BVCWRT hears program on Aaron Van Winkle
Professors Chris Huggard and Jerry Moore of the Northwest Arkansas Community College spoke to about 40 people Thursday, March 3, at the monthly Bella Vista Civil War Roundtable meeting.
Their topic was Aaron “Rock” Anderson Van Winkle and how the Civil War changed his life. He was owned by a man named Anderson and then sometime before the Civil War was sold or traded to Peter Van Winkle. He fled with the Van Winkle family to Texas during the war and came back to hold very responsible positions at Van Winkle’s large mill and industrial complex east of Rogers in what is now Hobbs State Park/ Conservation Area. The mill thrived in the postwar building boom, providing lumber for the rebuilding of Fayetteville and construction of such public buildings as Old Main at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The site of what is thought to be his living quarters is visible along the Van Winkle Mill trail in Hobbs State Park. He later bought 20 acres on the west side of Bentonville and made that his home. He died in 1904 and is buried in the Bentonville cemetery.