Off to the great indoors!

Explore the Natural State in any kind of weather

By Matt McNair

Arkansas State Parks Passport  |  Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources  |  Hampson Archeological Museum State Park  |  Lower White River Museum State Park  |  Historical Arkansas Museum  |  Plantation Agriculture Museum  |  Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park

While the wintertime in Arkansas is in some respects great for getting outside — it takes a real doozy of a cold snap to be really cold, it’s neither too rainy nor all that dry, there’s plenty of hunting to be done and you can still fish for just about anything — winter can still make the darkest months of the year, for outdoors enthusiasts, a bit of a drag.

First, the “darkest months” bit. Not a whole lot of daylight to go around from December to March! Between work and every other thing, that 10 or so hours of sunshine we get this time of year rarely cuts it. And if you’re reading this fresh off the press, you’re smack-dab in the middle of the holidays, too.

And to that, then: the holidays. Our chances for an outdoor frolic already limited by diminished daylight and capricious weather, we’re also bound by obligations to family and friends, and probably an office party or church function or some mix of same. What’s more, children are usually involved, and as much as their holiday-kindled joy might triple-size the hearts of all the grown-up Grinches ferrying them around, Yuletide child-minding can still be … a lot. They bore easily. They have no filter. Their moodiness defies emotional physics. They do not have their own money.

And on yet to that: money. The holiday season — despite sacred roots across cultures — has become very accommodating to the profane, inasmuch secular traditions and conventions undergirding the modern observation of ancient spiritual ones tend also to undermine them; no matter your faith tradition or lack thereof, during the holidays a great deal of corporate energy is expended on the sole mission of separating you from your dollars. Resistance is not futile, but most of us cave eventually.

So what’s a hemmed-in nature lover to do? Glad you asked! Because we here at Arkansas Wild have got a few nifty ideas for scratching that outdoor itch while maximizing daylight, dodging inclement weather, entertaining the kiddos, and saving a few bucks if you need an extra gift or two. As is often the case, Arkansas’s top-shelf state park system figures prominently in your next good idea.

Among Arkansas’s state parks are several that are committed to the preservation and interpretation of our state’s material and cultural history. These archeological and museum parks can be enjoyed to great degree indoors, so crummy weather won’t be a problem (most also have a trail or outdoor exhibit, too). These outposts also tend to be relatively close to a town big enough to do a little Christmas shopping.

One thing: Museum parks are generally closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (as well as actual holidays, as opposed to the holiday season in general) Before you go check operating hours at arkansasstateparks.com.

So don a camouflage fleece and your jolliest thinking cap, and follow us around the state to some of the best outdoor recreation you’ll find under a roof. Happy holidays!

Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources

Ask someone from elsewhere to name something they associate with Arkansas, and you’re liable to get any number of answers, from the hill culture of the Ozark Mountains to the Old South ghosts that haunt the state’s Delta landscape from stem to stern, from impressions of nature and people that range from inspirational to, occasionally, insulting. But in all that variety, it’s doubtful that more than a handful of folks from elsewhere — and probably not too many Arkansawyers either, especially in the hill country north of the Arkansas River — would answer that question with “oil.” But for a time in the early 20th century, southern Arkansas was the center of America’s fledgling petroleum empire.

If you count yourself among the Arkansas locals that aren’t fully aware of just how much black gold affected the history of our state, take a trip down to Union County and check out the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources. Easily accessible directly off Arkansas Highway 7 in Smackover, the museum tells the tale of Arkansas’s oil boom not only through the nuts-and-bolts of petroleum extraction, but also the boomtown culture that sprang up in the wake of those initial oil strikes and ensuing (black) gold rush.

What to do (inside)
The roughnecks of yore didn’t have the option to dodge the elements when pulling oil out of the ground, but luckily you will have that option when learning about it. Boasting 25,000 square feet of climate-controlled exhibit space, the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources includes a geology lesson that takes visitors on a trip through deep time, explaining the geological processes that culminated in the petroleum boom of the early 20th century and, really, our entire modern world. There are also interactive exhibits sure to delight the youngest members of your crew, such as the (fully indoor) Dogpatch-esque recreation of a South Arkansas boomtown.

