ROAD TRIP 2023 (Arkansas Times)

IDEAS FOR YOUR SUMMER ROAD TRIP (OR FOR STAYING PUT).

BY AUSTIN BAILEY, ASHLEY CLAYBORN, GRIFFIN COOP, DANIEL GREAR, MARY HENNIGAN, LINDSEY MILLAR AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE

ook, closing the blinds and turning the thermostat to a glacial 68 degrees might sound comforting now, but what happens when you’ve burned through all the new episodes of “The Bear” and “Black Mirror”? Besides, we did the whole reclusive Miss Havisham routine for three years already. It’s time to get out there, Arkansas travelers. And in the event your wellspring of vacation ideas has run dry — or that your wallet threatens coup d’etat when you type the word “airfare to Reykjavik” into your search engine — we’ve got you covered.

Griffin Coop suggests you consider a jaunt to the monastery guest house at Subiaco in the verdant Arkansas River Valley to hear the morning prayer bells at dawn, or follow the footsteps of Mary Hennigan’s hiking boots and bask in the cool spray of the waterfall at Big Creek Cave Falls, followed up with an Ozark Pounder in downtown Jasper’s most delightful diner. Be one of the first to explore The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas’s 459-acre Blue Mountain Natural Area, the plans for which Lindsey Millar details. Bookworms, hie thee hither to Hemingway’s old digs in quaint Piggott (Clay County) at the behest of Austin Bailey, where saucy tales of family dysfunction, infidelity and lesbian escapades await you. Get your digital detox on in Eureka Springs, where Stephanie Smittle finds that 420-friendly bed-and-breakfasts beckon, the fried chicken at Myrtie Mae’s charms and a giant chess board has sprung up in The Crescent Hotel’s enchanting courtyard. Or, make the most of museums in Arkansas; in the pages that follow, you’ll find a list of 10 unsung museums, Daniel Grear’s

BIG CREEK CAVE FALLS IS A HIDDEN GEM.

HIDDEN TREASURE: The three-mile hike to Big Creek Cave Falls is packed with gorgeous sights.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARY HENNIGAN

ust when you think you’ve hiked all the postcard-worthy trails the Ozark Mountains have to offer, your friend texts you an AllTrails link to a gorgeous waterfall you’ve never heard of. I’m not sure where this breathtaking journey has been hiding from me, but the out-and-back Big Creek Cave Falls trail is a hidden treasure.

The two-hour drive from Little Rock to the trailhead is beautiful once you exit the interstate. The hills start rolling into each other, the air gets fresher and mountains appear in the distance, layered in different shades of blue on the horizon. The Rotary Ann Overlook in Dover makes a great pitstop for a pre-hike bathroom break and water bottle refill. Phone service is minimal out there, so consider printing the trail map or downloading it through the AllTrails app on your phone before you even hit the road.

Once you’ve braved the rocky switchbacks to the trailhead, the three-mile hike starts along a worn-down vehicle path behind a gray gate. (Coordinates are 35.87695, -93.15877.) The trail quickly takes its travelers through open pasture and water crossings — my waterproof boots fared well while walking on stepping stones and felled trees, but it wouldn’t hurt to pack water shoes or sandals. Who complains about a refreshing toe dip during the scorching heat of summer, anyway?

Waterfalls are my favorite nature feature, but I love when a stellar vista comes along with it. Here, the hiker trades mountaintop outlooks for views from an expansive valley — one that made me feel small in the best way. When the trail opened up and butterflies surrounded me

Where to Eat

OZARK CAFE

107 E. Court St., Jasper

If you have time to spare and a stomach to fill after your hike, the 15-mile detour over to Jasper’s Ozark Cafe will not disappoint. Don’t be afraid to stop and take in the view on your way over. The route takes you past the Arkansas Grand Canyon, which really is quite grand.

Character oozes from the walls at the 100-year-old Ozark Cafe. The welcoming staff dressed in aesthetically appropriate Patagonia gear and Blundstone boots, and the menu resembled a newspaper, giving the restaurant a down-to-earth feel. The food is hearty, affordable and delish. It makes sense that the place was honored as a 2023 inductee of the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame.

in the field, I couldn’t help but do a little frolic and cartwheel in celebration.

Most of the trail follows alongside Big Creek, but be on the lookout for pink or orange tied fabric to help you find your way because it can be confusing at times, and it will only get harder to follow as the brush grows taller. There’s no official signage, so depending on the trail map is key. There are two main falls on this trek, and the first is the trail’s namesake that pours out of a slender, horizontal cave opening. It’s just under 30 feet tall and the wind blowing its cool water on my skin is something I’ll be dreaming about for years to come.

If you can pry yourself away from the refreshing spray of the waterfall, continue on the trail a bit further to the second attraction, a large-mouthed cave waterfall. The caves are closed to preserve what’s left of the bat population, but the entrance is worth the trek, amplifying the roaring gush of water from its dark interior. The water that cascades down tiered rocks covered in moss is picturesque and romantic.

Though complicated by water crossings, this hike is moderate with an overall 203-foot elevation gain. I always bring more water than I think I’ll need and a snack full of protein for good measure. This trail could easily be a day trip or the start of an amazing weekend hopping between other nearby trails. If you want to extend your stay, there are dozens of options in and around Jasper on short-term rental sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. Price ranges vary, but when you think about it, can you put a price on waking up in a cabin to the fog rolling off the Ozark Mountains?

The menu spans from burgers — notably the Ozark Pounder, which doubles up on meat and toppings for “after getting pounded by the river, road or mountain” — to full entrees, steaks and pasta dishes. I went for the chicken crispers, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, which came with a fluffy roll and a trip to the salad bar. I paired it with a thick strawberry milkshake topped with whipped cream and a cherry.

It was everything I could have asked for after the trek through the woods. The chicken was appropriately crispy, hot and juicy. The mashed potatoes were perfectly whipped and complemented with a scoop of white gravy. The salad bar was clean and had all the extras I yearned for. The strawberry milkshake was authentically strawberry and didn’t taste like it was mixed with vanilla filler. Half of the meal filled me up, and I’m happy to report that it reheated as a perfect lunch the following day.

VIEW FROM THE VALLEY: From fields of butterflies to cool water creeks, this Newton County trail has it all.

CHICKEN CRISPERS: Or go for the Ozark Pounder after hitting the trail.

Trekking for Terpenes

EUREKA SPRINGS IS FOR LOVERS (AND STONERS).

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

If you’ve spent much time careening around the serpentine curves of U.S. Highway 62 in Northwest Arkansas, you know that you can’t miss it when the outskirts of Eureka Springs materialize outside your windshield. There’s a sudden proliferation of roadside art galleries, countless dollhouse bedand-breakfasts, billboards advertising zip line adventures in the Ozarks, a 70-year-old opera company and an old Forestry Service fire tower repurposed for tourists as an observation deck. Eureka resists a Walmart or an Applebee’s. Instead, visitors get more jacuzzis per square mile than surely any other town in Arkansas, a thriving health food store that’s open daily, a boutique hot sauce shop and the time capsule that is Hart’s Family Center grocery, charmingly documented for hundreds of thousands of viewers by a TikTok filmographer under the name PineAcre. Vegan and vegetarian options abound on restaurant menus, and your server is approximately 1,457% more likely than in Little Rock to don space buns or be named “Solstice.” I feel if I stayed more than a month or two, I might begin to normalize tie dye in my sartorial life, perhaps even affirming its rightful place in the world of business wear. Now, Eureka’s home to Osage Creek Lodge, a stately former Best Western turned motorcourt hotel with an on-site medical cannabis dispensary — perhaps the only hotel lobby in the state that boasts an earthy whiff of marijuana. The Switzerland-esque mountain town is also home to a relaxing 420-friendly cabin resort and some off-thebeaten path delights worth getting high on, detailed here for your summer road trip enjoyment.

