Listing Through Life

Junction Bridge, which crossed the Arkansas River from Little Rock to North Little Rock, was built in 1884 as a railroad bridge. The Little Rock end of it was actually anchored in “the little rock,” the outcropping that gave the town its name. In 1885, a second level was built for pedestrian and wagon traffic. In 1970, it was rebuilt with a lift span (instead of a swing span) to accommodate river traffic. And in 2008, it was made into a pedestrian bridge. The lift span was set permanently in place 38 feet above the river, with stairs on both ends. There’s also an elevator, but I have never seen it used. Today, there was a guy sprawled on a mattress in front of the elevator door, so …

After touring the Old State House Museum, I crossed the river on the Junction Bridge to get to the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum. It was a warm, sticky day, but there was a breeze over the river, so I had no reason to regret my decision.

Looking back at Little Rock from the bridge.

While I was crossing the Junction Bridge, the trolley was crossing on the next bridge upstream.

The bride from the deck of the submarine at the maritime museum.

I’ve toured this museum at least six times before, including visits with my wife in 2009 and 2022. But I heard there was a special exhibit this summer called Arkansas250, which I thought might have something to do with the “semiquincentennial” or “sestercentennial” (depending on what authority you prefer) celebration of American independence.

What it turned out to be was an explanation of the various state nicknames Arkansas has had over the years with a bunch of random historical artifacts. Not was what I was expecting, but fairly interesting. I’m glad it was free. Here, because I know you were wondering, is what I found out.

Here are just a few of the artifacts:

An old hand-painted state seal.

The sponsor of King Biscuit Time, one of the longest-running radio shows anywhere. It began in 1941 and is still going today, playing blues music.

A suit Johnny Cash wore for the bicentennial in 1976, his guitar, and a pair of his alligator boots.

I wandered through the rest of the museum, but I didn’t linger since I’d seen it all before. And how many times can one really enjoy a display of the inaugural ball gowns of governor’s wives?

I’ll add a restaurant to my to-do list if it shows up in one of two places — Roadfood or the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame. Doe’s makes both lists.

It doesn’t look like a place where you can get a $60 steak, but it is. In fact, steaks are the specialty on the dinner menu. Their motto is “for goodness steaks!”

It was filled with Little Rock business men and, perhaps, politicians, since it’s located about halfway between downtown and the state capitol. The walls were lined with photos and most of the ones by our table were of Bill Clinton.

Their other specialty is hot tamales, so we ordered three as an appetizer. They come with chili that you cover the tamale with. Tamales are not something I often order, so I didn’t catch on that they were wrapped in wax paper until I’d covered one with chili.

We both got hamburgers (mine with cheese), and it was obvious from the first bite that the meat was a higher quality than the typical hamburger. The fries were very tasty, although we both wished they’d been a little less limp.

Our waitress was very busy, but also very competent and friendly. She told us that the first Doe’s opened in Greenville, Mississippi and is still there. This surprised us a bit because we’d gone through Greenville on the way home from Florida and didn’t find much to like about the town.

Doe’s isn’t located in a part of town we frequent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we make it back sometime — maybe even for dinner if we’re feeling particularly wealthy some time.

On my drive up to Mammoth Spring, I passed through Batesville, which prompted me to see if I’d added anything from the area to my Arkansas to-do list. The Old Independence Regional Museum was the only thing listed for Independence County, and after checking to make sure it was open on Wednesdays, I made plans to visit on my way home.

The museum is housed in a former armory, built for a unit of the Arkansas National Guard.

The young woman who worked behind the counter seemed surprised that someone showed up, and I was indeed the only visitor. It’s not a large museum, just two fairly large exhibit rooms and two small ones. But it’s put together well and it’s obvious someone cares.

Instead of the usual “this is what a general store would have looked like” display, they had a “this is what a gas station would have looked like” display.

There was information on the National Guard unit and on local businesses, and a special exhibit of wedding dresses. And of course, there was an exhibit about the pearl button industry in Arkansas. I think this is required of any museum anywhere near the Delta.

This time, however, they actually had some button blanks in the gift shop and I bought a small bag for my wall since my recent museum visits have made me the world’s leading expert. The blanks are the round bits punched out of mussel shells that are later polished to become buttons.

There was also a room telling about Batesville’s history during the Civil War when the two sides pretty much just took turns occupying the city. I haven’t included them all, but here are two examples.

They also had a telephone booth on display, as though that was an ancient artifact — which I suppose it is.

The young woman I’d met when I first entered was nowhere to be found when I wandered into the gift shop. As I was taking a package that contained a toy off the hook, it caught and I dropped it. She came running in a minute later asking if something fell. I just showed her the package in my hand and said that I’d dropped it. A few moments later, when I was removing a magnet from a display, I bumped a bracelet, which also fell. The girls said, “You’re kind of a klutz today, aren’t you.”

I didn’t respond, but I thought it was funny that she came right out and said it.

As local history museums go, this was better than many, in part because of the armory building itself. Certainly not a destination type of place, but worth a visit since I was driving through town anyway.

The fish hatchery is right next to the state park, located here because it uses water from the spring. There’s a fancy visitor center with a pool in front of it.

The pool is filled with carp and Alligator Gars, which really do look like alligators from some angles.

The inside was impressive also, with two large tanks and several smaller ones containing fish, turtles, and eel (it was inside a log and I couldn’t get a photo). The walls were lined with displays on the spring, the hatchery, the fish, etc.

I’d read on line that you could walk around the ponds and see the trout, but when I asked the guy in the gift shop what there was outside for visitors to see, he said nothing really, because of the flood. Apparently there was a huge flood in May, 2025 that covered the whole area, ruining equipment in the buildings and, presumably, letting the fish out into the river. They’re waiting for government funding to get things fixed again. Here’s an overview photo of the hatchery and park.

It took me about 20 minutes to see what there was to see, although it was definitely worth the visit since I was in the area.