Great River Road - Arkansas

Description:

The Arkansas Great River Road is a cultural experience. It embodies a fading agricultural past with a growing modern society that utilizes new agricultural technology. The land is known as the Delta and the people who live there share a past that involves the development of one of the nation's southern cultures. From the first settlers who conquered the swamp to the sharecroppers and finally to a community embedded in pastoral rhythms, this rich heritage can be seen all along the road.

The Delta is the unifying feature of the Byway and was shaped and changed first by the Mississippi River and then by the many settlers who came to tame the land. Travelers to the Great River Road in Arkansas will see that the Delta is made of swamps and bayous. Oxbow lakes dot the area as remnants of an old path of the Mississippi.

Visitors along the road see places to stop and get a closer look at Arkansas river culture. Museums and monuments highlight Civil War history and archaeology of the ancient Mississippi mound-building cultures. Get out and enjoy the swamps, the rivers, and the lakes that offer places to view wildlife or do some fishing. This segment of the Great River Road is just waiting to be discovered.

Directions:

Begin your North-South journey along Arkansas' Great River Road at the historic concrete arch that spans US Highway 61 at the Missouri-Arkansas Line.

Access points include US 61 South from Missouri, I-55 North from Tennessee, US 49 West from Mississippi, US 82 West from Mississippi, or US 65 North from Louisiana

Address:

P. O. Box 2050

State University AR 72467

Phone:

870-972-2803

Email:

rhawkins@astate.edu

Organization:

DOT - Department of Transportation