HOT TUBS AND ROCK COLLECTIONS: Clockwise from top left, the Nature's Heart cabin at Lazee Daze, rock sculptures in the garden at Quigley's Castle (page 33), the heart-shaped tub at Lazee Daze, the entrance to Quigley's Castle.

Where to stay

A LAZEE DAZE IN THE OZARKS

5432 Arkansas Highway 23, Eureka Springs

You know that trick that real estate folks and Airbnb hosts do where they show you the most flattering angles of the property hoping to make it look more appealing? Absolutely none of that going on at Lazee Daze, a 63-acre placid log cabin retreat in the hills of scenic Arkansas Highway 23, just outside of town with twostory country cabins and smaller honeymoon/ anniversary cabins with giant heart-shaped bathtubs. The red cedar cabinetry, native stone fireplaces, covered porches and country decor give some major grandma’s house/“Goldilocks and the Three Bears” vibes, and the properties are peppered throughout lushly green (in spring, anyway) wooded areas and distanced such that visitors don’t see much of their neighbors in nearby cabins — only woods, birds, squirrels and, if you’re as lucky as we were, light rainfalls in the forest. And though proprietors Charles and Robin Mowrey stress that no smoking is allowed indoors, the cabin porches are “420-friendly,” meaning that what medical cannabis patients “responsibly smoke on our porches,” Lazee Daze literature says, “is your own business.” In fact, with some ID verification in advance, you can set up a curated hemp-derived THC edible package to be in your cabin upon your arrival, through a partnership Lazee Daze has with Ouachita Farms. Charles became an advocate of medical marijuana use after seeing cannabis aid his father in a battle with pancreatic cancer, and when medical cannabis was legalized in Arkansas, the pair decided they would “discreetly add a page to the website letting people know. That’s how we got where we are now,” Charles said. Important

to note: There’s no Wi-Fi in the cabins and cell service can be spotty. If you’ve gotta be plugged in, you’ll need to return to the entrance near Lazee Daze’s office to get a signal. But if you can afford to do so, maybe consider just going with the whole “digital detox” approach?

OSAGE CREEK LODGE

101 E. Van Buren St., Eureka Springs

Remember that courtly Best Western that sits at the turn into Eureka’s historic downtown district? Get this: It’s now Osage Creek Lodge. As in: the Osage Creek that’s emblazoned on the side of your medical cannabis packaging. With a cultivation facility cranking out marijuana in Berryville and most competing dispensaries located an hour away in the Fayetteville area, nearby Eureka became an appealing place for Osage Creek to land an operation in Carroll County. “The thing about Eureka Springs,” Osage Creek Cultivation CFO Matt Trulove said, “is that if it’s a good spot, it’s probably got a hotel on it.” While the hotel and the dispensary (and the cultivation farm, for that matter) technically operate as separate entities, what the user experience resembles is a sort of Southernstyle, mid-century cannabis motorcourt, complete with sunlit swimming pool and an anachronistically modern weed pharmacy (see Osage Creek Dispensary below) where the hotel’s conference rooms used to be. “A lot of hotels have an amenity listing,” Trulove said, “and I haven’t ever seen a dispensary on one of those lists.” Speaking of amenities, there’s a hot tub and a fitness center, and when you’re ready to go downtown for a bite to eat (Trulove recommends The Grotto and Gaskin’s Cabin Steakhouse), the hotel is a stop on the Eureka trolley, or you can take the quick, shaded walk

SLOW BURN: The covered porches at Lazee Daze are built for leisure.

Get

green

OSAGE CREEK DISPENSARY

101

E. Van Buren St., Eureka Springs

Transdermal patches and hot honey and Mountain Mint, oh my! Eager and educated budtenders at Osage Creek attend a sleek showroom right off the hotel lobby, all seemingly armed with a delightfully nerdy approach to talking medical marijuana. When I visited, the shop was gauging the appeal of skincare goodies from a womanowned cannabis company called Shake Extractions, including a THC-forward face serum with apricot oil. Bonus points for great lighting and a tranquil waiting area that showcases the dispensary’s products on softly lit shelves. And does it get any more Wes Anderson than that adorable little “DISPENSARY to your right” sign at the hotel clerk’s desk a few steps away from the defunct Gazebo Restaurant?

THE RELEAF CENTER

9400

E. McNelly Road, Bentonville

On the north end of Bentonville between Bella Vista and Pea Ridge sits ReLeaf, where a serene farmhouse feel dominates this dispensary and cultivation facility. Love that they have a philanthropic arm through their “Sow A Seed” program, which benefits the NWA Women’s Shelter, a veteran suicide intervention initiative called We Are the 22, a criminal justice reform effort called The Last Prisoner Project and LGBTQ+ advocacy group NWA Equality. (And love that they, like Osage Creek, have eighths on special for $13.50. Budget-minded imbibers, rejoice!)

THE SOURCE

4505

W. Poplar St., Rogers

With three locations in Missouri and one in Arkansas, The Source goes hard on the funky decor and the boutique approach to medical cannabis, the latest project being “In the Flow,” which the company imagines as a small-batch line of cannabis, managed under eco-friendly lighting and offered up in sustainability-minded packaging. (Remember when most Arkansas medical cannabis came in those ghastly neon green pharmacy cylinders? Weird!) Maybe even cooler, they proudly report that when it comes to styling, interior design and merchandise in their retail space, they try to hire as many local artists as possible.

Get outside

BEAVER LAKE DAM SITE PARK

348 Damsite River Road, Eureka Springs

About nine miles west of town on U.S. Highway 62, you’ll see green highway signs for Beaver Lake’s Dam Site Park at the turnoff to Arkansas Highway 187. (Or, as fans of weird Eureka history might say, the turnoff to that odd old abandoned “dinosaur park,” where hulking facsimiles of prehistoric reptiles once ruled the hillside, beckoning trespassers of all ages to the property owners’ chagrin.) Follow the signs to the campground during fair weather for a killer sunset or an overnight stay, or just do as we did and take the turnoff to White Bass Cove day use area, dip your toes in the water and have yourself a Stoned Soul Regular Picnic. (PSA: Remember that smoking medical cannabis is a no-go on government lands in Arkansas, y’all.)

