Lake Chicot State Park sits in Arkansas’ southeastern corner on the state’s largest natural lake, Lake Chicot, a 20-mile-long oxbow created by the Mississippi River hundreds of years ago. The lake, just east of the city of Lake Village (Chicot County), is not only the largest natural lake in the state, but it's also the largest oxbow lake in North America. If you've driven from Arkansas to the Gulf Coast, it's likely you’ve seen Lake Chicot.
About 300 years ago, the lake was part of the channel of the Mississippi River. Its name comes from the French word “chicot,” which means “full of cypress stumps.” If you’ve ever boated on or walked along the shores of Lake Chicot, you’ve seen the many cypress stumps and trees that line its banks. The C-shaped lake is about 0.75 miles wide and 22 miles long.
Unfortunately, Lake Chicot was polluted due to flooding in 1916, and starting in 1920, work on a levee along the nearby Mississippi River polluted the lake even more. Dredging for the levee’s construction resulted in deposition of silt and pesticides throughout the 1930s through the 1950s, which caused the lake's water quality to deteriorate.
But starting in 1948, the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission built an earthen dam to separate the upper fourth of the lake from the runoff that has been entering the lower portion of Lake Chicot from Connerly Bayou. The result of the dam’s construction was better water quality, which revitalized the beauty of the lake. And because of that, the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism built the 211-acre Lake Chicot State Park in 1957.
A new pumping plant was installed at Lake Chicot in 1985 to divert silt from the lake to the Mississippi River. Sport fish populations were restocked by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.
Renovations of many of the park’s amenities were made after Arkansas voters approved a statewide one-eighth-percent sales tax championed by Gov. Mike Huckabee in 1996. Proceeds from the tax were earmarked for conservation and parks programs. Additional funding for improvements of the park came from the Arkansas Natural & Cultural Resources Council.
Today, the park offers many recreational opportunities to visitors, with 122 campsites, 14 cabins, a swimming pool, a boat launch ramp and a playground. There's a marina that sells snacks, fuel and bait and rents boats, motors and personal watercraft. Programs presented by knowledgeable park interpreters highlight area wildlife and the area’s Civil War history. The park also hosts an annual blues and gospel music heritage festival each June and Gospelfest each September.
Because of the favorable climate and ecology, fishing conditions at Lake Chicot are wonderful. Bass, catfish, crappie, bream and other types of fish inhabit the lake. As a result, the lake has become a fisherman’s paradise.
If you are a fisherman, Lake Chicot and the state park that sits on its banks is a bucket list destination in the Natural State. For more information about the park and its amenities and programs, go to arkansasstateparks.com/lakechicot or call the park’s visitor center at (870) 265-5480.
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