Are We There Yet?

Arkansas parks, museums offer respite from cold

Visitors can operate a scale model of a cotton gin at Plantation Agriculture Museum in Scott.
Visitors can operate a scale model of a cotton gin at Plantation Agriculture Museum in Scott.

Winter is pretty much off-season for outdoor activity in Arkansas state parks, many of which are designed mainly for recreational pleasures. Chilling temperatures along with the very occasional snow or ice storm are deterrents to January and February fun in the open air.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

A Nodena effigy head vessel is the centerpiece of Hampson Archeological Museum State Park.

But almost a third of the system's 52 parks are entirely or mostly focused on the history (and prehistory) of Arkansas. Any time of year, these sites make lively day-trip destinations with indoor exhibits exploring the many-faceted past of our state. Admission is generally free. Here's a quick look at some of these parks:

Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources: Thanks to the Smackover Field, the nation's No. 1 oil-producing state during part of 1925 was none other than Arkansas. Those boom days are evoked in this museum's 25,000-square-foot space 10 miles north of El Dorado. Visitors can walk through the Earth Globe exhibit to see where oil is located worldwide.

Arkansas Post Museum: Five museum buildings near Gillett in Arkansas County focus on life in the Grand Prairie and Delta from the late 19th century to modern times. The Refeld-Hinman Log House, a dog-trot cabin built in 1877, is furnished for that period. A playhouse, built in the 1930s for the daughter of a state legislator, boasts electricity and a wood-burning fireplace.

Davidsonville Historic State Park: Established in 1815 and the site of Arkansas Territory's first post office, Davidsonville displays archaeological finds relating to life on the U.S. frontier following the Louisiana Purchase. Artifacts include tools, coins, ceramics and combs. The town, 10 miles southwest of Pocahontas, faded by the 1830s after the Southwest Trail bypassed it.

Hampson Archeological Museum State Park: In Wilson near the Mississippi River, this collection from the Nodena culture of A.D. 1400 to 1650 takes special pride in one dazzling prehistoric object. It is an effigy head vessel portraying no mere abstract figure but rather an actual person, probably of high status. Artwork depicts a hawk and bird claw around the eyes.

Historic Washington State Park: A living village of 19th-century life, Historic Washington 10 miles north of Hope was Arkansas' Confederate capital for the last half of the Civil War. Guides in period attire welcome paying visitors to the 1836 courthouse and other structures, including the Weapons Museum. Williams Tavern Restaurant serves Southern lunch dishes daily.

Jacksonport State Park: This park's courthouse, an architectural gem completed in 1872, houses exhibits related to Jacksonport's thriving steamboat era from the 1840s until railroads bypassed it in the 1870s. The upstairs courtroom has been handsomely restored. The park is six miles northwest of Newport near the confluence of the White and Black rivers.

Plantation Agriculture Museum: Cotton agriculture in Arkansas is depicted and interpreted at Scott in the former Steele-Dortch Store, the Dortch Gin Building and Seed Warehouse No. 5. Visitors to the museum in the old store learn of the vital role that mules played as draft animals before mechanization. One farmer wrote that they were "as necessary as the sun and the rain."

Powhatan Historic State Park: The remains of a suspension bridge that closed in 1951 add a melancholy aura to another river town that saw its heyday in the 19th century. Nine miles west of Walnut Ridge, Powhatan has a two-story courthouse dating to 1888, along with a limestone jail built in 1873 and later used as a movie theater, canning kitchen and auto repair garage.

Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park: Six miles southwest of Fayetteville, Prairie Grove ranks as one of America's most intact Civil War battlefields. Hindman Hall houses a museum with interactive exhibits that bring alive the 1862 engagement, a strategic victory for the North. There's a five-mile driving tour of the park with an audio tour available for sale.

For more information on these sites, visit ArkansasStateParks.com.

Weekend on 01/05/2017

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