1886 CRESCENT HOTEL AND SPA

75 Prospect Ave., Eureka Springs

Captivatingly depicted in Sean Fitzgibbon’s 2022 graphic nonfiction book “What Follows Is True,” the Crescent Hotel has long fed the imagination, especially for those of us with imaginations that never tire of the spooky. An imposing bastion on the mountainside (think: Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel, Arkansas edition), the hotel is as much a place to board overnight as it is to wander through in the lazy afternoon hours, sipping a ghost pepper vodka cocktail at the balcony bar on the top floor, taking a ghost tour or sauntering through the manicured gardens. Relatively new to the hotel is the seasonal Frisco Sporting Club, an outdoor play space with bocce ball, axe throwing, a basket swing set beneath towering trees and a giant outdoor chess/checkers set that’ll

EUREKA MOMENT: Clockwise from top left, the Eggplant Parmesan at Local Flavor, the view from the covered porch at Lazee Daze, the lakefront at Beaver Lake Dam Site, the sign at Sparky's Roadhouse, a courtyard at Quigley's Castle and the view from the top

make you feel like you’re in Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. Don’t forget to tip your hat to the hotel’s black cat, who has a dedicated kitty exit/entrance on the rear wall of the lobby, just behind the hoary antique “Welte Philharmonic Salon Model 4” self-playing pipe organ.

Pro tip: The only incorrect way to get to the Crescent is in a hurry; the hotel is along a wildly scenic historic loop, so allow yourself time to meander through the canopied switchbacks with leisure.

QUIGLEY’S CASTLE

274 Quigley Castle Road, Eureka Springs

What if a 1930s lumber company man inherited a parcel of land in Carroll County, promised his nature-loving bride that she could design and build a new house on it and then came home from work to find she’d accelerated the project by demolishing the current family abode so that construction on the new digs would have to begin immediately? That’s how the origin story goes for Quigley’s Castle, dubbed by its

keepers “The Ozarks’ Strangest Dwelling.” In it, lines between interior and exterior are blurred, as 70-year-old foliage creeps up to brush against the second-story ceiling along 28 windows, with four feet of bare soil separating the home’s exterior windows from the living space. Interior walls form a motley museum of natural wonders — a group of seashells scalloped together to resemble tile, a wall made entirely of butterfly and moth specimens, endless rock collections mounted vertically into concrete as a display, a bird named Tweety flitting among the tropical vines in the windows and extensive collections of fossils and arrowheads. Outside, over a hundred rock sculptures dot a wildflower and rose garden filled with Elise Quigley’s rockworked benches, bird baths and bottle trees. “[I wanted] a home where I felt I was living in the world instead of in a box,” a statement from Elise goes on the Castle’s pamphlet. “I designed it in my mind, but I couldn’t tell anybody what I wanted, so I sat down with scissors and paste and cardboard and matchsticks and made a model."

fed LOCAL FLAVOR CAFE

Get

71 S. Main St., Eureka Springs

You’ll barely get out the words “where should I eat in Eureka” without this place coming up, and for good reason. See that line out the door for brunch on the weekends? Worth it, 100%. Get the biscuits and gravy. Or the creamy grits. We were seated for supper on the gently lit patio and especially dug the signature Sesame-encrusted Goat Cheese Salad and the Eggplant Parmesan — a generous stack of aubergine patties with a delightfully crackly crust topped with roasted asparagus spears and nestled into a bed of spaghetti and a bold tomato sauce. Beer lovers, don’t miss the local craft selection with crowdpleasers from Gotahold Brewing, a project of longtime brewmaster Dave Hartmann who, with co-owner Wendy Reese Hartmann, named the place in honor of Eureka’s having “gotahold” of them when they visited.

MYRTIE MAE’S AT INN OF THE OZARKS

207 W. Van Buren, Eureka Springs

Sometimes what you need is a place with a salad bar and a senior discount and some fierce fried chicken, and for that, there’s Myrtie Mae’s. This homestyle cooking spot, attached to a Best Western venture called Inn of the Ozarks, is sorta like what might happen if you opened a museum dedicated to Eureka Springs history and then plopped a Luby’s down in the middle of it. Which is to say: It’s awesome. The Two-Piece Myrtie’s Famous Ozark Fried Chicken is plenty, served piping hot and ultra-crispy with a baked potato that had that nice cafeteria-warmer-slow-burn exterior going on. Also delightful: the fried green beans with a house-made creamy horseradish sauce, and the banter we eavesdropped on from Myrtie’s regulars at nearby tables.

SPARKY’S ROADHOUSE CAFE

147 E. Van Buren, Eureka Springs

If, like me, a giant menu seems daunting to your eyes, take some deep breaths before you peruse the offerings at Sparky’s, yeah? This thing’s a real page-turner. But it’s done in a self-aware kinda way; Sparky’s signatures — like spinach enchiladas and wallet-friendly ice cold beer — are found online at a link titled “The Giant Menu Page” and “The Impressive Beer, Wine and Cocktail Lists,” respectively.

NESTLED BETWEEN THE OUACHITAS AND THE OZARKS ARE MONKS, SASQUATCHES AND STUNNING PEAKS.

BY GRIFFIN COOP

ATOP THE HILL: Set atop a scenic hillside, Subiaco Abbey is home to 35 monks who hold fast to a strict daily routine of prayer and work around the campus. It was also briefly home to a famous scam artist later depicted in the movie “The Great

On a Tuesday morning in May, my wife and I headed off for what we thought would be a quiet night in the Arkansas River Valley — an area known for its rolling hills, vineyards and scenic drives. About 24 hours later, we returned having seen a zebra standing in a pasture and his-and-hers life-size sasquatch cutouts in a field; learned about a scam artist who lived in an Arkansas monastery; and talked to the driver of the fanciest hearse we had ever seen. Here are a few highlights from that venture, and a few places to stop if the craft wineries aren’t for you.

Where to STAY SUBIACO ABBEY

405 N. Subiaco Ave., Subiaco

The campus for the Subiaco Abbey and Academy is located atop a hillside in the Logan County town of Subiaco. The serene setting is second to none at the Benedictine monastery, founded in 1878 by monks associated with a Swiss monastery, according to 83-year-old Father Jerome Kodell, one of the 35 monks who live and work at the abbey. Dressed in a large black robe, Kodell described the daily routine for the monks, which begins with prayer at 5:45 a.m. and ends with prayer at 7 p.m. In between, there’s work around the campus, meals both in silence and with conversation and, of course, more prayers. The monks get to sleep in on the weekends, since they don’t start their prayers until 6:45 a.m. Kodell, who has been a monk at Subiaco for more than 60 years, told us about a man who lived at the monastery in the 1940s before stealing the abbot’s car and trying to get away with some forged recommendation letters. The man would turn out to be Ferdinand Waldo Demara, a

famous scam artist whose life would be made into a movie called “The Great Impostor.” Demara would go on to fake his way into jobs as a prison warden and surgeon. Kodell also told us about an Oklahoma man who broke into the abbey earlier this year, damaged the marble altar with a sledgehammer and stole relics of the saints. Kodell took a forgiving tone as he described the individual as a “sick man” who needed help rather than a criminal. Kodell said the sheriff, and the abbey, too, hope the man is convicted of a felony rather than a misdemeanor so he can get the help he needs. We stayed the night at the Coury House, a small on-campus lodge for guests that is available to anyone and only cost us $65. Our modest but comfortable accommodations included a balcony with a view overlooking the swimming pool, baseball field and track. In the distance beyond the baseball field, cattle grazed in a green pasture in a bucolic and relaxing landscape.

