DRIVE THE DELTA

Road trips through eastern region reveal cultural gems

A temperamental sculptor, the Mississippi River caresses Arkansas’ eastern edge to create the fertile Delta, the country’s largest alluvial plain. Crowley’s Ridge wrinkles the landscape in the upper Delta, rising as much as 200 feet above the lowlands. Perhaps the best way to experience this terrain is to drive the region’s two national scenic byways: Crowley’s Ridge Parkway and the Arkansas leg of the Great River Road National Scenic Byway. Both routes allow travelers to explore the sights, sounds and history of the Delta, where the culture is as rich as the soil.

DISCOVER WHAT THE DELTA HAS TO OFFER

Housed in the Kress Building, a 1983 Art Deco structure in Blytheville, the Delta Gateway Museum tells the stories of the landscape and its people. According to its website, the museum offers exhibits about local economic mainstays, such as agriculture, steel, timber, river and rail transportation, and Eaker Air Force Base, which closed in 1992. Other exhibits provide information on earthquakes, flooding and flood control, swamp drainage and more. The museum also hosts temporary exhibits and special events.

DELVE INTO NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY

People have long farmed the Delta flatlands. At Parkin Archeological State Park, a large platform mound on the St. Francis River marks the site of a Native American town that existed between 1000 and 1600. It is thought to be the Casqui village conquistador that Hernando de Soto encountered in 1541. In addition to learning about archaeological work, visitors can learn about the Northern Ohio Lumber and Cooperage Co., which had a mill at the site in the early 20th century, and tour the one-room Northern Ohio School, built around 1910. About 40 miles away in Wilson, the Hampson Archeological Museum State Park displays artifacts made by the Nodena people, who lived near the Mississippi River between 1400 and 1650.

TRACE THE STEPS OF EARLY EXPLORERS

As the site of the first capital of the Arkansas Territory, the Arkansas Post National Memorial in Gillett takes tourists back to the state’s early days. In 1686, explorer Henri de Tonti established the trading post as the first semipermanent French settlement in the lower Mississippi River Valley. The post later saw the only Revolutionary War action in Arkansas and a Civil War battle. The memorial regularly schedules historic weapons demonstrations. More historic relics, including an 1877 dogtrot cabin and a 1930s children’s playhouse, can be found a few miles west at the Arkansas Post Museum.

ENTER THE ANTEBELLUM AGE

As a notch in the Cotton Belt, plantations once dotted the Delta. Now the only remaining antebellum plantation home on the Mississippi River in Arkansas is the Lakeport Plantation House, an 1859 Greek Revival structure in Lake Village. The building was given to Arkansas State University by the Sam Epstein Angel family in 2001, and after a five-year restoration, the home now provides a glimpse at plantation life during antebellum, Civil War and reconstruction years. The plantation, which has continuously produced cotton since 1830, allows for the study of agricultural developments, as well as changes in the lives of African-Americans and white landowners over time.

TAKE A PAGE OUT OF HEMINGWAY’S BOOK

Traveling the Delta can inspire writers, as well as musicians. During the 1930s, Ernest Hemingway wrote part of his novel A Farewell to Arms and several short stories while he lived in Piggott with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. At the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, visitors can tour the couple’s home and the barn that was converted into a writing studio. The museum also offers additional historic information about the upper Delta during the 1930s.

FALL FOR THE MAN IN BLACK

Music lovers exploring the Delta can also check out the boyhood home of musician Johnny Cash at the Historic Dyess Colony. According to the colony’s website, Dyess was created in 1934 as part of the New Deal, and several historic buildings there have now been restored, including the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, which has been furnished to appear as it did when he lived there. Visitors can step back into Cash’s childhood to see what life was like for the nearly 500 impoverished farm families who moved to Dyess during the Great Depression. In addition, Dyess hosts performances by renowned musicians during the three-day Johnny Cash Heritage Festival each October.

REMEMBER WORLD WAR II RELOCATIONS

The lower Delta was noteworthy during World War II as the site of two Japanese-American relocation camps in Jerome and Rohwer. Between 1942 and 1945, as many as 8,000 Japanese-Americans were interned at Rohwer, including future Star Trek actor George Takei. Visitors can learn their stories at the Jerome-Rohwer Interpretive Museum and Visitor Center in the McGehee Railroad Depot. Although little is left of the Rohwer site, travelers can visit the cemetery at the Rohwer Relocation Center National Historic Landmark.

— Information courtesy of the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, the University of Arkansas, Arkansas State University, the National Park Service and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture