All Around Arkansas: A Return to Boggy Creek

 

            On Father's Day weekend, my wife and I headed to Texarkana, Texas, to visit my in-laws. Knowing I had written a column on the Fouke Monster, aka the Boggy Creek Monster, and that I had an interest in the mysterious figure, my father-in-law suggested I go to Fouke, Arkansas, (about 20 miles from Texarkana) that Saturday to the Fouke Monster Festival. Always up for a festival, my mother-in-law said she’d go and we were able to persuade my wife to join us.

             But the man who suggested we attend the festival didn't go, opting to stay inside his air-conditioned house and watch the Razorbacks instead of partaking in the Fouke Monster fun.

             So the three of us took the short drive to the small town of Fouke, which on this day was the center of the sasquatch universe. There were hundreds of vehicles in the parking lot of the community center where the festival is held each year. Inside, there were people everywhere, including vendors selling everything and anything with the Fouke Monster, Bigfoot or sasquatch on it. From T-shirts to action figures to movie prop-quality costumes, there was something for everyone.

             I quickly got caught up in the hoopla, buying a “Boggy Creek Monster, Fouke, Arkansas” T-shirt and a decal for my Yeti (the tumbler — not the monster). But I didn’t realize I was making a purchase from one of the celebrities of the Fouke Monster phenomenon, Lyle Blackburn. 

            Blackburn has made a living by writing and selling books and other wares featuring the Fouke Monster, as well as traveling the country giving presentations at Bigfoot conventions. It was only after I gave him $30 for my souvenirs did I hear the fans in line behind me ask for photos and autographs.

            On the opposite side of the building from where the vendors and concessionaires were located where rows of metal chairs full of people watching the 1972 cult-classic film, “The Legend of Boggy Creek.” The screening would be followed by several speakers, including actors from the movie.

            Heading out of town, we stopped at the Monster Mart, which is part-convenience store and part-Fouke Monster museum. While you can purchase the typical gas station fare, Monster Mart items have their famous hairy mascot plastered all over them. My wife and mother-in-law could stand it no more and had to buy themselves and my father-in-law Fouke Monster shirts. My mother-in-law even purchased a couple of homemade monster claw-shaped cookies and a refrigerator magnet. 

            The Monster Mart's one-room museum featured blurry photos and plaster casts of the feet of the alleged beast, as well as movie posters, newspaper clippings and a life-size replica of the monster for photo-ops. Did my mother-in-law and I get a photo? You bet your happy Fouke Monster we did!

            As we left Fouke, we made one last stop — the legendary Boggy Creek — where the monster has been said to roam all these years. It was quite hot at this point in the day, but there were people taking photos and wandering around hoping to catch a glimpse of the famed creature. 

            The monster’s absence might be because he doesn't like socializing or the scorching south Arkansas heat. That Boggy Creek Monster sounds like my kind of guy. We might even become friends, like in "Harry and the Hendersons."

 And to my dear readers, I wish you all a happy and safe Independence Day weekend.

            A sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: Gambling and the Spa City

           

           

            From the mid-1920s to the late 1960s, Hot Springs was considered to be the "Las Vegas of the South." Gangsters and tourists, freshly bathed in hot mineral water, roamed the streets to frequent local casinos, bars, restaurants and places of ill-repute (Maxine’s was a favorite). They even bowled together in harmony at an underground bowling alley beneath Central Avenue. (I’ve personally seen it and yes, it’s very cool!)            

            Notorious gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Owney Madden (owner of the Cotton Club in New York City and also co-owner of The Vapors Club in Hot Springs) could be seen at the Southern Club (now a wax museum), the Ohio Club (Arkansas’ oldest bar and home to an amazing burger), The Vapors Club (which became a church and now operates as an entertainment venue) and other clubs on Central and Park Avenues. Capone had his own personal suite directly across from the Southern Club in the Arlington Hotel (Room 443), which was also a favorite choice of lodging of many of the gangsters, as was the nearby Majestic Hotel.

            While gambling was illegal in Arkansas, government and law enforcement officials looked the other way. Many of them made money on the side and also realized that gambling was good for city tourism. While there were attempts by religious leaders and some politicians to end gambling in the city, their efforts were futile.

            By the early 1960s, the Spa City ranked third in the nation for visitors, including many who came during horse racing season and for the illegal but in-your-face gambling opportunities. At one time, Hot Springs had more than 70 establishments offering some form of gambling.  

