Crowley’s Ridge in northeastern Arkansas, with a fine scenic drive running along its spine, is a rare geological formation — so much so, there’s only one other like it on the planet, in Siberia.
The 200-mile long ridge, of rolling hills rising to 250 feet over the flat Delta surrounding it, is an island of sorts, shaped 50 million years ago by the powerful ancestors of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, as glaciers moved around the continent.
As the rivers carved ever-deepening channels, the ridge, 12 miles across at its widest point, remained as a ribbon of land between the two. Over the eons, layers of loess, soil ground fine by the glacier, blew in, building the ridge higher.
An overhead view shows it thick with hardwood trees in an otherwise treeless landscape, resembling a slightly crooked index finger poking its tip a few miles into Missouri. That short stretch is cut off from the rest of the ridge by the chocolate St. Francis River that loops briefly into Arkansas, then shapes the west side of Missouri’s Bootheel.
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The scenic drive — Crowley’s Ridge Parkway National Scenic Byway — begins at the town of St. Francis, Arkansas, (population 218) and ends with the ridge at Helena-West Helena on the Mississippi. It isn’t a separately designated route, but a cobble of sections of numerous roads, made a State Scenic Byway in 1997 and National Scenic Byway the following year. It includes lots of twists and turns but is easy to follow as signage is excellent.
Running through nearly two dozen towns, its attractions include museums, Civil War battle sites, seven state parks, a national forest, nature center and dozens of spectacular vistas. We’ve driven the byway several times over the years — it lures you back.
Chalk Bluff from the upriver boat ramp on the Missouri side. The white of the bluff is clay, not chalk.
A marked spur just inside Arkansas leads a couple of miles west to Chalk Bluff Battlefield Park on the St. Francis, our first stop. The hilly, wooded park includes a playground and paved nature trail leading steeply down to the river with interpretive panels along the way. One explains that the ridge was named for Benjamin Crowley, the earliest settler here, in 1825, on land he’d been given for service in the War of 1812.
At the time, the ridge provided the only reliably dry north-south route through this otherwise swampy part of the then-territory. Originally a buffalo trace, it became an Indian trail, postal road then military route.
The 35-foot bluff, another panel reads, is “one of the most important historical landmarks in Arkansas,” at a major crossing point for raids between Arkansas and Missouri during the Civil War. Finally, in July 1863, Union cavalry crossed and began a drive down Crowley’s Ridge that ended with the capture of Little Rock.
We returned briefly to Missouri, and at the Missouri Conservation sign for Chalk Bluff drove another spur west to the flatter Missouri side of the river. Here you can drive to water’s edge, and a quarter mile downstream see the imposing bluff, actually white clay, not chalk.
Signs explain that on May 1-2, 1863, 5,000 Confederates led by Gen. John Marmaduke (later, Missouri’s 25th governor) fought a Union force of 8,000 led by Gen. John McNeil. It was the last battle of Marmaduke’s failed raid into Missouri, ending with the Confederates’ hasty retreat across the St. Francis on a makeshift barge.
The studio at the Hemmingway-Pfeiffer complex in Piggott where the great author wrote most of “A Farewell to Arms.”
Back in Arkansas, our next stop was in Piggott, at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center. The Colonial Revival-style home belonged to the wealthy family of Pauline Pfeiffer, Ernest Hemingway’s second wife, who grew up in St. Louis. Over their 13-year marriage, the couple stayed here often, and in rustic Hemingway Barn-Studio, he wrote much of his novel “A Farewell to Arms.”
The byway continues south, past seemingly endless fields of cotton to Paragould. Founded in 1882, named for railroad rivals J.W. Paramore and Jay Gould, who laid tracks that crossed here, it’s believed to be the only “Paragould” anywhere.
The 1888 courthouse in Paragould.
The fine 1888 brick courthouse (now home to Paragould’s Chamber of Commerce) was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. A 7-foot Statue of Liberty replica stands outside.
On to 300-acre Crowley’s Ridge State Park, established in 1933 at the site of Benjamin Crowley’s homestead. Today, visitors can fish at 31-acre Walcott Lake, hike trails winding through the woods and swim at Lake Ponder.