BRIAN CHILSON

DADDY’S SMACKIN’ WINGS AND THINGS

2410 E. Main St., Russellville

Situated in a nondescript building on Main Street near Sofa City, Daddy’s was recommended to us by our 18-year-old nephew, who raved about the place after he spent a few weeks in Russellville last summer. We had the Buffalo wings which were good but not too spicy, the dry lemon pepper ranch wings, fried okra and fried pickle spears. If you’re feeling adventurous, put in an order for the peanut butter and jelly wings — surprisingly good, though the grape jelly made it all a little too rich and sweet for our liking. As we drove through Russellville, we unexpectedly spotted a zebra (and a zebra hybrid called a zonkey or zebadonk) standing in a pasture and immediately stopped to take pictures. We’ve since learned from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission that it is legal to own a zebra in Arkansas. A few miles later, we spotted wooden his-and-hers Sasquatch cutouts in a field. The lady Sasquatch was wearing a pink bikini while her male friend was wearing a blue shirt and either blue capri pants or cut-off jeans.

Where to Eat

MOUNT MAGAZINE STATE PARK

577 Lodge Drive, Paris

Mount Magazine State Park is located on a windy, mountainous road that takes one to the highest point between the Rockies and the Appalachians. The deck overlooking the valley has a number of rocking chairs that are perfect for taking in the view of the valley below. The state park, which is home to Arkansas’s highest point at 2,753 feet, has a lodge with 60 rooms and plenty of trails and outdoor recreation options. The Skyview Restaurant has large windows that allow diners to take in the view while enjoying a meal. My wife and I had the build-your-own pasta option. My spicy marinara and grilled chicken was excellent and had just the right amount of kick.

TRUE GRIT GROUNDS

12 E. Walnut St., Paris

True Grit Grounds coffee shop leans into the Charles Portis theme with a caricature of Rooster Cogburn of “True Grit” on its logo and a movie poster on the wall. The store brews Onyx Coffee, an excellent Rogers-based roastery, and offers a variety of pastries and breakfast options. My wife’s breakfast burrito looked excellent, and my white chocolate raspberry scone was the softest and best I ever had. We bought a red heartshaped lock to place on the Love Lock Fence in Paris’ Eiffel Tower Park. The barista even gave us a pen to write our names on the lock, which we locked on to the fence with thousands of others. On our way home, we spotted a beautiful car at the Casey’s in Morrilton and learned that it was part of the Rosewood line of hearses that are manufactured in Morrilton. The car had a classic 1950s aesthetic that was stylish and unforgettable.

WINGS AND THINGS: On our tour through the Arkansas River Valley, we ate some wings in Russellville, saw some curious sasquatch cutouts, took in the view from Mount Magazine and placed a lock on the fence in Paris.

ALL PHOTOS BY GRIFFIN COOP

HEAD WEST

NEW TRAILS JUST OUTSIDE OF LITTLE ROCK HERALD THE CONNECTION OF THE MAUMELLE PINNACLES.

This month, The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas opened the 459-acre Blue Mountain Natural Area to the public. It’s the westernmost mountain in the Maumelle Pinnacles chain, which includes Pinnacle Mountain and Rattlesnake Ridge, the latter of which The Nature Conservancy also manages. The opening of Blue Mountain means mountain bikers and hikers will have another nearly eight miles of trails in the Little Rock area to explore, but perhaps even more exciting is that it represents the final puzzle piece to connect a series of natural areas that together make up 21,000 acres. Connector trails are coming to tie that stretch of land together, and officials are exploring ways to further extend the connection all the way to River Mountain and Two Rivers parks.

Central Arkansas was at the vanguard of the pedestrian trail movement that’s since spread to seemingly every mid-sized community in Arkansas. The Arkansas River Trail, steadily pieced together over several decades and considered at least near complete (close the loop!) in 2011, set the standard for pedestrian trails throughout the state. But more recently, Little Rock area trail lovers can’t help but feel left behind by Northwest Arkansas and the nearly 38-mile-long Razorback Regional Greenway, and the hundreds of miles of bike trails funded by Walton family dollars. Some of that largesse has found its way to Central Arkansas with the development of the Pinnacle State Park Monument and River Mountain Park mountain bike trails.

There’s reason to be hopeful that within the next decade Central Arkansas’s trail infrastructure will rival Northwest Arkansas’s: Enough money and time has been spent on the planned 60-mile Southwest Trail, a bicycle and pedestrian trail that will connect the Little Rock Central High School Historic Site with Hot Springs National Park, that it seems inevitable. Same for the Tri-Creek Greenway, the planned six-mile-plus linkage of Little Rock’s War

Memorial, Kanis, Boyle, Western Hills and Hindman parks.

But in the near term, the Maumelle Pinnacles are where the action is. Central Arkansas Water, which manages Lake Maumelle and much of the surrounding 88,000-acre watershed, has been awarded a $200,000 Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the Arkansas Department of Transportation to develop connector trails. Raven Lawson, watershed manager for Central Arkansas Water, expects work to begin this summer, after official paperwork goes through, on roughly 10 miles of new trails: One would connect Blue Mountain to the north side of Rattlesnake Ridge, and another would connect Blue Mountain to the Bufflehead Bay Trail, a 2.3-mile loop along Lake Maumelle and off Arkansas Highway 10.

Additionally, Lawson has a map with further trails plotted that rim Lake Maumelle, which would connect Pinnacle Mountain and the Ouachita National Recreational Trail to Rattlesnake Ridge, Blue Mountain and Central Arkansas Water’s existing trails. The water utility isn’t paying for trail development on the backs of ratepayers, but Lawson is confident that, with an array of state and private partners working in the area, they’ll find grant money to fund the construction.

Tom Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune, advocate for trail development and a member of the Natural State Advisory Council, which is working to bolster Arkansas’s reputation as an outdoor recreation destination, told a recent gathering of the Rotary Club of Little Rock that he thought Lake Maumelle represented the greatest untapped potential for outdoor recreation in Central Arkansas.

Lawson appreciated the shout out, and generally agreed, but also wanted people to know that there’s already a lot to do in the watershed. The Bufflehead Bay Trail, completed in 2021, may not be a secret to birders — it’s named for a duck that’s small in size but big in head — or anglers. But it still flies under the radar. In mid-May, Lawson led a reporter along the paved first half-mile of the trail and along a bit of dirt single track that follows, pointing out the proliferation of coneflowers and other plants in the understory, thriving thanks to selective thinning of the forest and controlled burns. The fire burns leaf litter, which sends nutrients back into the soil, opening up the seed bank for native plants to thrive. “Those native plants have root systems that are 5-15 feet deep on average,” Lawson said. “And the roots help hold the soil in place, and when we have big rains, all those plants can uptake the nutrients

THROUGH THE TREES: Samantha Bates, recreation technician at The Nature Conservancy, stands in front of a view of the summit of Blue Mountain.

LINDSEY MILLAR

in the water as it goes across the landscape, so it doesn’t end up in the water. The whole story behind our forest management is [that] a healthy forest equals healthy drinking water.”

