Arkansas Timberlands Attractions

Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources/El Dorado Downtown – Near El Dorado, on Jan. 10, 1921, a geyser of “black gold” spewed far over the 112-foot derrick of Arkansas’s first productive oil well. The town’s population quickly skyrocketed, creating the need for a new courthouse, more business space and larger churches. The prosperity would subsequently spread through 10 south Arkansas counties as more oil and natural gas was discovered. At the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover, the history of the state’s “oil boom” is told through films, historic photographs, geological and other exhibits, oil-era memorabilia and the Oil Field Park, which displays derricks and pumping equipment. Seven miles away, El Dorado’s downtown, centered around the Neo-classic 1928 Union County Courthouse, contains architecturally significant churches and other structures constructed in the 1920s and ‘30s and made possible by the new wealth. A diverse mix of shops, a variety of dining establishments and complementary landscaping and streetscape details add to the downtown atmosphere. Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources, 3853 Smackover Highway, 870-725-2877, www.ArkansasStateParks.com. Downtown El Dorado, 870-863-6113, www.goeldorado.com. Main Street El Dorado, 870-862-4747, www.mainstreeteldorado.org, www.myspace.com/mainstreeteldorado .

Camden/McCollum-Chidester House – In the spring of 1864, the Union Army briefly captured the town of Camden during a failed Civil War campaign. Gen. Frederick Steele occupied the McCollum-Chidester House at 926 Washington Street, then the home of stagecoach operator John T. Chidester. Now hosting public tours, the house is mostly furnished with antiques original to the Chidester family, who moved into the home in 1857. 870-836-9243. Ten miles west of Camden on Ark. 76, Poison Spring Historic State Park preserves and interprets a battlefield of the Red River Campaign. 870-685-2748, www.ArkansasStateParks.com. Civil War artifacts and displays on two of Camden’s historic products, Camark pottery and Grapette soft drinks, are among exhibits housed in the Camden Visitors Center and Museum. 314 Adams S.W. 870-836-6426.

President Bill Clinton’s 1st Home Museum, Exhibits Center and Museum Store – President Clinton was born on August, 1946 in Hope to his recently widowed mother, Virginia Cassidy Blythe, and named for his father, William Jefferson Blythe II. Virginia and Bill lived with her parents, Edith and Eldridge Cassidy in the 2 story frame home at 117 S. Hervey until late 1950 when Virginia re-married to Roger Clinton. The young couple moved a dozen blocks away to their own home but young Bill continued to spend much time with the Cassidys until his beloved grandfather’s death in 1957. The house is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Now on a busy thoroughfare, in the 1930s-1950s young Bill’s first home was located among many other family residences on a small tree-lined street. President Clinton’s mother helped with the restoration of the house to look as it did when she and little Billy lived there with her parents. Guided tours are available. This is the house President Clinton has written and spoken about as the place he always thought of as home. The adjacent Exhibit Center has three rooms of photographic exhibits detailing President Clinton’s early childhood, family and friends. The Museum Store has a diversity of books, global crafts, and political memorabilia. M-Sat 10-5.Tel. 870-777-4455. 117 S. Hervey between Division and 2nd streets. Parking and entrance in back off 2nd St. E-mail: [email protected], www.clintonbirthplace.com.

President Bill Clinton’s Boyhood Home – The 1940s-style home where young Bill lived with his mother and stepfather from late 1950 to summer 1953 when they moved to Hot Springs. Tours are not available but a passive exhibit can be seen through the windows of Bill’s Lionel train set and posters of his 1950s hero Hopalong Cassidy. Drive-by only. 321 E. 13th. Phone: 870-777-4455. E-mail: [email protected]

Hope Visitors’ Center and Railroad Museum – Located in the restored 1912 railroad depot at Division and Main Streets, the city’s museum contains exhibits on the town's history as a railway center for the cotton economy in earlier times and its on-going production of giant watermelons. Additional history concerning President Bill Clinton is also on exhibit. 870-722-2580.

Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge – This 65,000-acre refuge in south central Arkansas, which contains the world’s largest green-tree reservoir, is widely regarded as one of the state’s best fishing venues. Other recreational options include hiking, wildlife observation and photography. Among birders, the refuge is known as a place where the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker can be added to one’s life list. The visitors center is located five miles west of Crossett on U.S. 82. 870-364-3167, www.fws.gov/felsenthal/.

