Historic Washington State Park — Arkansas

This park wasn’t on my list of things to do this day, but when I saw it was only eight miles from Clinton’s house, I decided to head over. When I mentioned this to my tour guide (Mike Huckabee’s cousin), she got very excited and told me I couldn’t miss two things.

  1. On the way, I would pass a World War II air field filled with row upon row of FEMA trailers purchased for victims of Katrina but never used.
  2. Eating lunch at the Williams’ Tavern Restaurant.

The FEMA trailers were easy to find. I took these photos out my car window as I drove by. I did a quick search for camper prices on the Internet. It appears that they cost between $25,000 and $40,000 each. I can’t even guess how many are sitting in this field rotting away. Take a look at your tax dollars at work. (You can click to enlarge the photos, but it will just depress you.)

Washington grew up along the Southwest Trail, the route followed by pioneers on their way to Texas and points west. It was established in 1824 and thrived until 1874 when the railroad bypassed the town. Two separate fires destroyed many of the town’s buildings but many remain and in 1973 the area was turned into a Arkansas State Park.

A Wednesday in February is a great time to visit if you don’t like crowds. I had the entire town to myself for the most part. I walked into the visitor center in the Hempstead County Courthouse (above — 1874) and wandered around the displays for a few minutes before a woman popped out of a doorway somewhere in the back and asked if she could help me. I told her I didn’t have a whole lot of time, but that I’d like to see what I could. She told me that eight of the buildings were open to the public and that I could tour all eight of them for $8.00, or, I could pick any two and tour them for $5.00. Since most of them were just old buildings without any particular historic significance, I went with the “two for $5” plan. I began to realize just how alone I was when the woman grabbed a walkie-talkie and informed the guides that an actual tourist was in town. I interrupted her to let her know I was eating lunch at the Williams’ Tavern first, and she passed this information on the the guides.

The tavern/house was built in 1832 in the town of Marlbrook, not far from Washington, and brought here in 1985. Two front rooms are used for dining, but not on this day. Three women were planning a party at table next to mine, and an older couple came in just as I was leaving, but otherwise the place was empty.

I had chicken-fried steak with cornbread, and it was very tasty. I asked for a couple Southern-style sides, but they were out of them, so I settled for corn and beans.

The Sanders Farmstead was just across the street. A friendly horse trotted over to see me as I walked by, but his friendliness disappeared when he found out I had nothing to offer. That’s him twice in this pan. The house on the left was built in 1845. Simon T. Sanders was the county clerk for several years.

The first stop on my tour was the B.W. Edwards Weapons Museum. It’s the white building in the foreground. It was formerly a bank, built around 1925. The brick building behind it is the oldest continually operating post office in Arkansas, although I’m pretty sure this isn’t the original building.

The woman who was to be my guide met me at the door. One of the first Bowie knives was made in Washington, and I thought the museum might feature some actual local history, but I was wrong. It’s just a collection of random rifles, shotguns, muskets and revolvers that some guy collected. There was a display of “Bowie knives” but my guide said they were modern interpretations. She told me to look around and when I got done she would point out some particularly interesting weapons.  It took me perhaps 10 minutes to see everything.

The larger display at the far end features weapons used in a bank robbery in Washington many years ago. When I got done looking around, I told the guide to “amaze me.” She took me to this display and told me pretty much everything I’d already read on the cards in the case. She pointed out a few other pieces — a combined rifle and shotgun, a camel gun made in Afghanistan — but there really wasn’t anything very exciting. When I took the photo inside the museum, she said she had the exact same model of camera as mine, but that her screen had quit working. Five days later, my screen quit working.

The woman escorted me down the street a couple blocks to  the 1836 Courthouse, the second building on my tour. This one did have historic significance — it served as the Confederate State Capitol from 1863-1865 after the Union captured Little Rock. As she left, my guide told me to be sure to ask about the “moon tree.”

A short, bearded man (that’s him in the photo above) met me at the door and ushered me inside.

After the new courthouse was built in 1874, this building served as a school and several other things. None of the furniture is original, and they aren’t even sure how it was set up inside, but it feels authentic. My guide told me about several famous trials and events that took place here and pointed out the interesting features of the building. On the way out, I asked him about the moon tree. He pointed to a Loblolly Pine behind the building. In 1971, astronaut Stuart Roosa carried a packet of tree seeds to the surface of the moon. When he got back, the seeds were germinated and distributed around the United States. (Two of them were planted in Illinois, but, not surprisingly for my state, they both died.) Here’s the tree to the right of the courthouse.

Here’s another photo of the tree with the moon in the background. At the time, I thought that was very clever of me, but when I downloaded the photo I saw it wasn’t all that impressive.

I wandered around town for another half hour or so, looking at the largest Magnolia Tree in Arkansas and most of the other buildings. I took photos of most of them, but since they all look pretty much alike, I won’t bother posting them.

Here’s the map of the town to give you a general idea of the place. I wouldn’t advise making a special trip to see it, but if you’re ever in extreme southwestern Arkansas with a couple hours to kill, there are worse ways to spend your time. But remember, don’t go there if you’re more comfortable in crowds.

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