One of Arkansas' undervalued assets is its potpourri of county museums, where local history and culture are displayed in sometimes fascinating and delightful ways.
After nearly five years of roaming the state for this weekly travel column, I'm ready to spotlight a mix of personal favorites among the couple of dozen county facilities so far visited. Winter is a prime season for touring museums, where indoor temperatures are cozy no matter how chilly it may be outside.
County museums are staffed mainly by local volunteers, and most are open only some days of the week. It's definitely wise to call ahead to be sure the facility is open.
• Boone County Heritage Museum, 124 S. Cherry St., Harrison; (870) 741-3312, bchrs.org. Unusual objects galore are on display at one of the state's largest county museums. They're as diverse as vintage parking meters, a suitcase without handles, a gasoline-powered railroad car, a varnished butter churn and two portable embalming tables.
• Clark County Historical Museum, 750 S. Fifth St., Arkadelphia; (870) 230-1360, clarkcountyhistory.org. Almost anything old once was new. That includes the dial telephone, which now qualifies as a museum piece. Therefore it's amusing to read the instructions in a 1940s Arkadelphia phone book on how to dial a number via what was then a newfangled feature.
• Dallas County Museum, 221 N. Main St., Fordyce; (870) 352-7202, dallascountymuseum.org. This museum's lobby gets visitors' rapt attention thanks to the magnificent example of taxidermy on display. It's a fierce-looking polar bear with mouth open to brandish killer teeth. The bear was shot some years back in the Russian Arctic by a Dallas County hunter.
• Faulkner County Museum, 801 Locust St. (Courthouse Square), Conway; (501) 329-5918, faulknercountymuseum.org. The so-called Good Old Days were surely less so for housewives lacking the means to employ servants. That point is made by this museum's display of a hefty vacuum cleaner, circa 1895, that acquired what was likely an apt nickname: "Lady Killer."
• Grant County Museum, 521 Shackleford Road, Sheridan; (870) 942-4496, grantcountymuseumar.com. On display at this excellent indoor-outdoor museum is Grant County's first television set. It's a 1947 Westinghouse model owned by a local radio shop. Alas, it could show only electronic "snow," because the nearest TV station was far away in Memphis.
• Hot Spring County Museum, 302 E. Third St., Malvern; (501) 337-4775, malvernchamber.com. A poster from the 1954 cult-classic movie The Creature From the Black Lagoon is a prime eye-catcher here. It seems that one of the 3-D film's stars, Julie Adams, had gone to high school in Malvern. She signed the poster: "Stay out of dark water. Best wishes."
• Lonoke County Museum, 215 S.E. Front St. (U.S. 70), Lonoke; (501) 676-6750. A mannequin on display in this museum could pass for a belle of the ball from the antebellum South, thanks to her lacy bonnet and vivid red skirt. In fact, such attire is said to have been worn by a Confederate guerrilla to infiltrate a Civil War dance hosted by Union officers.
• Nevada County Depot & Museum, 403 W. First St. South, Prescott; (870) 887-5821, depotmuseum.org. A bicycle custom-made by Prescott blacksmith Karl King in the 1890s has a place of pride here because it showed up in 1933 as an item in the popular "Ripley's Believe It or Not" newspaper feature. King used it to give rides to his three granddaughters.
• Randolph County Heritage Museum, 106 E. Everett St., Pocahontas; (870) 892-4056, RandolphCoMuseum.org. There's no stuffed polar bear at the Randolph County Museum, but the taxidermist's art has preserved a huge alligator gar caught locally in 1955 from the Black River. More than 7 feet long and weighing 164 pounds, it had to be shot before it could be landed.
• Van Buren County Historical Museum, 211 Third St., Clinton; (501) 745-4066. A figure of note here, though for the wrong reason, is Bill Newman. He gets an entire display case as the only person ever legally hanged in Van Buren County, after conviction for murdering his wife. The 1895 public execution supposedly drew the largest crowd up to that time in Clinton.
Information on other county museums can be found at arkansas.com.
Weekend on 01/04/2018