Grandview Prairie Conservation and Education Center/Wildlife Management Area – The nation’s largest contiguous tract of blackland prairie in public ownership is contained within this 4,885-acre, multi-use area owned by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Outdoor recreation opportunities include fishing, seasonal hunting, hiking, and wildlife viewing. The limited availability of blackland prairie habitat makes wildflower walks and bird and butterfly watching of special interest at this site. In rural Hempstead County, two miles north of Columbus. 1-800-983-4219; www.grandviewprairiecec.com

Millwood State Park – In 1966, the longest earthen dam in Arkansas was completed on the Little River, forming in a mostly forested valley a lake so broad it covered portions of four counties. Relatively shallow and thick with timber, Millwood Lake soon became a fishing hotspot. Today, the lake and its environs enjoy a reputation as one of Arkansas’s top birding locations. Some 333 different species have been spotted in the area, including the first-ever Arkansas sightings for at least 15 of them. Millwood has attracted migratory sea birds and shorebirds seldom, if ever, seen elsewhere in the state; and due to its extreme southwestern Arkansas location, the lake is sometimes visited by species straying outside their normal ranges farther south and west. Campsites, a marina with watercraft rentals, a picnic area, trails and other amenities make Millwood State Park a great base for fishing and birding excursions. About nine miles east of Ashdown via Ark. 32. 870-898-2800; www.ArkansasStateParks.com.

Historic Washington State Park – Washington, Ark. was founded in 1824 on the Southwest Trail just 15 miles from the Red River, which then separated American lands from the Mexican territory known as Texas. Because of its border proximity, Washington played a role in Texas’ 1835-36 war for independence. Evidence suggests that Sam Houston and others discussed plans for the revolt while Houston resided in one of the town’s taverns in 1834. The town also served as Arkansas’s Confederate capital after Union forces captured Little Rock in 1863. Historic Washington State Park preserves and showcases the town’s architecture, history and pioneer culture. Park visitors can get a sense of 19th- century life in Arkansas by taking historic tours and experiencing interpretive programs and demonstrations throughout the town. There are over 40 structures that date from the 1830s into the early 1900s. Authentic and splendidly furnished historic houses provide a glimpse of domestic life and contain many items – such as furniture and ceramics – that are 19th-century treasures. Noted attractions include the 1836 Hempstead County Courthouse that served as the Confederate capitol , the re-construction of a period blacksmith shop where the original Bowie knife was forged, the B.W. Edwards Weapons Museum, and a print museum featuring 19th- century printing equipment. In addition to daily tours, the park features four major events, rental facilities for group meetings and the Williams’ Tavern Restaurant, which offers country fare food daily. Nine miles northwest of Hope via U.S. 278. 870-983-2684; www.HistoricWashingtonStatePark.com.

Pine Bluff/Delta Rivers Nature Center – The Delta Rivers Nature Center, an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission facility, features exhibits that reveal the natural history of Arkansas’s Delta region, while its hiking trails through 130 acres of woodland “bottoms” give visitors a first-hand look at the vegetation and wildlife characteristic of the area. Among the center’s “living” exhibits are a 20,000-gallon “oxbow lake” aquarium containing native fish species; live snakes, turtles and alligators; and landscaping with wildflowers and other native plants. Other features include short historical and Delta “fly-over” films; numerous preserved specimens of the Delta’s birds, mammals and fish; exhibits on the region’s hunting and fishing tradition, the changing nature of Delta rivers and the importance of wetlands; and a gift shop stocked with nature-related items. Delta Rivers Nature Center, 1400 Black Dog Road. 870-534-0011; www.deltarivers.org.

Pine Bluff has a number of other attractions to fill out a visit, including the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame (1 Convention Center Plaza, 800-536-7660); the Band Museum (423-25 Main St., 870-534-4676); the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Historical Museum (201 E. 4th St., 870-541-5402); the Arkansas Railroad Museum (E. Barraque off U.S. 65-B, 870-536-7600); and a collection of more than a dozen outstanding murals (various downtown sites, 870-536-8742). Visit www.pinebluffcvb.org for more information on those attractions.

Texarkana – This city's boosters refer to it as Texarkana USA because it’s actually two towns with the same name – one in Arkansas, one in Texas. What's more, Tex-ark-ana is named after three states: Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. The Arkansas-Texas boundary runs down the middle of State Line Avenue, passing through the State Line Post Office and Federal Building where tourists can pose on Photographer's Island with one foot in each state. The Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council operates two historic facilities: The Perot Theatre at 219 Main Street, a beautifully restored 1924 Italian Renaissance structure which is a major performing arts center with national/international artists and touring Broadway shows; and the Texarkana Regional Arts Center at 321 W. 4th St., an impressively restored 1911 federal building hosting national, regional and local gallery exhibits year-round. Adjacent are two additional attractions: the outdoor ArtSpark and the Scott Joplin Mural. The Texarkana Museums System operates the 1885 Ace of Clubs House at 420 Pine St., which is built in the shape of a “Club” playing card, plus the historic Museum of Regional History in the oldest Texarkana building at 219 State Line Ave., and the interactive children’s Discovery Place Museum at 215 Pine St., with exhibits focusing on science, history and human perception. The Tex-Ark Antique Auto Museum at 217 Laurel St. is the latest downtown attraction with a wide variety of restored cars and trucks dating back to the turn of the century. The Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, 819 State Line Ave., has compact discs and audiocassette tapes available that visitors can use in their vehicles to follow a self-guided auto tour route to the city's best-known tourist attractions, as well as historic homes, churches, and monuments. General Texarkana information: (903) 792-7191 or www.texarkana.org.