Date of Visit: 15 March 2024
Washington, AR
67º light drizzle to cloudy skies
Park 23: Historic Washington offered yet another unique way to think about the definition of a state park. 47 buildings, from homes to businesses to government offices, comprise this park within the town of Washington itself. Most of the buildings have been recreated but several are original, including the Hempstead County Courthouse (1836 – 1874), which served as the Confederate Capital of Arkansas after Union soldiers took Little Rock in 1863. The focus here is on 19th century life in south Arkansas; however, very little of the park mentions slavery, a fact that troubled me greatly. Park information includes phrases like, “The area’s wealth came from cotton and other agricultural products” but says nothing of the people forced into labor to produce this wealth. The displays then highlight the formation of a Freedmen’s Bureau, established after the war ended to aid newly freed African Americans, as well as an academy and seminary for African American students. I understand living in a state with a difficult history, but I think omitting the hard details does us all an injustice.
That being said, I chose the weekend of the 15th to visit the park for the annual jonquil festival. Sadly, due to our early spring, nearly all of the jonquils were past their prime and the rain from earlier in the day knocked many of them sideways. I did catch a glimpse of the beauties pictured here on a sheltered street corner while I wandered.
Because it was festival weekend, volunteers in historic dress staffed many of the buildings and offered tidbits about life in a 19th century town. My favorite stop was the Print Shop, which features a large display of printing presses from hand operated to electronic behemoths. I even got to pull a commemorative jonquil festival print to take home! While there, I learned about the formation of the Washington Telegraph in 1840. The interpreter told me that once a place had a newspaper, it reached the status of an established town and was no longer considered on the “frontier.” He also showed me 8 pt font metal type and a sample of a paper printed in the same. Wow. They packed those lines tightly to get the most use out of every inch of paper. With my poor eyesight, I’m not sure I’d have been able to read the news for very long, especially given I’d have been reading it by whale oil lamplight!
Another fascinating discovery: when most Easterners got to south Arkansas, they were used to building their houses out of hardwoods. South Arkansas provided mostly soft pine. Wanting their interior woodwork to look the same as “back home,” they used rubber patterned rollers to paint their doors and sills. They also painted pillars with faux marble finishes. I believe this was a trend nationwide but the painting of pine to look like oak and maple still fascinated me. At the Crouch House, settlement and the building of the town take center stage. Displays about the forest Euro-Americans found here (and decimated) as well as about construction techniques and tools line the walls. Given my family’s history with construction, I lingered quite awhile. Later, at The Sanders House & Farmstead (original buildings), I saw elaborate, colorful wallpaper recreated from fragments found when park staff stripped down the walls during renovation to restore the building to its original form. Fun note: the ceilings there are 14′ high because Sanders competed with another local man and had to outdo him. I don’t envy anyone having to wallpaper that much space!
I capped off my visit at the Hempstead County Courthouse. Taking my time to get there, I knew the history was difficult. Again, the interpreter there glossed over the Civil War and focused instead on the building itself as historic artifact and talked about how the early legal system worked, given how many miles separated each town and how long travel took pre-automobile.
Stepping back outside for some air, I discovered and fell in love with this giant catalpa tree. Known as the “Mail Carrier Smith Southern Catalpa,” this tree is one of Arkansas’ champion trees, which recognizes the largest of each species in the state. In 1831, the story goes, a teenaged mail carrier working between Louisiana and Arkansas, grabbed some catalpa seeds along the Red River and brought them back to scatter them around the courthouse. The state estimates that this tree is one of the original grown from these seeds. Regardless of the facts, I circled this amazing creature for a long time trying to get a picture that would do it justice. I failed. However, as I studied all the nooks and crannies and stunning twists in the trunk and largest branches, I let go of trying to capture the image and just absorbed the power of something so determined to remain. Spending time with this tree ended the day on a happy note.
Next up: Crater of Diamonds