Arkansas blends rugged Ozark and Ouachita mountain landscapes with the Mississippi Delta's blues heritage, offering outdoor adventures from whitewater rafting on the Buffalo National River to hunting diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville rivals world-class institutions, while Hot Springs National Park's Bathhouse Row preserves a gilded-age thermal spa district. Little Rock anchors the state with Civil Rights history, vibrant dining, and easy access to trails and lakes.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped Arkansas.
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1
Toltec Mounds culture (Plum Bayou people) builds ceremonial earthworks near present-day Scott
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2
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto crosses the Mississippi River into Arkansas
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3
Henri de Tonti establishes Arkansas Post, the first European settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley
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4
Louisiana Purchase; Arkansas Territory becomes US soil
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5
Arkansas admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15
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6
Arkansas votes to secede; joins the Confederacy in the Civil War
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7
Arkansas readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction
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8
Little Rock Central High School desegregation crisis; President Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne to enforce integration
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9
Arkansas's Winthrop Rockefeller begins modernizing the state's economy as the first Republican governor since Reconstruction (elected 1966)
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10
Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton elected 42nd President of the United States
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11
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art groundbreaking announced (opened 2011)
Historical sites
Places where Arkansas's past comes alive.
Little Rock Central High School NHS
Where: Little Rock
Admission: Free
Arkansas Post National Memorial
Where: Gillett (Delta)
Admission: Free
Pea Ridge National Military Park
Where: Garfield (near Rogers)
Admission: $10/vehicle USD
Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park
Where: Scott
Admission: $5/adult, $3/child (USD)
Clinton Presidential Center & Library
Where: Little Rock
Admission: $10/adult, $6/youth 6–17 (USD)