Back in the 1800s, this part of the country was the domain of the American Indians, a few settlers and fur trappers.
It was a dangerous, solitary, difficult way of life, Jennifer Nixon writes in Thursday's Arkansas Weekend section. To socialize and to get necessary supplies for trading and hunting, fur trappers relied on what they called the rendezvous.
The Southwestern Regional Rendezvous, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Leslie, recreates and relives those times.
Read more in Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.