Farther along Highway 10, look out for Loon Point Park and the 0.7-mile Farkleberry Trail along the lake, another ideal spot for anglers and birders, and the Sleepy Hollow Water Trail, a five-mile flat-water float through the Maumelle River and Bringle Creek.

Back to the east, the parking area for Blue Mountain, with room for about 30 vehicles, sits just off Highway 10. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, using state and federal funds, and The Nature Conservancy jointly purchased the property for $5 million from PotlatchDeltic in 2021.

Unlike Rattlesnake Ridge, the peak of Blue Mountain isn’t the area’s primary destination. Wright’s cliffbrake, a rare western desert fern, is found at the top, and conserving it was one of the reasons The Nature Conservancy and the state bought the property. There’s also a lot of poison ivy up there, so avoid. There are three trails in the Blue Mountain Natural Area, graded for mountain bikers, but open to hikers alike: The three-mile green Luna Moth singletrack loop, a 0.8-mile green downhill trail designed specifically for bikers called Dhu Drop, and the 3.5-mile, multidirectional Tarantula Hawk Trail (or a loop if you ride or walk some of Luna Moth) that connects to the south side of Rattlesnake Ridge. The latter, a blue, is rockier and more technical. It was also still under construction in May, though Samantha Bates, recreation technician with The Nature Conservancy, expected it to be completed by June.

Outside the parking lot for Blue Mountain is a remote-controlled gate that can be closed when it’s raining or the ground is so wet that foot or bike traffic might lead to erosion. The gate will otherwise open and close around dawn and dusk. Like at the popular Rattlesnake Ridge, it’s important that visitors don’t try to park outside the designated lot or explore the trails when the gate is closed.

“We’re trying to fill a slightly different niche,” Jeff Fore, director of conservation at The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas, said. “If you think of everything from a city park, which is a very heavily managed experience, to the national forest and the Flatside Wilderness Area, a very remote and different experience — we’re trying to fit a little in the middle of that, where you’re 30 minutes outside of Little Rock and you can go to one of these natural areas and pretty legitimately feel alone. Controlling the access and the number of folks who can be on the property at one time does create a unique experience where you can go find some peace and solace in nature, but you’re just right outside town.”

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Papa Does Piggott

ERNEST HEMINGWAY IS OK, BUT WAIT 'TIL YOU LEARN ABOUT THE PFEIFFERS.

For bookish types, the best road trips are the ones you can match up with reading lists. Amassing a satisfying stack of fiction in preparation for a visit to an author’s place of origin adds to the anticipation. Bonus points for tortured writers who suffered mental illness, alcoholism and/or wacky Southern-fried family dysfunction, because then you get to read the messy biographies about them, too.

In this category Arkansas is wildly lucky. Zip across the state line to Oxford to picnic at William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak and walk the very trail where his obdurate horse Stonewall executed the fatal buck. Ponder the irony of a horse named for a Confederate general landing the deadly blow to a white author whose obsessive grappling with Southern racism nabbed him a Nobel.

That 3½-hour drive from Little Rock to the Mississippi college town is a well-worn path. The 3½-hour drive to Piggott, though, not

BY AUSTIN BAILEY

so much. Why? Hanging from the ArkansasMissouri border in the state’s northeast corner and surrounded by farmland, Piggott lacks the exuberant college town draw that keeps Oxford hopping. But credit Piggott’s quiet remoteness and agricultural potential for drawing the Pfeiffer clan from St. Louis in the first place, a move that ultimately crowned Ernest Hemingway the town’s most famous son-inlaw.

A road trip to the sometimes-home of an infamous literary all-star qualifies for an unexcused absence from school in my book, so my 15-year-old son rode shotgun as we set out early on a springtime Wednesday (shotguns would become a theme that day). We’d barely made it past Newport before Amos lost interest in the audiobook version of “The Old Man and the Sea,” a Hemingway piece I picked because Charlton Heston narrated and the two-hour run time fit tidily into our schedule. But the old man was on the boat, the marlin was on the hook

and Amos had surely gotten the gist before he abandoned it for whatever was playing on his headphones. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” a tale of deadly gangrene in the African wild, would have been a better bet. Or maybe “A Farewell to Arms,” parts of which Hemingway wrote while on extended visits with his wife’s family in Arkansas.

A sunny drive through the Delta, with crop dusters looping overhead and pink and yellow flowers along the roadsides, is a pleasant way to pass the time regardless of what you’re listening to. Add a road snack from Ms. Addie’s Quick Shop this side of Paragould, where bathrooms are pristinely clean and a glass display box stuffed with fried foods entices. You want the boudin balls, marshmallow-shaped spicy capsules of rice and sausage.

Thus fortified, we made the HemingwayPfeiffer Museum and the adjoining Matilda & Karl Pfeiffer Museum & Study Center our first stop in Piggott, population about 3,500. “They

COLONIAL REVIVAL: The Pfeiffer family home in Piggott was a draw for Ernest Hemingway, who married Pauline Pfeiffer and spent long stretches of time visiting his Arkansas in-laws.

BRIAN CHILSON

did a really good job on this,” my son said as we pulled into the shaded parking lot down the hill from the museum itself. The tidy, pretty museum campus charms like a pop-up storybook, with neat clusters of pink peonies, brick walkways, manicured lawns and two restored and preserved houses that convey the casual sophistication of Piggott’s upper crust circa 100 years ago.

Between the childhood home of Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, and the home her brother Karl and his wife, Matilda, built in 1933, is the barn the Pfeiffer family turned into a guesthouse. A loft-like space well ahead of its time as a trendy ADU (accessory dwelling unit), this breezy quarters is where Hemingway reportedly wrote much of “A Farewell to Arms.”

Visitors get a guided tour of Karl and Matilda Pfeiffer’s Tudor Revival, which was so lovely, so movie set-worthy, that Hollywood claimed it temporarily. Part of the film “A Face in the Crowd” was shot in the backyard pool in 1956.

All three of the couple’s children died young, and Karl Pfeiffer died in 1981, leaving the reclusive Matilda to putter around the house alone, amassing cookbooks and the rocks and minerals now on display in a series of glass cases inside. If you show up on a weekday morning, you’ll likely be the only person there and can ask all of the nosy questions that come to mind.

Matilda left an endowment when she died in 2002 to turn the house into what it is today, a pristinely restored home on 11 well-kept acres that’s listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places. Visitors can peruse the house, grounds and glittery mineral collection for free! Matilda was reportedly a bit of a shut-in in her latter decades, her house so obscured by trees that a Piggott native reports no one even knew the house was back there. Today, though, a sprawling yard includes fountains, art installations and magnificent oak trees.

Equally well-appointed is the Pfeiffer-Janes House, built in 1910, restored to its original form in the 1990s and now a popular spot to stage prom and wedding photos. For the bargain price of $12, you’ll get a tour and the backstory of how the Pfeiffers of St. Louis came to Arkansas. With considerable wealth in hand from a chemical company he’d started with his brothers, Paul Pfeiffer moved his wife, Mary, and four children to Piggott in 1913, buying the house because it was the biggest one in town. Paul Pfeiffer went on to become the land baron of Northeast Arkansas, buying up 63,000 acres.

