Listing Through Life

This small park overlooks Greers Ferry Dam and the Red River. In the shade under the shelter, a pleasant breeze made it comfortable even on an afternoon when the temperature was in the low 90s.

The Internet explains, “In his last major appearance [October 3, 1963] before his death [November 22, 1963], President John F. Kennedy stood on a flag-draped platform overlooking the just-completed Greers Ferry Dam and spoke of the prosperity the lake would bring to the region.” I can’t help wondering if the park would be here if he hadn’t died just 50 days later.

Fifty yards downstream from the shelter, there’s an unflattering bust of Kennedy.

And across from Kennedy’s bust is one of Wilbur Mills, the U.S. Congressman from Arkansas who promoted the dam project and emceed the dedication. There’s nothing on the plaque about his alcoholism or the long-standing affair he had with stripper Fanny Foxe. The scandal ended his career 11 years after his appearance here. I thought the bird poop and broken glasses were a nice touch.

This is my third visit to this park. The first was in the early ’80’s, and all I remember about that visit is the clog dancing in the auditorium. I wandered through all the workshops when I visited in April, 2023, but I needed to go back again to get my passport stamped.

I skipped many of the workshops this time, and just stuck my head into a couple others. This is the herb garden. The last time I was here, the woman inside latched on to me and talked my ear off for half an hour, so I didn’t go inside this time.

I bought an iron snake in the blacksmith shop. And for just a couple minutes, I watched four guys playing bluegrass music on the stage.

But I spent most of my visit here.

This workshop wasn’t here when I last visited. The guy makes old-fashioned magic trick supplies for the last remaining magician supply company. The walls of the workshop have displays of the old-time showmen and patent medicine sellers who wandered the Ozarks between the late 1800’s and WWII.

He told me all this stuff was authentic from actual old shows, but he also said during his show that “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t lie to you about.”

The show was short, about 17 minutes, and not over complicated, but the guy gave an example of the banter and did four or five tricks for the four of us in the audience. I enjoyed it.

After finishing with the village, I ate at The Skillet Restaurant in the park. The food was mediocre at best. This part of the experience, I wouldn’t recommend.

I found out about this museum the day before I visited when I was plotting my route to three state parks in northeastern Arkansas. And since it was right smack on my way home, I decided to stop.

It was tucked into a large building right on campus. I had to walk down 60 yards of hallway before I happened upon any displays. Those displays were the skeleton of a mastodon and a wall of info on the New Madrid Fault. There was a table and a stack of wooden blocks. You could use the blocks to build a structure on the table, then push a button to see the table shake and the structure fall down. I’m not sure how educational that is, but it was kinda fun.

The main section of the museum was upstairs, and that’s where it all began to feel very familiar. There was an exhibit on rockabilly music, which got its start in northeastern Arkansas. I’d just learned a lot about this at Guitar Park in Walnut Ridge and at Johnny Cash’s Boyhood Home.

Then there was a reproduction of an old town, with displays in the windows of general stores, doctor’s office, barber, etc., like I’ve seen in so many, many museums (nowhere better than the McKinley Presidential Museum in Canton, Ohio), much like I’d recently seen at the Faulkner County Museum.

They had exhibits on all the major industries of the Arkansas Delta — button-making, cotton-growing, lumbering, etc., like I just saw at the the Lower White River Museum, at Powhatan, at the Plantation Agriculture Museum …

Here’s something I can’t remember seeing before — a fireless field slow-cooker that heated food with preheated soapstone so that everybody could work in the field and nobody had to cook.

There were a lot of cabinets of Indian pottery, like I’ve recently seen at Plum Bayou, Parkin, and Hampson.

And there were a series of displays of artifacts from various wars, like I just saw at the Wings of Honor Museum.

Finally, they had several exhibit of very bedraggled and woebegone mounted birds and animals.

And they had this, which I haven’t seen before.

It took me about 30 minutes to see everything. If I had read everything, I would still be there. The walls were covered with text, much of which had very little to do with what was on display. I especially appreciated the woke take on barbershops.

I’m not sorry I visited. It was arranged pleasantly and, at times, interesting. It just all felt very familiar.