LITTLE ROCK — Ann Hooper said she knew the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society was a finalist for a Henry Award, but it wasn’t until the awards presentation that she knew the society had won.
Representing the preservation society as president, Hooper stood up and accepted the award at the 38th annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism’s Henry Awards banquet.
More than 425 people in the tourism industry gathered from March 4-6 in West Memphis for the two-day conference, and nine Henry Awards were presented. Two Three Rivers-area organizations received awards.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society in Jacksonville took home the Arkansas Heritage Award, and the Greers Ferry Lake and Little Red River Cleanup project received the Grand Old Classic Special Event Award.
“We are the best preserved battlefield in the state, and we’ve worked hard to build an 1860s homestead,” Hooper said.
The battlefield site is at Arkansas 161 where it crosses Bayou Meto. People can tour the cabin, separate kitchen, a large barn and a small smokehouse. Hooper said a chicken house and a blacksmith shop are also planned for the near future.
Appointments for tours are available by calling the Jacksonville Military Museum at (501) 241-1943.
Hooper said that in the fall of 2013, a Civil War re-enactment will celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Battle at Reed’s Bridge.
In August 1863, Gen. John W. Davidson led 6,000 Union troops along Military Road in Jacksonville toward Little Rock, when they were met by Gen. John S. Marmaduke and his 4,000-man Confederate force.
The Confederates postponed the Union capture of Little Rock by holding off Davidson’s men, forcing them to cross Bayou Meto at a different location.
The Henry Award, given to the Greers Ferry Lake and Little Red River Cleanup, was for its consistent 42-year span of the project.
In 1970, only six years after the 40,000-acre Greers Ferry Lake had been filled, millionsof people had come to play. All of those people left behind a lot of garbage on the shoreline of the lake and the Little Red River. In September 1970, a group of volunteers spent a Saturday cleaning up the 300 miles of shoreline, and the cleanup became an annual event.
Sept. 8 will be the 43rd annual Greers Ferry Lake and Little Red River Shoreline Cleanup. The event was recognized by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism for standing the test of time.
The Henry Awards have been a feature of the annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism since 1981. The awards are named for Henri de Tonti, founder of Arkansas Post in 1686. He was also often called the first “Arkansas Traveler.”
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.
Three Rivers, Pages 124 on 03/25/2012