After living nine years in Farmington in Washington County, my wife and I moved back to central Arkansas. While searching for land on which to build our retirement home, we are temporarily living in a rental house near Arkansas 10 on the western edge of Pulaski County. As the home to Lake Maumelle and Pinnacle Mountain State Park, this area is renowned for its natural beauty. It also has a rich history.
With the exception of the bottomlands along the Arkansas River and a few creeks, western Pulaski County has hilly terrain typical of the Ouachita Mountains in which it is located. With such a shortage of tillable land, the area has been thinly populated until recent years, when the inexorable westward expansion of Little Rock has brought an influx of new residents and businesses.
The best known community in the area is Ferndale, situated at the junction of Kanis and Congo Roads. The community, named for the masses of ferns growing around area springs, was slow to develop. Thomas Reese Sevier acquired title to land in the area in 1838, but he might have been a land speculator since there is no evidence he ever lived there. The first documented settlers in the general Ferndale area were Isaac and Frances Crowson, who arrived by 1840.
One of the residents of the Ferndale area was Thomas Fletcher, a farmer who arrived in the area in the early 1840s. Fletcher, the namesake of Fletcher Creek, entered politics in 1858 with his successful campaign for Pulaski County sheriff. He served in the Legislature during the Civil War. In 1878, after moving to Little Rock, Fletcher ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor.He left the Democratic Party around 1890 and joined the insurgent Populist Party, undoubtedly to the irritation of his brother John Gould Fletcher Sr., a loyal Democrat who also ran for governor. (Do not confuse John Gould Fletcher Sr. with his son by the same name, who won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1939.)
Among the black residents of the Ferndale area was Sally Clayburn, a widow who continued to make a cotton crop long after the death of her husband. Other black residents lived on what is today known as Denny Road.
The first post office in the area was established in 1878 at Doe Branch, west of modern Ferndale. The Ferndale post office was created in 1914. S.A. Douglas platted the proposed town of Ferndale in 1926, but the settlement was never incorporated.
The community of Ledwidge, which hugs the northwestern boundary of Pulaski County, was settled by Italians commencing in 1916. “ Little Italy” is home to St. Francis Catholic Church.
Another interesting settlement in western Pulaski County is Natural Steps, though it no longer exists. Located on the south bank of the Arkansas River about 15 miles upstream from Little Rock, the area was named for an unusual rock formation which resembled stairs leading down the river bank. An 1860 geological report described the formation as “two perfectly parallel vertical walls of sandstone twenty feet apart . . . descending step-like fifty-one feet from the top of the bank . . . .”
The early residents of the Natural Steps area supposedly included a group of “deserters from Bunker Hill” who had sided with the British during the American Revolution. While this statement is not well documented, it is known that Tory families were early settlers in the Palarm and Crystal Hill areas north of the Arkansas River, where they refused to celebrate Independence Day, much to the chagrin of their neighbors.
One of the settlers in the Natural Steps area was Bart Moreland Sr., arriving in 1866. In addition to farming, Moreland opened a general store, among other businesses. Moreland’s descendants are still prominent residents of the area.
Though Natural Steps never succeeded as a town, it did become a popular attraction for picnickers arriving from Little Rock by steamboat. One elderly woman recalled that in her youth a popular activity during the summer was to “take a lunch hamper and a beau” and join the steamboat “excursionists” to Natural Steps.
Today picnickers still visit the area, but Pinnacle Mountain State Park and Lake Maumelle are the attractions. Alotian, an exclusive golf course, has been built just to the south of Arkansas 10.
While my wife and I are probably temporary residents, we enjoy the beauty of the area. Unfortunately, we have had to rely on a satellite network to get access to the internet and television service. This is despite the fact that more than a dozen communication towers are located atop nearby Shinall Mountain.
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Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial, Pages 74 on 07/21/2013