Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Covid downtime put to good use at State Park
PRAIRIE GROVE — Park interpreters with Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park have not been able to lead any programs, tours or host school groups because of covid-19 concerns this year, but they have stayed busy behind the scenes.
The park closed its facilities, including Hindman Hall Museum and Visitor Center and the playground, to the public in March because of the pandemic, except for the walking trail and the park grounds.
The museum is now open with safety measures in place and the playground is open for children to enjoy.
Major events at the park, however, were canceled because of the coronavirus.
The Clothesline Fair, held every year over Labor Day weekend at the state park, was canceled by the Prairie Grove Lions Club in July.
In September, Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism canceled the Battle of Prairie Grove reenactment, held every two years on the first weekend in December. The 2020 reenactment would have remembered the 158th anniversary of the Civil War battle, fought Dec. 7, 1862.
Park interpreter Matt Mulheran said 2020 has been difficult because the covid pandemic has impacted dayto-day operations and interpretive programs. Interpreters are used to working with the public almost daily and usually with large groups of people, he said.
For now, interpretative programs, events and activities cannot be held through the end of December.
Mulheran said the park has been receiving monthly notices about future restrictions, so he’s not sure yet what will be allowed in January.
Park interpreter Kylee Hevrdejs said they can help as a “roving interpreter” for the time being.
If visitors are out and about and have questions, the park interpreters can talk to them briefly to answer any questions or provide a short demonstration following safety protocols.
With restrictions in place, the two have spent time on many projects this year, Hevrdejs said.
One big goal has been getting the historic buildings ready to be shown during guided tours.
The Latta House and outbuilding are ready to go, Hevrdejs said.
The park has restaged the Latta House and added props appropriate for the time period. Park staff also has cleaned out the Latta cellar and added artifacts to it so that one day visitors can go into the cellar during a guided tour.
The Latta kitchen has been overhauled and restaged. The church and school buildings have each received a deep cleaning.
“Our goal was to overhaul the buildings while we have this free time and start with tours on day one,” Mulheran said.
Plans are in the works for the Morrow House and the Borden House.
“These buildings are basically empty,” Mulheran said. “We’re in the planning stage of what do we want them to look like and what do we want our visitors to get out of it from a tour.”
One big accomplishment over the summer was working on the the park’s artifact collection, Hevrdejs said.
The park’s summer intern, Rachel Koch of Hendrix College, assisted with a full inventory of the park’s bullet collection. Each bullet was identified, tagged and stored archaically.
The park is waiting on the report from an archeological survey from the hillside in front of the Borden House.
The results of the study, conducted by Arkansas Archeological Survey with the University of Arkansas, will help historians learn more about the movement of troops during the Battle of Prairie Grove.
The archeologists started the project in late February and then had to stop for a brief period when the university sent its students home for online classes because of covid-19.
They returned in May to complete their work.
The final report will include a map showing the location of the artifacts discovered during the archeological survey.
Mulheran said he’s interested in seeing how the report may change the narrative of the battle.
Other ongoing work has been research to prepare new interpretive programs.
Hevrdejs said the park wants to offer two new programs each month when the park is ready to fully open to the public.
In addition, she said park staff is trying to decide what school programs may look like in the future.
“We already were seeing fewer field trips,” Hevrdejs said.
“We want to think of new ways to bring programs to the classroom, more handson programs that go into the schools.”
One example may be an archeology- based project. Hevrdejs, who focuses more on programs for school-age children, said she could bury the pieces of a puzzle and students would excavate the pieces to get the full picture of a history lesson.
She is working on programs that will align with the Arkansas curriculum for elementary and middle school students.
An ongoing project is to partner with the state for additional signs to show burial trenches on the premises.
Mulheran, who focuses more on the Civil War battle, said park staff have identified four burial trenches, and the park wants to bring more awareness to the public about these.
He said he knows there are more trenches and is hoping to be able to pinpoint those in the future.
Most of the Union soldiers were identified when bodies were relocated to the Fayetteville National Cemetery. However, many of the Confederate soldiers who were buried are not identified, Mulheran said. That’s because the Confederate soldiers withdrew from the battle at the end of the night, leaving their dead on the field. Union soldiers buried the dead.
The two interpreters also have helped provide articles, videos and photos for Digital Discovery, a program on the Arkansas State Parks website.
The public can go to the website and find out more about Prairie Grove State Park and other state parks through this link.
Mulheran said interpreters from all state parks are participating in this project to provide more information to the public.
Currently, Digital Discovery has a video about the Borden Apple Orchard, a photo essay called “At Home in the Ozarks” with photos from the Latta House and other buildings and a photo essay about restoring the Borden House.