Come for a tour of the gorgeous house and grounds, but loiter for the juicy tales of adultery, abortion, cross-dressing and glamorous lesbian escapades of Pauline’s siren sister, Virginia. Piercing portraits and snaps from the ski slopes hardly hint at Virginia’s escape to the West Coast, where she lived next door to her married lover. Tour guide Autumn Turner expertly indulged my prurient interests, spilling all about the genteel rural Catholic family’s brushes with

scandal while my son did his best to pretend he wasn’t listening.

Ever the money-chasing cad, Hemingway met wife-to-be Pauline Pfeiffer in Paris while he was still married to his first wife, Turner explained as we toured the perfectly preserved Colonial Revival house fit for an Architectural Digest spread.

Daughter of Paul and Mary, Pauline Pfeiffer was working as a journalist in Paris when she befriended Hemingway, his wife Hadley and their young son, John. By that time the young Ernest, only in his 20s, had already taken to calling himself “Papa” — one of countless over-the-top markers of strength and virility he cultivated throughout his career of bullfighting, hunting and navigating an ambulance through Spanish war zones.

Upheaval ensued when Hemingway fell for Pauline’s family money and editing skills. Pauline became pregnant and sought an abortion, then returned home to Piggott to recuperate. She came clean to her devoutly Catholic parents, who were surprisingly accommodating about things. Paul Pfeiffer helped procure an annulment to dissolve the marriage of Hemingway and his first wife, freeing him up to leave first wife and son high and dry in Paris to start his next chapter with Pauline.

Seems pretty tawdry. Were the new in-laws not put out by this louche philanderer who impregnated their daughter out of wedlock and sent her off to have an abortion, all while he was married to another woman? The warm and generous welcome the Pfeiffer family gave Hemingway suggests they were not.

The family eventually washed their hands of him when Pauline gave up on her cheating husband 12 years in and granted a divorce, but the couple had plenty of adventures in that dozen years. The museum includes game trophies and photos from a safari financed by wealthy uncle Gus Pfeiffer, and photos of the couple’s children. Pauline never remarried and died at age 56. Hemingway married again twice, was hospitalized for mental illness and eventually killed himself with a shotgun.

Even if Hemingway’s testosterone-soaked prose and serial womanizing aren't your thing, the Pfeiffer clan of Piggott is fascinating in their own right and worthy of a visit regardless of any affiliation with a literary lion. Also, there’s pie. The Hen House right on Piggott’s sleepy main square is locally famous for its lemon, coconut and chocolate meringues. Duck in for a slice before you head out of town.

The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center in Piggott is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with the last tour of the day starting at 3 p.m. Admission is $12. The Matilda and Karl Pfeiffer Museum and Study Center is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free admission.

State of the Arts

WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE A VISIT TO ARKANSAS’S MAJOR MUSEUMS.

BY DANIEL GREAR

If you go to Arkansas’s most prominent museums expecting to find regal paintings and masterly sculptures by esteemed artists, you won’t be disappointed. That said, the cultural institutions throughout our state recognize that an equal emphasis on history, experimentation and participatory exploration can widen art’s appeal, deepen the visitor’s learning experience and ensure that no one and no subject gets left out of the narrative.

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART 600 Museum Way, Bentonville

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which opened in 2011, is the kind of exorbitantly well-funded juggernaut whose permanent collection is so studded with name-drop-worthy classics that it doesn’t really need to put much effort into its temporary goings-on, and yet, the rest of the year holds much to get excited about up in Bentonville. Top of the list is the world premiere of a new show (Sept. 16 to Jan. 29, 2024) from Annie Leibovitz — one of the most well-known living photographers — whose intimate celebrity portraits for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue transformed how the public understands fame. Also

HETEROGENEITY: Whether your idea of art is intimate celebrity portraiture by Annie Leibovitz (top left), ‘90s nostalgia taken to its gaudiest limits by Yvette Mayorga (top right) or elegant artifacts from the Museum of Native American history (bottom right), Arkansas’s cultural institutions have you covered.

upcoming at Crystal Bridges is a site-specific installation (June 24 to April 22, 2024) from Marie Bannerot McInerney that employs light, silk and concrete to interact with the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice; a short-term performance art piece that involves costumed singers spontaneously approaching random museumgoers and serenading them with a song by Franz Schubert (Sept. 9-29); and a display of new acquisitions by Toshiko Takaezu and Lenore Tawney, two friends whose work in their respective fields of ceramics and fiber helped pave the way for craft to be recognized as fine art (Oct. 14 to March 25, 2024).

THE MOMENTARY

507 SE E St., Bentonville

Since its opening in 2020, the Momentary has functioned as an art space that one might affectionately call Crystal Bridges’ slightly weirder cousin. In addition to sponsoring another iteration of FORMAT Festival (which this year will bring LCD Soundsystem, Alanis Morissette, Leon Bridges and much more to a nearby airstrip) on the weekend of Sept. 22, you should be on the lookout for concerts by Brothers Osborne (July 15), Rina Sawayama (Oct. 6) and Wu-Tang Clan (Oct. 28); a queer film festival presented in partnership with NWA Equality that will bring movies like “The Birdcage,” “Paris Is Burning” and “How to Survive a Plague” to the big screen (June 3); and an indoor/outdoor procession of dance performances choreographed by Matty Davis and scattered across the galleries and grounds (Aug. 4-6). Longer-term exhibitions by Firelei Báez, Yvette Mayorga and Will Rawls (in the form of a large-scale passageway sculpture that you can literally walk through; intentionally gaudy, pink-frosted paintings; and a glitchy stop-motion video installation) have been at the Momentary for a while now, but will stay up until October.

ARKANSAS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock

If you haven’t yet visited “Together” — the impressive, community-themed Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts exhibition chock full of work that’s large in both size and heart — in the month and some change that it’s been open, make sure to catch it before it leaves on Sep. 10. Beyond what’s currently showing, however, you’ve got a lot to look forward to in the way of art, events and programming on the horizon. There’s Delta Voices (July 13), a oneoff happening that will unite curators from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Crystal

Rhea Drug Store

Bridges Museum of American Art, the Philbrook Museum of Art and the AMFA for a discussion about the Mid-South region. Then, starting Aug. 29, an 11-minute protest film by Rhea Storr will play in the galleries. In the fall, Filmland (Oct. 4-8) — the Arkansas Cinema Society-led festival known for screening award-winning movies and facilitating brushes with famous actors and influential directors — will be held at the new building for the first time. Plus, the AMFA just announced an inaugural concert series with shows from the Secret Sisters (Nov. 8), Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band (Feb. 1, 2024), Sunny War (March 28, 2024) and a slew of other genre-spanning acts. If what you desire is something less defined and more low-key, stop by the museum from 5-8 p.m. on any given Hump Day for Wednesday Spins, a post-work mingling op in the awe-inspiring Cultural Living Room with a DJ and happy hour specials to help stimulate the banter.

