If you picture in your head what a state park might look like, you will never picture this place. Located in Des Arc (“The Bend”), a small town with a dead town feel, the “park” consists of one metal building and a parking lot for 13 cars.
I drove over after birding nearby and found the place deserted except for the guy behind the counter. The displays line the walls around a single room. They tell about the exciting things people historically did along the White River — farm, log, go to school, fish. Pretty much the same stuff people historically have done everywhere.
Look online, and the “feature” of the park is this set of four life-size figures on a platform near the door. They aren’t explained, and they aren’t part of any particular exhibit. they just sit there to make the museum look much more impressive than it is.
The one section I found interesting explained the pearl and button industry once based there.
The entire museum took me perhaps 15 minutes to peruse — and I took my time and read almost everything. There was no gift shop, so I said to the guy, “You could at least sell buttons.” He told me there used to be a gift shop, but they “moved it to another park.” You can buy buttons at the Plantation Agriculture Museum, 50 miles west.
Then I asked the guy what percentage of visitors came just to get their passports stamped. He said 95%.
I’m just imagining the process that led to this being a state park. I figure some guy had a rustic museum containing his collection of local artifacts. When he died, his family donated it to the state, which, in a weak moment, accepted. Then they looked at the crap the guy had in his museum and realized there wasn’t much to it. They threw most of it away and tried to make something out of the rest. That’s my guess anyway.