            But the sounds of slot machines and excited shouting at the tables came to an abrupt end in 1967 when Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller stopped illegal gambling in Hot Springs, ordering Arkansas State Troopers to confiscate the machines and tables and burn them publicly. While the bathhouses and race track were still popular, the end of gambling almost destroyed the town financially, and many say it never recovered from the glory days.

            With the exception of the Ohio, the old clubs are now gift shops or vacant. The Majestic Hotel burned to the ground in February 2014.

            But the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, purchased by new owners in 2017, remains open for guests and is undergoing a $50 million renovation. Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort is more popular than ever now that legal gambling has come to Arkansas; it unveiled a $100 million expansion in 2021 that includes a full casino and resort-style hotel. 

            And Hot Springs is still home to many great restaurants, such as The Porterhouse, The Pancake Shop, and my all-time favorite, McClards’ BBQ. While the clandestine casinos and clubs are long gone, there's still much to see and do in the "Valley of the Vapors."

            If you want to experience the history of Hot Springs gambling, visit the History of Hot Springs Gambling Museum at 3339 Central Avenue, Suite C. The museum was started six years ago by three gambling memorabilia collectors: Lanny Beavers, Chris Hendrix and Tony Frazier, who decided to combine their collections of slot machines, tables, chips and more to create the museum. Inside, you'll also find a collection of vintage Hot Springs memorabilia from clubs like the Southern Club and The Vapors and legendary restaurants like Coy’s Steak House and the Belvedere. Admission is free, but the museum is only open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

        The museum's owners are hospitable and love to share their knowledge of Hot Springs’ past. Every machine is free to play, but unfortunately, you don’t get to keep any winnings. That stays with the house. Doesn’t it always?

        A sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: Arkansas' State Flag

            

             Just like the other 49 states, Arkansas has many state symbols. We have a state bird (mockingbird), a state tree (pine), a state flower (the apple blossom) and a state seal.

            Most of these symbols were created by some state legislator with not much else to do. But there is one state symbol created out of necessity, and it’s one that you probably see every day — the Arkansas state flag.

             Although Arkansas became the 25th state of the union in June 1836, it didn’t have an official state flag until February 1913. The U.S. Navy had built a battleship named the U.S.S. Arkansas, and the Pine Bluff chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution voted to present the official colors of the state to the commandant of the ship. There was just one problem — Arkansas had no such flag for the ladies to present.

             Apparently, no government official (or any Arkansan for that matter) felt the need for Arkansas to have its own flag. So the women contacted Arkansas’ then-Secretary of State, Earl Hodge, about their organization sponsoring a contest for an official state flag. Hodge gave his blessing and agreed to be the custodian of the entries.

             The contest received about 65 submissions. Some designs were crayon and pencil drawings on paper, while some were miniature flags on silk. Black bears appeared on several entries because Arkansas once had a massive black bear population — so much so that its original nickname before the “Land of Opportunity” and the “Natural State” was the “Bear State.” Humorously, one design featured a wooden fence post with the word "Arkansas" written on it, representing Arkansas’ first settlement, Arkansas Post.

            In early 1913, Hodge and four other judges chose a design entered by Willie Kavanaugh Hocker of Wabbaseka, who just happened to be a member of the Pine Bluff DAR chapter.

            On a red rectangular field, Hocker placed a large white diamond (symbolizing Arkansas as the only diamond producing state) bordered by 25 white stars (symbolizing Arkansas as the 25th state) on a blue band. Her original design had three blue stars in a straight line centered in the diamond. Hocker explained that the red, white and blue colors meant that Arkansas was one of the United States. The three blue stars represented the three countries that Arkansas had belonged to: France, Spain and the United States. The two parallel white stars at the left and right points of the diamond symbolized the dual admission of Arkansas and Michigan to the Union.

            Hocker’s design became the official state flag on Feb. 26, 1913, by a vote of the Arkansas General Assembly. Finally, the U.S.S. Arkansas received its flag from the Pine Bluff DAR chapter.

             In 1924, the state Legislature changed Hocker’s design by adding the word "Arkansas" to the center and placing the three blue stars below it and one above to represent that Arkansas was part of the Confederate States of America. The flag has since remained unchanged.

            There have been few attempts to change the meaning of the Confederate star or to abolish it altogether. But those attempts have been as successful as the Ford Edsel and “New” Coke. You young’uns might have to Google those references.

         A sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He served with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism for over six years. Brown lives on Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: Lake Catherine State Park

            

           

        Regular readers of this column know my affinity for the Arkansas parks system. Not only did I grow up going to many of them, but I worked for the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism for more than six years. I actually worked in a state park (Pinnacle Mountain), and during my time in the tourism division I was able to visit all 52 state parks. Add the fact that my paternal grandfather was in the Civilian Conservation Corps as a young man and helped build several of our state’s first parks, and you could say a love of Arkansas state parks was in my DNA from the beginning.

