Driving tour suggested to celebrate history
May is Historic Preservation Month, and in an effort to celebrate while keeping people safe, the Division of Arkansas Heritage is suggesting taking a “drive-by history” of historic Arkansas places.
Mandy Shoptaw, public information officer with Arkansas Heritage, said Historic Preservation Month is important because it brings awareness to saving historical places so that the “next generation can come and see.”
“During the national health crisis, Arkansas Heritage is encouraging citizens to take advantage of drive-by history by researching historic sites in their county utilizing the AHPP’s database of National Register properties then taking a driving tour to see sites from their research,” a news release said.
Kallie Williams, education and outreach coordinator, said Arkansas is a unique place “built by people in Arkansas for people in Arkansas.” She said the state is full of very different places, noting how Siloam Springs is very different from Conway.
By looking at the list of places on AHPP’s database, people can see what some of the local historical places are, and learn the history of those places before driving by them. Williams noted “not everything that is historic” will be on the list.
Shoptaw said Garland County would be a good place to do a driveby history tour, noting, “you have such a beautifully diverse area.”
County Judge Darryl Mahoney
and Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe have each declared May as Historic Preservation Month, the Arkansas Heritage news release said.
The drive-by history idea, in addition to helping people see more of the community and state, was chosen because of COVID-19. “We do know that a lot of historic sites are closed,” Williams said, but while museums are closed, people can still see the outside of historic buildings.
Historic Preservation month “is a nationwide campaign spearheaded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Park Service of which the National Register for Historic Places is a program. According to the NPS, Preservation Month was established in 1973 and encourages state and local governments to join with their state historic and preservation societies to issue proclamations that encourage residents to engage in events that instill national and community pride, promote heritage tourism and show the economic benefits of historic preservation,” the release states.
“I think the National Trust’s Preservation Month is important because we need to be constantly on guard against forgetting our past and allowing our cultural heritage to be lost,” said Tom Hill, museum curator for Hot Springs National Park.
“It is important that all of us are aware of, and appreciate, the places that molded us into who we are as a people. We must be sensitive to the history all around us because that is what made us, it’s where we came from, it’s our story. And understanding and protecting our history today truly benefits future generations,” Hill said.
“Hot Springs National Park has a rich and varied history that is too often overlooked or ignored. Humans have been coming here for thousands of years to get what they need from this unique place. Yet, many people miss the bigger picture. And missing the full history of a place is perilous because that makes it easy to let it go. Old buildings get torn down and important events get hazy or misremembered. As a result, our roots in a place get shallow and our past forgotten. That’s why even the simple act of driving by a place and trying to learn a bit more about it is so vital,” he said.
The list of Garland County sites on the National Register of Historic Places includes 90 historic buildings and places. These range from historic houses to hotels, restaurants and churches. These can be found at https://www.arkansaspreservation.com/Historic-Properties/National-Register/search-national-register-listings. In addition to the sites on the list, Hill recommended several more places that would be good to drive by, including the “Army and Navy General Hospital complex, Bathhouse Row, Stonebridge area/Ricks Pond, Medical Director’s Residence on Spring Street, Libbey Memorial Physical Medicine Center, site of the former superintendent’s residence on Fountain Street, Happy Hollow Spring, Whittington Park, Gulpha Gorge Campground and amphitheater, Arlington Lawn, Hot Springs Mountain Tower and Pagoda, maintenance complex on Whittington Avenue/Whittington Spring, West Mountain Shelter House, North Mountain Shelter House.”
Williams said there are other things people can do during the month. One is that students from grades 5 through 8 can enter the Preserve Our Past Art and Essay Invitational. Williams said the winners of the POP contest “get shown at museums” such as the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock.
For this contest, students have to select a historic place in Arkansas, and either write an essay about it, or create a piece of artwork about it. Due to COVID-19, the deadline to turn in submissions has been extended to June 5. Guidelines on the contest can be found at the Preserve Arkansas website.
Williams said the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, part of the Central Arkansas Library System, “is collecting stories during the pandemic for their archives,” and the center will “have a record of people living through this time.”