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER

1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock

No matter what time of year you come to the Clinton Presidential Center, founded in 2004, you can expect — among oodles of other Clinton-era memorabilia — to set foot in fullsize replicas of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, two integral White House sites where historically significant decisions are made to this day by the commanders-in-chief and their most trusted advisers. Though both are accurate recreations, the former takes precision to the next level by decorating the space exactly as Bill Clinton had it when he was in office. If that much Clinton intimacy feels indulgent to you, come out from June 8-Oct. 1 for Dinosaur Explorer, an exhibition that explores the links between presidential policy and public knowledge about the prehistoric reptiles and boasts 20 advanced animatronic dinosaurs.

MUSEUM OF NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY

202 SW O St., Bentonville

No new exhibits are on the books yet for the Museum of Native American History, but that doesn’t mean a trip up to Northwest Arkansas isn’t worth it, especially if you’re already in the area to check out the Walton mammoths. Founded in 2004 by David Bogle, a member of the Cherokee Nation who was born and raised in Bentonville, the MONAH collection consists of 14,000 years worth of indigenous culture. Divided into the Paleo (12000 BC-8000 BC), Archaic (8000 BC-1000 BC), Woodlands (1000 BC-900 AD), Mississippian (900 AD-1450 A.D.) and Historic (1650 AD-1900 AD) time periods,

the museum’s accumulation of over 10,000 artifacts from the First Americans allows for a panoramic view of human development in an untouched environment and the ways in which that trajectory was forever altered by the intrusion of an outside force.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM 200 E. Third St., Little Rock

If it feels like the Historic Arkansas Museum — home to the Hinderliter Grog Shop, the oldest still-standing building in Little Rock, constructed in 1827 — was plopped right in the middle of the chaos of downtown, it’s really the other way around. Aside from the transplanting of an 1830s plantation home from Scott, the other 19th century structures on the grounds — the McVicar and Brownlee houses from the 1840s and an Arkansas Gazette print shop from the 1820s — have been reconstructed, maintained and restored in their original locations. Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., you’ll find costumed staff members and handson crafting activities on the grounds, which is a great time to bring the kids. In addition to these more immersive offerings, the museum portion of this entity is known for its extensive collection of Arkansas-made artisan crafts in the broadest sense of the word, including but not limited to the work of cabinet makers, silversmiths, potters, quilters and tailors. Much visual art from Arkansans of the past and present is also on display. Make sure to check out “We Walk In Two Worlds,” a permanent exhibit with over 150 pieces of pottery, clothing and weapons from the Caddo, Osage and Quapaw people of Arkansas.

MID-AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM

500

Mid America Blvd., Hot Springs

Leave the formal museum attitude at home; everything at the Mid-America Science Museum — established in 1979 — is designed to be tinkered with. Whether you’re investigating the magic of movement through the Vertical Wave Machine, the Bicycle-Wheel Loopy and the Sand Pendulum of the Marvelous Motion Gallery; examining the ever-changing creation of prisms and color through visual manipulations on the Light Bridge; or traversing the various ropes of the Bob Wheeler Science Skywalk (which overlooks 21 beautifully wooded acres), you’re in control of the experience. This summer, a nostalgia-pumped exhibition called Toytopia will travel to the Mid-America Science Museum, providing visitors of all generations with a window into the fast-evolving science and ingenuity behind their favorite childhood pastimes (June 10-Sept. 4). The world’s largest Etch A Sketch — nearly 8 feet tall! — will be on site for all to put their paws on.

Steve Abochale *

Angela Alexander

Arkansas Cinema Society, Young Storytellers

Clarshun Beyah

Pamela Bingham *

BNB Projects / Brian’s Closet

Lyuba Bogan *

Deidra Brown

Katy Campbell *

Canaan Missionary Baptist Church

Lee Casterline *

Central Church of Christ, Sixties Class

Chanan Ministries

Chick- l-A, Broadway & 7th Street

Chicot Elementary In uencers *

Mariana Abarca

Maria Aguilar

Greg Ferguson

Kenneth Patterson

Heath Welch

Maria Weyrens

Te ne Green Craig

Christopher Crane

Linda Donley

Angela Doyne

Ashley East

Dr. Revis Edmonds of AR Heritage & Tourism

Fellowship Bible Churches, West and Midtown

Jennifer Ferguson *

First United Methodist Church Little Rock *

Tasha Fennell

&

First Security Bank

Teresa Gilzow

Greater Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church

Helga Halloran

Theresa Harris *

Jowanna Higgins

Hillcrest Merchants Association *

Sharon Houston

Susan Jackson *

Ebonee Johnson

Janann Johnson

Mayo Johnson *

Edward Jordan *

Thomas Kelly, PhD * of UAMS Cancer Institute

Janna Knight

Katelyn Leisenring

Lessons for Life

Little Rock Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Little Rock Church *

Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority

Mary Lowe Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Madlock *

Marsha Masters * of Economics Arkansas

Nell Matthews *

Curtis Norwood

Otter Creek Community Church

Georgia Pettit

Essie Phillips-Rendell

Tonya Prowse

Tracy Rhodes

Kelton Roach *

Latriana Robertson *

Jessica Rodriguez

Isaiah Ross

Keith Saine *

Dr. Noelle Scuderi *

Tiffaney Sharp

Antwanette Smith of Jr. Achievement

Paul Smith

Lyana Snow

Deborah Solee

Nicki Spencer

St. Andrew’s Church

Tracie Sugg

The Mercy Church

Willie Thomas *

Shelby Thompson

Madison Tucker *

Michelle Turner

Abbigale Walker

Dr. Kiffanie Walker *

Sarah Welch

Wendy Welch *

Glenn Williams

LaTonya Williams

Morris Williams, Jr.

Zionalvary Mentoring Group

Previous Jane Mendel Award recipients in attendance at this year’s ‘An Evening for the Stars’ included Charlene Kirk (2021), Henri Smothers (2013), Karen Ryall (2020), Ginny Belotti (2015), Nell Matthews (2023), Denise Persons (2022), Debbie Bass (2014), Patty Barker (2008) and Rita Qualls (2010). Student artist for this year’s award was Levi Zaller, 5th grader at Gibbs Magnet Elementary School.

Student Volunteer Award

Steve Abochale and Madison Tucker

Community Resource and Leadership Award

Marsha Masters and Pamela Bingham

Little Rock School District Alumni Award

Dr. Kiffanie Walker and Kelton Roach

ViPS staff Jackie Merrell and Tammy Blaylock. ViPS Award nominee Tracy Rhodes and guests. Aaron Lubin and Tyrone Harris

BROTHELS, BALLS AND BRIDGES

TEN UNSUNG ARKANSAS MUSEUMS.

BY MARY HENNIGAN

rkansas has oodles of museums, from the typical county museum to stateof-the-art shiny pieces like the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and the inbetween, unsung important places that keep history alive more than a century later. With so many options and mortality a constant reminder that people don’t have time for everything, some great Arkansas museums get pushed to the back burner. Here’s a collection of some of the state’s underappreciated treasures.

THE SULTANA DISASTER MUSEUM

104 Washington St., Marion

Nearly 160 years ago, following the end of the Civil War, the deadliest maritime disaster in the

country’s history occurred on the Mississippi River. Transporting nearly 2,000 more passengers than it was made for, the Sultana steamboat’s broilers suddenly burst into flames and the wreckage sank near the Arkansas bank in Marion. The Sultana Disaster Museum is currently in a modest 1,000-square-foot center, but a $6 million expansion will revamp the museum in a 17,000-square-foot space, set to open by 2025.

