'Spirits OF Cadron'

'Ghosts' gather for annual tour at park

By Carol Rolf

LITTLE ROCK — "Ghosts" of Faulkner County will gather Friday and Saturday night at Cadron Settlement Park, but they're friendly.

The Faulkner County Museum and the Faulkner County Historical Society will present the annual Haunting Halloween event - Spirits of Cadron.

These friendly spirits will be featured at Faulkner County's Living History Ghost Tour, set for 6:30-9 each night. Those wishing to see these spirits are asked to meet at the park's main pavilion, where students from Bob Courtway and Carl Stuart middle schools will greet them and serve as their guides along the tour of Cadron Settlement Park, the site of Arkansas' second-oldest Euro-American settlement.

Traveling by lantern into the past, visitors will hear ghost tales told by historic characters from Arkansas'and Faulkner County's historic past. Among the ghosts who are scheduled to make an appearance are, said Lynita Langley-Ware, museum director:

◊The fiery Judge McHenry, a hanging judge "who hung you until you were dead, dead, dead." This year, Faulkner County Circuit Court Judge David Reynolds is scheduled to play this part.

◊Thomas Nuttall, the English naturalist who visited Cadron Settlement Park in 1819. Faulkner County Judge Preston Scroggin will be in this role.

◊Several tavern wenches, including Trusty played by Ree Walker; Silky, the head tavern wench, played by Langley-Ware; and an unnamed wench, played by Jessica Day, a history student at the University of Central Arkansas who is serving as an intern at the county museum.

There will also be several Indians, steamboat cap-tains, trappers and traders who will tell their tales.

"This is a family-friendly event," Langley-Ware said. ""There will be no scary stuff, no blood and guts. They will be historical figures who will tell about life at Cadron Settlement Park." Many are "loosely based" on fact, she said.

Admission is $2 per person or$8 per carload. Proceeds will benefit the Cadron Blockhouse Fund.

Refreshments, including cookies and hot apple cider, will be served in the Blockhouse at the conclusion of each tour.

To get to Cadron Settlement Park, from Conway, take U.S. 64 west toward Morrilton. Turn Left onto Arkansas 319 at the sign for Cadron Settlement Park. Proceed to the end of the highway.

For more information, call the Faulkner County Museum at (501) 329-5918.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 63, 67 on 10/09/2008