Road Trip Bonus
And finally, if the route works out, head home via U.S. Highway 82, which crosses through the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge 35 miles east of El Dorado.

What to do (outside)
The museum sits on 19 wooded acres, and the outdoors portion of the park is wound through with easily walkable trails that pass by numerous pieces of extraction equipment from the old oil fields, as well as a replica of a wooden oil derrick standing 112 feet tall.

What (else) to do
Located just 10 miles south of the museum on Arkansas Highway 7, El Dorado offers a continuing education of the oil boom with its numerous museums, including the outdoor Oil Heritage park and statue garden situated in the downtown historic district. The entirety of downtown El Dorado is a walkable portal to the region’s past and a window into its vibrant present, including the bustling Murphy Arts District. If there on a Thursday or Friday evening, indulge in fine dining and a show at MAD House 101 Restaurant and Bar, or fuel up with traditional American diner fare — breakfast on through to supper —seven days a week at Johnny B’s. To take full advantage of downtown El Dorado’s thriving coffee shop scene, spend the night at either the sleek new Haywood Hotel or in one of the retro-chic downtown spaces collectively operated by, and known as, the Union Square Guest Quarters.

Hampson Archeological Museum State Park

If you’ve been leaving Northeast Arkansas off your to-do list of late, rectify that oversight by heading up to Mississippi County and visiting the Hampson Archeological Museum State Park. Located in Wilson and near the site of a settlement occupied by a people during a period of time archeologists now refer to as the Nodena Phase (c.1400-1650 CE), Hampson Archeological Museum State Park offers a fascinating look at the lives of people living in the Mississippi Delta long before European settlement and American expansion altered both the landscape and culture of the region.

What to do (inside)
Although on the smallish side, the Hampson museum packs an outsize punch, offering a collection of Nodena artifacts staggering in their quality, detail, and ability to transport the visitor to a time and a world that is otherwise hard to fathom. Along with the stunning collection of Native American artifacts on display, the exhibit space offers carefully curated interpretive panels and activities (the latter well suited to younger visitors), as well as the fascinating story of Dr. James K. Hampson, who led the excavation of the archeological site and whose family ultimately donated the collection and original museum (since replaced by the current facility) they had built to house it.

What to do (outside)
Hampson Archeological Museum State Park is a small museum and sits on a fairly small park site, but there is a paved walking trail that winds through the grounds. The real attraction outside of the museum, though, is the town of Wilson itself, the entirety of which is within walking distance — indeed, it is mostly within sight — of Hampson. Weather permitting, take a stroll through this Delta gem after taking in the museum, and if weather isn’t permitting, Wilson still has you covered.

What (else) to do
The town of Wilson is a destination in and of itself. Founded as a company town and styled after a 19th-Century English village, Wilson boasts a nationally-known eatery in the Wislon Cafe. For lodging, stay for a night as the landed gentry at The Louis, a luxruious downtown hotel that also operates the Louis Field Club, with offerings including sport shooting and guided hunts. Other shops and attractions abound on and around the Tudor square, and the Mighty Mississippi is just to the east … ask the concierge at The Louis or one of the shopkeeps on the square about guided trips offered by outfitters that, while not based in town, maintain local contacts.

In case you missed it (not sure why you would’ve, as there definitely wasn’t anything else of note going on at the time), back in 2020 Arkansas State Parks introduced Club 52, a program meant to encourage folks to visit all 52 of Arkansas’s excellent state parks. (These top-tier outdoor wonderlands recorded an epic uptick in visitation that year, almost certainly because of this passport program and for no other reason at all, there being not one single external factor encouraging people to get out-of-doors that year.) Five years later, the passport program is still a going concern and an excellent way to add yet another layer of fun to an already-fun enterprise: toodling around Arkansas and visiting our state parks! Each time you visit a park, head to the Visitor Center and get a stamp for that park (or, if it’s an unstaffed park such as Jenkins Ferry Battleground State Park, find the interpretive marker and make a pencil etching of the raised park symbol). Once you hit 25 parks visited, show the Visitor Center staff member and claim a deck of commemorative playing cards, (52 parks, get it?), and then a nifty T-shirt when you get stamped for the big Five-Two. Passport books are available at any staffed Arkansas State Park, and — just like admission to every single one of those parks — the book is free.

