Recreation and Places
of Interest
Arkansas offers excellent opportunities for
recreation. The visitor to Arkansas may enjoy
a backwoods vacation in some rustic Ozark retreat
or sample the more sophisticated pleasures of
a cosmopolitan spa. The trail of history leads
to many interesting places: the site of Arkansas
Post, where French explorer Henri de Tonty established
a fort in 1686; Washington, where Sam Houston,
Stephen Austin, and Davy Crockett are said to
have met in a tavern to plan the independence
of Texas; and the Civil War battlefield at Pea
Ridge. Fall is the season for livestock shows,
county fairs, and folk dance festivals. Duck
hunters come for the shooting season, and fishing
enthusiasts find excellent opportunities in many
of Arkansas’s lakes and streams.
National Parks
The National Park Service administers five national
sites in Arkansas. The first European settlement
in the lower Mississippi River Valley is commemorated
at Arkansas Post National Memorial, in Gillette.
The post’s construction by a lieutenant
of French explorer René-Robert Cavelier,
Sieur de La Salle was an opening move in a struggle
between France, Spain, and England for control
of the North American interior. Fort Smith National
Historic Site at Fort Smith was one of the first
U.S. military posts in the Louisiana Territory.
From here government policy toward Native Americans
was enforced. Pea Ridge National Military Park
commemorates a victory by Union forces during
the Civil War which led to control of the Missouri
River by Northern forces. Hot Springs National
Park contains 47 hot springs used for many years
for therapeutic treatments. Buffalo National
River, with headquarters in Harrison, is one
of the few remaining free-flowing rivers in the
lower 48 states. The river cuts through massive
limestone bluffs on its course through the Ozark
Mountains.
National Forests
There are three national forests in Arkansas,
covering about 970,000 hectares (about 2.4 million
acres) of land ranging from flatland, to rolling
hills, to beautiful mountains. The largest is
Ouachita National Forest, part of which lies
in Oklahoma. It offers many attractions, including
Lake Ouachita and historic Caddo Gap, where Hernando
De Soto, the Spanish explorer who in the 1540s
was the first European to explore the region,
fought the Native Americans. Seven wilderness
areas are preserved in the forest. Ozark National
Forest is in four separate areas, three north
of the Arkansas River and one south of it. It
includes four national wildlife refuges, a number
of state game and fish refuges, five wilderness
areas, and many scenic drives. Saint Francis
National Forest covers a small region in eastern
Arkansas along the Saint Francis River.
State Parks
Arkansas has 47 state parks. Devil’s Den
State Park, in a rugged part of the Boston Mountains,
contains unusual sandstone formations and a giant
crevice, known as the Devil’s Ice Box,
where the temperature never goes above 16° C
(60° F). Petit Jean State Park, located on
Petit Jean Mountain near the Arkansas River,
is the oldest and one of the more beautiful state
parks. Crowley’s Ridge State Park, at Walcott,
is noted for its fossils of prehistoric plants
and animals. Excellent fishing, boating, swimming,
and picnicking facilities may be enjoyed at De
Gray Lake, Bull Shoals, Lake Catherine, and Lake
Ouachita state parks.
Other Places to Visit
Arkansas’s underground caverns attract
many visitors every year. One of the most popular
is Blanchard Springs Caverns, near Mountain View,
which contains miles of explored passages. Another
much visited cave is Diamond Cave, near Jasper.
Magnet Cove, east of Hot Springs, is considered
a geological wonder, for nearly 100 different
minerals are found there in an area of only 13
sq km (5 sq mi). Mammoth Spring, in northern
Arkansas, is one of the world’s largest
springs.
Source: MSN
Encarta: Online Encyclopedia |