OZARK BALL MUSEUM

Email still@stillonthehill.com for appointment details. Fayetteville

Folk musician duo Donna and Kelly Mulhollan needed a retirement plan, thought

having a roadside attraction would be cool and birthed the Ozark Ball Museum right in their living room in Fayetteville. When they’re not jamming together as Still On The Hill, they act as curators for their unique and charming collection of spheres, which even includes a compact ball of cat hair. You can check out the Ozark Ball Museum with your own eyes by appointment only.

U.S. MARSHALS MUSEUMS

789 Riverfront Drive, Fort Smith

After 16 years and $50 million of development, the U.S. Marshals Museum is expected to open its doors in Fort Smith on July 1. The museum is shaped like a giant star, and it offers 53,000

UNDERAPPRECIATED: Clockwise from top left are the U.S. Marshals Museum, the visitor center at Miss Laura's, the Sultana Disaster Museum, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum, the Natural Bridge and the Ozark Ball Museum.

ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, HERITAGE AND TOURISM

KIRK LANIER

MARY HENNIGAN

square feet of storytelling space. Several interactive exhibits will help visitors along the journey of the U.S. Marshals’ history. The museum also has a space dedicated to those who have lost their lives while on duty.

THE GANGSTER MUSEUM OF AMERICA

510 Central Ave., Hot Springs

Hot Springs, once a vacation destination for such mobsters as Al Capone, is home to The Gangster Museum of America. Capone is perhaps the country’s most famous gangster, as he dominated organized crime in Chicago a century ago and was among the first group of prisoners who served time in Alcatraz. Museum visitors can learn more about his story as well as other riveting tales from the 1920s-1940s.

DELTA CULTURAL CENTER

141 Cherry St., Helena

Just off the banks of the Mississippi River in Helena, the Delta Cultural Center offers a collection that highlights the culture of the Arkansas Delta through legendary blues musicians and historic dialogue. One permanent exhibit takes visitors on a walk through “A Heritage of Determination” to explore the hardships and triumphs of residents, while a temporary exhibit takes an immersive dive into the role of the Baptist Church in the lives of African Americans during the Jim Crow era and the prominence of Reverend Elias Camp Morris.

CLINTON NATURAL BRIDGE MUSEUM

1120 Natural Bridge Road, Clinton

From March to November, visitors can check out Clinon’s natural bridge and cabin museum. Tucked away in the Ozark Mountains, the 100foot natural sandstone bridge took millions of years to form and now makes for a quaint afternoon destination. A small cabin museum also sheds a light onto what life was like many moons ago. Moonshine, wagon wheels, Arkansas-shaped rocks and more open a window to a time when a family of six could live in a single room together and depend on their fireplace for warmth.

ARKANSAS ALLIGATOR FARM AND PETTING ZOO

847 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs

Is this a museum or a zoo? A zooseum? What’s more clear is that the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo is exactly what it sounds like. Visitors can get up close with baby gators, watch live feedings, hang out with miniature goats and feast their eyes on wolves, mountain lions, monkeys and more.

MISS LAURA’S VISITOR CENTER

2 North B St., Fort Smith

If you’re looking for a museum experience that transports you into an early 1900s brothel, Miss Laura’s Visitor Center is the place to be. The building was once part of a row of similar pleasure houses in Fort Smith’s old booming red light district, and Miss Laura’s operated as a house of prostitution until 1948. Decades later, the mansion was saved from demolition, remodeled and turned into something of a time capsule with walls covered in extravagant wallpaper and rooms jazzed up with antique furniture.

SOUTHERN TENANT FARMERS MUSEUM

117 S. Main St., Tyronza

Tyronza is a small Arkansas town that doesn’t have much outside of a few churches, a bank, a school, public library and the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum. The museum sits humbly on the town’s main street, neighboring a railroad track. Inside a historic building that once acted as the unofficial headquarters of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, exhibits focus on the farm labor movement in the South, including the history of sharecropping.

PLUM BAYOU MOUNDS ARCHAEOLOGICAL STATE PARK AND MUSEUM

490 Toltec Mounds Road, Scott

Stomping around the grounds of the Plum Bayou Mounds State Park is really great — it takes visitors through places that Native Americans once used as a ceremonial space and along the cypress trees growing in the Mound Pond. Even better, the park also includes a wonderfully air conditioned, indoor museum that is just as awesome. Stories of the area and the history of prehistoric tools line the walls, while interactive animal pelts and equipment quizzes are available for those who love to touch things.

No Place Like Home

GETTING SOME LITTLE ROCK HISTORY INTO YOUR SUMMER STAYCATION.

BY ASHLEY CLAYBORN

n average of 111,000 drivers pass by downtown Little Rock on Interstate 30 every day, but when it’s time to plan our summer, do we think enough about the rich history embedded in this city? Not just the big moments, but the smaller glimmers of humanity rooted deep in paint-flaked brick walls. If you want to stroll through lesser-known Arkansas history in downtown Little Rock on a weekday afternoon — or on your summer staycation — all that is required is a little planning ahead.

UA LITTLE ROCK DOWNTOWN’S “STRUGGLE IN THE SOUTH”

333 President Clinton Ave.

First stop: UA Little Rock Downtown, a learning space in the River Market and home to a massive 44-foot mural that once graced the walls of a radical socialist labor college in rural Arkansas. Painted by Joe Jones in the dining hall of the Commonwealth College in 1935, “Struggle in the South” is a gem of the often-overlooked thread of socialism and labor activism in our state’s past. The college was founded to train leaders for labor activism and union organizing in the 1920s and ’30s. A deep dive into the school’s history includes everything from collaborative organizing with the Southern Tenant Farmer’s Union to a federal investigation over accusations of practicing free love. The mural depicts the conditions of labor at the time, including the miseries of sharecropping, the trauma of racial violence and the plight of miners and industrial workers. For four decades, the mural was thought to be lost to time, so the story of its restoration is one for the history books. Before you visit, you must email and coordinate a time with UA Little Rock Downtown Director Marta Cieslak at mxcieslak@ualr.edu.

TABORIAN HALL

800 W. Ninth St.

Since the early 1990s, the first floor of this old giant has been the home of Arkansas Flag and Banner. However, this building was once the entertainment heart of the Ninth Street “Line,” a cultural and social mecca for the Black community in Central Arkansas. During its heyday, Taborian Hall was a common touring stop on the illustrious Chitlin’ Circuit. Many greats have graced that stage, including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and others. Much like Jones’ mural, Taborian Hall, specifically Dreamland Ballroom on the third floor, fell into disrepair before rediscovery and revival decades later. Since 2009, the nonprofit Friends of Dreamland has worked to restore the space to its former glory. With the help of a grant from the National Park Service, awarded in 2021, the nonprofit hopes to bring the old dance hall back to life. Once again, you’ll need to coordinate your visit beforehand at dreamlandballroom.org with the Friends of Dreamland director, Matthew McCoy, but it is more than worth the effort to see the space.

THE DREAMLAND BALLROOM: At Taborian Hall.

ASHLEY CLAYBORN