But the park’s centerpiece, overlooking Lake Ponder, is a massive pavilion with dance floor, dining area and adjoining bathhouse. Built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, it’s made of local stone and enormous bald cypress logs from the nearby St. Francis and Cache river bottoms.
The byway loops on over the hills, past the entrance to 114-acre Lake Frierson State Park. In addition to the stocked 335-acre lake, the park includes picnic sites, playground, hiking trails and an impressive fishing pier. Kayaks, pedal boats and fishing boats can be rented.
Ahead is Jonesboro (population 80,000), the biggest town along the parkway. First-rate Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center on 160 acres here, is a microcosm of the ridge. There’s a butterfly garden, native plant garden, pond, prairie, woodland and the 17,000-square foot center, where exhibits tell the ridge’s long story.
Parkin Archeological State Park 15 miles east of the ridge is worth a visit (take U.S. Highway 64 at Wynne). The 17-acre site was home to Mississippian Indians from A.D. 1000-1550. Their village has been re-created, their story told at a fine museum.
Forrest City ahead, named for Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, began as a railroad camp soon after the Civil War, there to cut a rail line through the ridge. St. Francis County Museum tells that story and more. Director Judy Sweet gave us a tour.
She said the museum, opened in 1997, was originally home to Dr. James Oddis Rush (1867-1960), whose examining room and surgery were also here. When patients couldn’t afford to pay for medical services Rush accepted goods in exchange, including rare fossils and early Native American artifacts, amassing the impressive collection on display. Other rooms feature medical instruments, military uniforms and more.
A monument capped by a life-size statue of Robert E. Lee marks the town square of Marianna.
On to Marianna, next to last town on the byway, in Lee County. We wondered if, in today’s climate, the towering monument to Gen. Robert E. Lee would still be standing in the quaint town square.
It is — but now at the opposite end of the square there’s another monument, a bronze bust of William Hines Furbush (1839-1902). Furbush, an AfricanAmerican, was a Union soldier, photographer, state legislator, sheriff, lawyer and newspaper editor.
A plaque explains that as a state representative from neighboring Phillips County, he advocated for a new county in east Arkansas, and in 1873 was successful in passing legislation to create one from portions of surrounding counties. He chose the name “Lee” to secure the needed votes, and was appointed its first sheriff.
Mississippi River State Park, newest in the system, is ahead. It was created within the 24,000-acre St. Francis National Forest through a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. The park, to eventually span more than 500 acres, borders the river and is also on the Audubon Great River Birding Trail. There’s kayaking, camping, hiking and more.
The last dozen miles of the byway, winding through the St. Francis, are nothing like the rest of the route. Here, in this world of steep hills, deep ravines, occasional wide river-valley vistas and thick forest, where branches arch overhead creating a green and yellow tunnel, you could, but for the asphalt road, be back in the time of Benjamin Crowley. The recently paved road, formerly dusty gravel, was a gift from the Walton (Walmart) family.
A statue in downtown Helena commemorates the local veterans of World War I.
On to historic Helena, where ridge and parkway end. Attractions at this once major port town include an important Civil War battle site, Confederate Cemetery/Maple Hill Cemetery, Freedom Park, Delta Cultural Center and every October, the International King Biscuit Blues Festival attracting thousands from all over.
Our last stop was at Helena’s newest attraction, Delta Dirt Distillery, owned and operated by Harvey and Donna Williams and sons Donavan and Thomas. Agricultural engineer Harvey explains that his grandfather and great-grandfather had raised sweet potatoes on 86 acres north of Helena, sharecropping from the late 19th century until 1949, when they could afford to buy the land.
The St. Francis River rises in Missouri and forms a small section of the state line with Arkansas. Here, near the end of Crowley’s Ridge, it is just above its confluence with the Mississippi just above Helena.
The family still raises sweet potatoes on that and additional land, and not just for the dinner table: they make prize-winning Sweet Blend Vodka, 86 proof (in honor of the original acreage), from sweet potatoes, as well as other spirits. We didn’t sample any — it was 11 a.m. —but judging from the number of awards hanging on the tasting room walls, it must be good.