        One park that my grandfather, Festus Floyd “Bud” Brown, helped build was Lake Catherine State Park, situated along the south shore of Lake Catherine, 13 miles southeast of Hot Springs.

        The park’s namesake was created when Arkansas Power & Light (now Entergy Arkansas) dammed the Ouachita River with the Remmel Dam, which was completed in December 1924. The dam was named after Col. Harmon Remmel, who helped AP&L founder Harvey Couch get a permit from the federal government to dam the river. Lake Catherine was named for Couch’s daughter.

        With a donation of 2,220 acres from Couch and AP&L to the state of Arkansas, Lake Catherine State Park was one of the original four state parks built in the Natural State in the mid- to late-1930s, along with Petit Jean, Devil’s Den and Buffalo River, which was absorbed into the Buffalo National River when the federal government’s park was established in 1972. 

        Lake Catherine State Park was built by the young men of the CCC in 1937, and several of the structures they built still stand and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During World War II from 1942 to 1945, Lake Catherine State Park served as a satellite facility for wounded servicemen from the U.S. Army and Navy hospital in downtown Hot Springs. In 1943, German prisoners of war were brought in to complete structures left unfinished by the CCC after the federal government diverted resources to the war effort.

        The park has 20 fully furnished cabins and 70 hook-up campsites, six primitive tent sites and one Rent-a-Yurt. A word of advice — if you’re looking to stay in one of the park’s rustic cabins or even camp, be sure and check availability first by calling the park’s visitors’ center at (501) 844-4176. Both the cabins and campsites tend to fill up quickly, especially during the summer.

        Park interpreters offer hikes, guided lake tours and other interpretive programs year-round. Along with camping and lodging, the park also offers a launch ramp, pavilion, several picnic sites, a swimming beach, playgrounds and three hiking trails. One of the most photographed sites in the park is located at the end of one of those trails — the Falls Creek waterfall, which is especially beautiful after a hard rain.

        The park also operates the only full-service marina on Lake Catherine. There you can purchase boat fuel, bait, snacks, drinks, sunscreen and everything you'll need for a day on the water. Pontoon and fishing boats can be rented at the marina, along with kayaks, canoes and pedal boats.

        When I worked at parks and tourism we had a slogan that appeared in marketing materials and even on bumper stickers: “Go play in your own backyard!” Amid high gas prices and inflation, many Arkansans will no doubt be playing in their own backyard this summer, and I can’t think of a better place for a “staycation” than beautiful Lake Catherine State Park, one of the true gems of Arkansas’ state park system. I’m sure my grandpa would agree.

         A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on beautiful Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry

 

            Several years ago while reading a book about my family’s genealogy, I found that one of my distant ancestors fired the first shot at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, which many historians consider to be the inaugural action that started the War Between the States.

             The man’s name was Edmund Ruffin, and as the oldest member of the South Carolina Palmetto Guards, he was given the “honor” of firing the first shot in April 1861 from a 64-pounder cannon. This, along with my love of American and Arkansas history, sparked my interest in the Civil War.

             I began to take a closer look at Civil War battles fought in the Natural State and took many road trips searching for battlefields, cemeteries and historical markers. One of those trips took me to the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war in Arkansas: Jenkins’ Ferry Battlefield State Park. The battle of Jenkins’ Ferry started on the morning of April 29, 1864, about 9 miles east of Leola (Grant County).

             The land where the battle was fought was first settled by Thomas Jenkins, who started a ferry across the Saline River in 1815. Jenkins paid the Saline County Clerk just $1 to operate the ferry and charge travelers to cross the river. The ferry was operated by his sons, William and John, until the Civil War began in 1861.

            In March 1864, Union Gen. Frederick Steele led 14,000 troops out of Arkansas’ capital city of Little Rock to join the Union army’s Red River Campaign (sometimes referred to as the Camden Expedition). The goal of the campaign was to unite with Union Gen. Nathaniel Banks’ troops in north Louisiana to invade the state of Texas.

            Steele and his troops successfully seized Camden on April 15, but they didn’t proceed to Louisiana or Texas. Instead, threatened by Confederate soldiers and running low on supplies, Steele chose to return to Little Rock. On the morning of April 29, dealing with the flooded Saline River and aware of the approaching rebel troops, Steele ordered his engineers to create a pontoon bridge at the site of the old Jenkins’ Family Ferry crossing.

