 132 years forward to the Jones Residence, an eclectic, also asymmetrical beauty. The separate wings of the boxy modern masterpiece of glass and wood were designed to accommodate different schedules of the original owners.

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THE RICE HOUSE 501 NW A St. Bentonville

HISTORIC HEADQUARTERS HOUSE 118 Dickson St. Fayetteville

BACHMAN-WILSON RESIDENCE Frank Lloyd Wright, architect Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art One Museum Way Bentonville

THE RICE HOUSE, BUILT in 1891 by prominent lawyer Charles A. Rice, is as fussy as the BachmanWilson house is straightforward. Yet both rely on woodwork for ornamentation: The Queen Anne/ Eastlake-style Rice House has jigsaw-cut brackets as part of the elaborate woodwork on its porches; the 1956 Wilson-Bachman house features hand-cut clerestory windows in a winged-seed design. Both have environmental design elements: The Rice House is a dog-trot, with a central hall running from front to back to allow cool air to pass through; the Bachman-Wilson has overhangs and a cement floor to keep things cool; the floor, which extends to the patio, is heated from below in winter. The two-and-ahalf-story stick-built Rice House was built to be a showplace; the Bachman-Wilson concrete-block house (moved to Bentonville from New Jersey) is one of 60 compact “Usonian” houses designed by Wright as affordable middle-class housing. 56

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Arkansas Times

KEENAN TOWER HOUSE Marlon Blackwell Architects, Fayetteville 2570 Mission Blvd. Fayetteville

THE HEADQUARTERS HOUSE, a.k.a. the Tebbets House, is a long and low one-story Greek Revival built by a Union sympathizer in 1850. In its later use as a base for Union forces, it was the focus of the Battle of Fayetteville: It was attacked by Confederate troops in 1863, but Union troops stopped their charge on horseback up Dickson Street. (Union sympathizers may want to remind those who ride up and down Dickson with Confederate flags hanging from their trucks that it was a street where the rebels tucked tail and withdrew.) The house, which features fluted columns on the

porch, is now a museum. The cannonball that once wrecked its front door is within. If the Union had had command of the Keenan Tower House, an 82-foot-tall steel and wood-lattice residence built in 2000 that rises above the treetops and features a “skycourt” at the top, they would have known exactly where the Rebs were at all times. The panoramic view from the top of the Tower House — commissioned by James Keenan and sometimes likened to a fire tower (or a far tar, as some say) — is today more peaceful, if more developed; it’s said you can see all the way to Oklahoma.

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