LITTLE ROCK — A new program designed to promote Arkansas heritage and encourage people to travel in the state focuses on four history-laden routes that took immigrants, American Indians, Confederate and Union troops, and the mail through the state.
The signs are now going up to mark the four trails that are part of the Arkansas Heritage Trails system, which was established under Act 728 of 2009 and is the result of a collaboration among three state agencies.
“It’s so important for us to remember where we come from and to honor what Arkansas was like in its early days as a territory and new state,” said Cathie Matthews, director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which worked to identify the trails and the historic sites associated with them.
The trails are:
The Butterfield Trail - It follows the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, established in 1858. It included stagecoach runs from Memphis to Fort Smith with a side run to Little Rock and from Fort Smith to Missouri.
Civil War Trails - These actually are a series of eight trails around the state following Confederate and Union troop movements in the various minor Civil War campaigns that took place in Arkansas. The trails can be found in and around Fayetteville, Camden, Helena-West Helena, Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove and what is known as the Price Raid Route, which traverses much of the state.
The Southwest Trail - Described as little more than a footpath before Arkansas became a territory, it was a major immigration route in the 1820s and, in 1831, became the first federally sponsored road in what is now Arkansas. It starts in St. Louis, picks up at Maynard in Randolph County and meanders along a southwesterly route through the Batesville and Little Rock areas not far from what now is U.S. 67. South of Little Rock it generally follows Interstate 30 to Texarkana.
The Trail of Tears - This also is a series of routes that various Indian tribes took across Arkansas after federal authorities removed them from their lands in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee and relocated them to the Indian Territories.
The state Department of Parks and Tourism developed a booklet and website - arkansasheritagetrails.com - to promote the trails.
At a news conference Thursday, Richard Davies, the state’s parks and tourism director, said people already are calling his agency and Matthews’ agency asking about the signs they are spotting in their travels.
Tony Sullivan, maintenance engineer for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said his agency will devote about $200,000 to make and install the signs marking the trails at about 2,000 locations.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 03/30/2012