OPINION

OPINION | REX NELSON: The heritage corridor


The high-rise hotel at Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis heads skyward. It will be 20 stories when completed, making it the tallest building in Arkansas outside Little Rock.

It not only speaks to the tremendous growth in business at Southland in recent years but also symbolizes a new day for a heritage corridor that starts in West Memphis and runs north up Interstate 55 to Blytheville.

I envision a time when many of the visitors to Memphis cross the Mississippi River to spend a night or more at Southland and then visit the expanded Sultana Museum at Marion, the model Delta town of Wilson, the Johnny Cash boyhood home at Dyess and the National Cold War Center at Blytheville.

Some of those visitors might choose to stay instead at the boutique Hotel Louis on the square of the old company town of Wilson. Slick ads are running in lifestyle magazines such as Garden & Gun, touting the upscale facility that will open later this year.

Gaylon Lawrence Jr., one of the nation's largest landowners, continues to open his checkbook, spending millions of dollars to make Wilson the jewel of the Delta. The hope is that well-heeled visitors from across the country will come to shop, eat, drink and participate in outdoor activities.

A recent issue of The Wilsonian, a publication funded by Lawrence, notes: "A large crane pierces the sky in the center of town; bucket loaders are moving dirt along Highway 61; those annoying backup indicators on construction equipment chirp away in the night. These are the sights and sounds of progress and change. Changes are happening in Wilson, both visible and not so apparent.

"Like a slumbering giant, Wilson awakes to a new era, much talked about and much anticipated. The momentum is building, as evident from the construction noise and dust in the air. Once the dust settles, Wilson will be changed, different and better. ... Look for more momentum and activity as the months roll on. It's going to be fun, exciting and, yes, a little scary."

The high-end outdoors clothing company Tom Beckbe--not the type of retailer one would expect in tiny Wilson--now has a store here. There's also Holly Williams' (daughter of Hank Williams Jr.) carefully curated White's Mercantile. The store's other location is in bustling Nashville, Tenn.

Wilson Outdoor Center rents bicycles and gives out maps for more than 100 miles of trails in the area. Rental bikes are equipped with GPS with routes already loaded for ease of navigation. The outdoor center also has apparel and gear for outdoor enthusiasts. In season, Grange Marketplace at Wilson Gardens offers produce, baked goods and fresh flowers.

Wilson Cafe is adding an outdoor patio. Shawn Davis, a New York native who worked for several years in Los Angeles, is the executive chef. Davis has worked at places such as the Four Seasons Beverly Hills and Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills. He moved to Memphis in 2018 when his wife's employer, a charter school network, asked her to relocate.

The 16-room Hotel Louis, which will include a swank bar, is named after Wilson resident Bevin Hunter's French bulldog Louis. Hunter and I worked together at the Delta Regional Authority. She's a Cherry Valley native with a love of the Arkansas Delta and a deep sense of what it will take to turn the region around.

Those who spend the night at Hotel Louis likely will make the short trek to Dyess, one of the Arkansas State University heritage sites. ASU renovated the five-room house that Ray and Carrie Cash called home beginning in March 1935. They arrived from Cleveland County in south Arkansas with their five children. J.R. (who would go on to be known as Johnny) was 3. The Cash family lived there until the end of 1953.

The home was acquired and restored with private contributions and proceeds from the annual Johnny Cash Music Festival.

Interactive exhibits in the nearby Dyess Colony administration building focus on the history of the colony, the impact of growing up in Dyess on Johnny Cash's music, and what life was like for other residents. The administration building received initial funding from Dyess resident Gene Williams and later was restored with grants from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Overall project support was provided through a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"My family is proud to be a part of this deeply soulful heritage that evolved from the Arkansas Delta," says Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne Cash.

The colony was created in 1934 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal to aid in the recovery from the Great Depression. It provided a new start for almost 500 out-of-work Arkansas families. The Works Progress Administration and Federal Emergency Relief Administration acquired about 16,000 acres of swampy, forested land and divided it into farmsteads ranging from 20 to 40 acres.

A house and outbuildings were provided on each parcel. Colonists were expected to pay the government back after clearing land and producing crops.

In Marion, those behind the Sultana Museum are raising funds to add to a $750,000 state grant received last year. The existing museum near the Crittenden County Courthouse remains open while the expanded museum is being developed.

In Blytheville, meanwhile, the National Cold War Center has opened its Blytheville Air Force Base exhibition at the former base. Future phases will include an interactive alert center, B-52 bombers, self-guided tours and more.


Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.


Upcoming Events