Summer learning
Lazy days drifting away into fun at these summer sights
During summer break, children have an opportunity for learning experiences that stem not from books and lessons but from hands-on exploration. Here are a few places in Lonoke County that are so interesting, kids might not realize they are getting schooled.
LIBRARIES
The Lonoke County Library System offers information, entertainment and air conditioning at branches in Cabot, Carlisle, England and Lonoke. Although some might associate libraries with stuffy silence, Deborah Moore, county library director, said libraries have evolved tremendously in recent years. Not only have the facilities entered the digital age by providing digital materials and internet access, the libraries have increased their community involvement by partnering with local organizations, she said, adding that libraries also serve as a meeting place for clubs and a hangout for youth. In addition, the libraries offer a variety of programs, including summer reading programs in June and regular genealogy workshops, she said. One program patrons might not expect at the Cabot Public Library is its Books and Bluegrass jam sessions at 6 p.m. the first Monday of each month. However, she added that some of the most successful events are not scheduled but are simply occasions when families spend quality time together playing board games or solving puzzles. “We don’t think families realize how many things they can do together in the libraries because we’re so much more than ‘come to the library to check out a book,’” she said. “That’s part of what we do, but we’re so much more now.”
TOLTEC MOUNDS
It can be fun to imagine what the landscape looked like many years ago, and at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park in Scott, visitors can learn about the Plum Bayou Culture, which built the park’s mounds between 650 and 1050. People from the culture built 18 mounds surrounded by a wall, but much of their work was destroyed by farming in the mid1800s, said Amy Griffin, park interpreter, who added that the park has preserved three original mounds. The mounds were used for various purposes, she added, including ceremonies, burials and a calendar. After watching a video about the Plum Bayou Culture and viewing artifacts at the visitor center, guests can walk a paved or unpaved trail to the ceremonial site, she said. Toltec Mounds hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including celebrations for the solstices and equinoxes and craftmaking activities on the first Friday of each month. In July, the park organizes its Adventure Day Camp, during which children ages 8 to 12 can participate in outdoor activities such as kayaking and fishing. “I would encourage people to come out here and learn about their backyard. … I would encourage them to come out and learn about the prehistoric people of Arkansas,” Griffin said. “They were people living here 1,000 years ago, but they still had the same survival needs we do today — they just survived in a different way.”
PLANTATION AGRICULTURE MUSEUM
Scott offers a unique opportunity to tour two vastly different state parks within a few miles of each other. Just down the highway from Toltec Mounds is the Plantation Agriculture Museum, which preserves the history of the cotton industry that once dominated the state’s economy. Randy Noah, museum curator, said the establishment provides information about labor-intensive cotton farming from statehood in 1836 until World War II, when mechanization began to transform the industry. “Cotton was king. It truly was. It was the thing our entire society was set up for,” he said. “You look at some of our famous people who came from Arkansas, and you look at folks like Johnny Cash and others — their lives revolved around cotton.” The main museum building displays exhibits and artifacts about man- and mule-powered cotton farming, as well as other aspects of plantation life. Visitors can also tour a reconstructed cotton gin that was built in 1916 and a cotton-seed warehouse built in 1948. The museum recently added a pavilion to cover its collection of antique tractors and farm equipment. “We’d just love to have the public come out and see us. We think they would have a fun time,” Noah said. “Most people, their reaction when they come out here for the first time is to say, ‘I had no idea that you had all this.’”
LONOKE COUNTY MUSEUM
Visitors to the Lonoke County Museum in Lonoke can travel back a century at the museum’s Old Town exhibit, which features replicas of shops from the 1880s to the 1920s populated by costumed mannequins. Visitors can peek into the shops to see how businesses such as McCrary’s Mercantile and Eagle Feed & Seed operated. The museum also includes a host of other exhibits, including military-history displays, Native American artifacts and taxidermic wildlife. However, the establishment’s main focus is genealogy, said Sherryl Miller, executive director, who added that the museum’s genealogy room houses about 50,000 pictures of people and places throughout the county, as well as countless court records and other documents revealing details about Lonoke residents from years past. “Most people think you can learn everything on the internet, but that’s not true,” she added. “You can go to local genealogy rooms and find out the good little things, the personal things.”