Lower White River Museum State Park

Not many rivers in the United States vary in terrain, temperature, and all-around temperament on their course as does the White River. Probably better-known nationwide for its upper reaches in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks, with its artificial lakes and resultant trout fisheries, the lower White of the Arkansas bottomlands is no less fascinating or historically significant. Get out of the cold and get a history lesson on this other side of the White River at the Lower White River Museum State Park in Des Arc.

What to do (inside)
Learn about the White River’s incredible natural history and vital importance to the history of Arkansas’s pre- and post-European settlement and industry through recreations and interpretations of travel, shipping, fishing, and even button-making (via the once-thriving pearling industry) in the cozy confines of a small-but-significant exhibition space.

What to do (outside)
While there are no trails or outdoor exhibits at the half-acre site, the White River itself beckons just three miles away. Follow the main drag through Des Arc to Riverfront Park and take in a stunning view of the Des Arc Bridge, which spans the White via Arkansas Highway 38, as you walk the city’s two paved riverfront trails.

What (else) to do
After taking in the river views, head back down Main Street to check out White and Son Fish Market/Kristi’s Kitchen, a one-two punch of classic river town food and vibes.

Historical Arkansas Museum

Located in downtown Little Rock, Historical Arkansas Museum is both a museum and a living history facility that includes restored buildings that date to Arkansas’s territorial period, a period-appropriate garden maintained by volunteers from the Pulaski County Master Gardeners, and a working blacksmith shop (a recreation rather than a restoration, but functional and period-appropriate all the same). While not technically a state park, Historical Arkansas Museum (or “H.A.M.”, and pronounced “ham” by most folks in the capital city) is administered by the Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, and like other state-run facilities it is open to the public free of charge.

What to do (inside)
Along with typical museum fare — in this case, mostly artifacts and information pertaining to Arkansas’s territorial period and early statehood — H.A.M. regularly displays art that ranges from territorial to contemporary, including folk crafts and work from indigenous artists. There is a dedicated children’s area, and a knife gallery that displays, among other impressive and historically significant blades, “Bowie No. 1,” a James Black knife that is possibly the knife crafted by Black for its namesake, Jim Bowie.

What to do (outside)
Outside of the H.A.M. building, visitors can tour grounds that feature the aforementioned territorial homestead, complete with restored dogtrot cabin and recreated blacksmith shop, as well as the Hinderliter House, a 19th-century dwelling and grog shop, and the oldest house still standing in Central Arkansas.

What (else) to do
H.A.M.’s River Market location in downtown Little Rock makes it an ideal home base for any number of outdoor/indoor adventures of a historical bent. To learn about Arkansas’s political life from early statehood on through the early 20th century, head to Old State House Museum just a few blocks from H.A.M., and a look at living memory on up to the present is just another mile and change away at the Arkansas State Capitol. And even visiting the big city — and regardless of weather conditions — you can get your true-blue Natural State fix at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center, also in the River Market. That’s an awful lot to see in one day and on an empty stomach, so it’s fortunate indeed that Little Rock offers a wide array of dining and lodging right downtown amid all the informative fun. To get your sleeping and snacking plan lined out pre-trip, go to littlerock.com.

Plantation Agriculture Museum

Located just a few miles south of the Little Rock metro in the community of Scott is the Plantation Agriculture Museum, a state park that preserves and interprets the industrial and cultural history of post-Civil War commercial agriculture in the Arkansas bottomlands. The main exhibit space, built in 1912, was originally a general store; the 14.5 acre site itself, which includes the primary exhibition building as well as a seed warehouse and associated railroad spur, cotton gin, and numerous other outbuildings, has been a state park since 1989.