             Throughout the night and the next day, the Confederate troops brutally attacked Union forces, resulting in 521 Union casualties and 443 Confederate casualties. Because the Union army succeeded in crossing the river and subsequently destroying the pontoon bridge behind them, the battle went down in the history books as a Union victory. Steele’s troops returned to Little Rock on May 3. Historians estimate more than 2,000 soldiers died in the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry.

             Jenkins’ Ferry Battlefield State Park was created in 1961 by Act 10 of the Arkansas General Assembly and is now is maintained by the state’s Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism. The 40-acre park consists of several interpretive markers and historic monuments, a section of the original military road, picnic tables, boat ramp and recreational opportunities along the Saline River such as boating and swimming.

            One bit of trivia: The battle is briefly depicted and mentioned by fictional soldiers Pvt. Harold Green of the 116th United States Colored Infantry Regiment and Cpl. Ira Clark of the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment, who speak with President Abraham Lincoln (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) in the opening scene of the 2012 movie, “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg.

        While it’s not as famous as Gettysburg or even Pea Ridge, the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry is significant in its own right, as it led to one of the few overall rebel victories (the Red River Campaign) in Arkansas. And as far as my distant ancestor who fired the war's first shot, I’ll leave it to you to find out (in the words of the late radio legend Paul Harvey), the rest of the story.

        A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on beautiful Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: Three Sisters' Springs

         

        As I write this, Memorial Day weekend is just a few days away. 

        And as the unofficial start to summer, thousands of Arkansans will flock to our state parks — especially the ones located on lakes — to camp, boat, fish, swim and ski. There's one state park in particular that’s very popular: Lake Ouachita State Park, on the beautiful crystal-clear waters of its namesake outside Mountain Pine. One attraction at the park that often gets overlooked is definitely worth checking out, and that’s the Three Sisters’ Springs.

        The story of Three Sisters’ Springs begins in 1875 when John McFadden set up a homestead on several acres about 12 miles northwest of Hot Springs, a place nationally known for its “healing” and “curative” waters. Located on McFadden’s property were three naturally flowing springs he named the Three Sisters after his three daughters. 

        But in 1883, McFadden, having failed to meet the requirements of federal homesteading laws, lost the land. By the early 1900s, a cunning entrepreneur named W.M. Cecil had taken control of the property, and that's when things began to take off for the three springs and the surrounding acreage.

        Cecil began building a resort he called McFadden’s in honor of the original owner. The resort consisted of several cottages on the hillside, and people would come and relax in the spring waters, hike, swim and fish in numerous nearby streams. (Today, park staff use some remaining McFadden’s cottages as housing.)

        But Cecil didn’t stop there. 

        He decided to build a springhouse over the Three Sisters’ Springs and began bottling the waters he claimed had healing powers. Cecil sold the water, called “McFadden’s World Wonder Waters,” not just at the resort but across the country. 

        According to Cecil, water from spring No. 1 could help cure diabetes, enlarged prostates, insomnia, gout, high blood pressure and arthritis. Water from spring No. 2 was helpful in eradicating chronic constipation and indigestion, low blood pressure, excessive acid and gallstones. And finally, water from spring No. 3 could assist those suffering from chronic diarrhea, eczema, sinus pain and something called catarrh of the head. According to a sign at the springhouse, the cost of water in 1927 was 10 cents per bottle.

        In 1939, the resort and springs were sold to Roy and Ruth Whipple, who would be the property's final private owners. The couple sold the property to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Vicksburg District when Lake Ouachita was completed in 1951. 

        The lake wasn't officially dedicated until 1955 when the hydroelectric plant at Blakely Mountain Dam was finally completed. Shortly after the creation of Lake Ouachita, the Corps of Engineers approached the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism about establishing a state park on the shores of the lake not only to provide recreational opportunities to Arkansans but to preserve the Three Sisters’ Springs. The state agreed, and the Corps leased the parks department 360 acres, including the springs for park development.

        Today the Three Sisters’ Springs are free flowing through an area of natural stone over a reconstructed springhouse. The springs are now redirected to flow into one stream that empties into the waters of Lake Ouachita. A sign at the springhouse warns visitors not to partake of the spring waters, as they have not been tested as safe to drink.

        If you go to Lake Ouachita State Park this summer, take your swimsuit, boat, jet ski, fishing pole and bait, but don’t take gallon jugs to fill with water from the Three Sisters’ Springs. We don’t really know what’s in McFadden’s magic water, and it’s best not to take your chances.

A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on beautiful Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.