What to do (inside)
The old general store contains numerous artifacts dating to the 19th century, all of which are used to demonstrate daily life in the homes and fields of a large cotton plantation in the decades after the Civil War. There are also numerous interpretive signs and pieces of literature that provide context to the remnants of plantation life on display in the museum.

What to do (outside)
While there are no official trails on the park site, the grounds are fully walkable, bounded on the west by a small oxbow lake and chock-a-block with restored outbuildings and equipment. Combining the two is the historic tractor exhibit, an array of extremely early heavy industrial cotton equipment (including steam-powered rigs) housed underneath a large open-air shed.

What (else) to do
The Curve Market is a farm stand, cafe, and gift shop perfect for picking up a snack or a souvenir on either side of a trip to the park, and looks to be the most happenin’ spot in Scott.

What to do (outside)
Hampson Archeological Museum State Park is a small museum and sits on a fairly small park site, but there is a paved walking trail that winds through the grounds. The real attraction outside of the museum, though, is the town of Wilson itself, the entirety of which is within walking distance — indeed, it is mostly within sight — of Hampson. Weather permitting, take a stroll through this Delta gem after taking in the museum, and if weather isn’t permitting, Wilson still has you covered.

What (else) to do
The town of Wilson is a destination in and of itself. Founded as a company town and styled after a 19th-Century English village, Wilson boasts a nationally-known eatery in the Wislon Cafe. For lodging, stay for a night as the landed gentry at The Louis, a luxruious downtown hotel that also operates the Louis Field Club, with offerings including sport shooting and guided hunts. Other shops and attractions abound on and around the Tudor square, and the Mighty Mississippi is just to the east … ask the concierge at The Louis or one of the shopkeeps on the square about guided trips offered by outfitters that, while not based in town, maintain local contacts.

Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park

One of the most impressive sites of indigenous mound-building in North America, Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park — formerly Toltec Mounds State Park — is just 4.5 miles southwest of the Plantation Agriculture Museum on U.S. Highway 165, and every bit as fascinating. Make a day of it by bundling both if you can, but be aware that Plum Bayou might take up all of the precious daytime hours allotted during the winter months. Not only is there a fascinating museum and amazing, pre-European earthen mounds, there’s a mystery: No one knows exactly who lived at the site, why they built the mounds, or what became of them.

What to do (inside)
The museum portion of Plum Bayou Mounds Archaeological State Park delves into the mystery of the Plum Bayou people and chronicles modern efforts to find out exactly who they were and what exactly happened to them. There is also a massive dugout canoe on display that, while not from the Plum Bayou site itself (it was excavated in Saline County), is representative of boats made by other Central Arkansas peoples during the Plum Bayou period, and is quite something to behold regardless.

Road Trip Bonus
From Plum Bayou Mounds, keep going southwest down U.S. Highway 165 for five miles to the town of Keo, where on Main Street you’ll find Charlotte’s Eats & Sweets, home of perhaps the most famous pie case in all of Arkansas. On second thought, maybe hit Charlotte’s first, as those pies go quick. Either way, call 501-842-2123 beforehand to gauge your chances.

What to do (outside)
Unfortunately, many of the mounds built by the Plum Bayou people were destroyed as white settlers moved into the Arkansas River bottomlands and set up large farms and plantations. Even though much was destroyed before the site’s cultural and scientific value were realized, however, a few still remain and the locations of many others have been found and marked. Two trails, both accessible and suitable for walkers of most abilities, weave through the site, and markers that correspond to brochures for each trail allow for an informative and self-guided tour.

What (else) to do
Less than a mile from Plum Bayou down Kesl Road sits the Willow Belle Mansion, a prime example of opulent plantation-era architecture that is now in the business of hosting events, particularly weddings. If Plum Bayou seems a little too spooky for a proposal, maybe pop the question at Willow Belle.