IIt’s Friday the 13th. While we couldn’t round up 13 lucky spots in our 13-county coverage area, we did — thanks to Kingston author and journalist Abby Burnett — find 13 “Ozarks Oddities.” The criteria? These are not run-of-the-mill tourist attractions!
- BOONE COUNTY
Boone County Heritage
Museum
124 S. Cherry St. in Harrison
870-741-3312
Summer hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday
Admission: $5
This former high school now houses a museum fi lled with a wide variety of collectibles, among them early medical tools, household goods and Civil War items. In May the building’s cornerstone was removed and the time capsule, put there a century earlier in 1912, was opened. This stone, and the cache of hand-written documents it contained, are on display through September.
Of special interest is the museum’s exhibit on Henry Starr, nephew of famed outlaw Belle Starr, who died of wounds received when he and his gang attempted to rob the Bank of Harrison on Feb. 18, 1921. The display includes the bullet that ended Starr’s life, his signed deathbed confession, Starr’s gun, a blood-stained bandana and a postmortem photo of Starr. at any time.
Directions: If coming from the west on U.S. 412, turn left onto a small, shaded, paved road opposite the brown “historical marker” sign, on right side of the highway. (This road is Carroll County 9122.) If you get to Alpena, you’ve gone too far.
History: In 1857 a wagon train, in transit from Harrison to California, was set upon and 121 people were massacred at Mountain Meadows, Utah. In 1859 the surviving, orphaned children were brought back to Carrollton Lodge and reunited with family. The cross and rock cairn at Carrollton, a replica of the one originally created at Mountain Meadows, was erected by the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation to enable “Arkansas relatives to memorialize the victims and interpret the massacre in their home state.”
Triphenia Wilson, a massacre survivor, is buried at Rule Cemetery. To reach this, take U.S. 412 back to Arkansas 103, veering right at the “Y.” The church will be on the left, with Wilson’s stone near the chainlink fence; a MMM marker on the fence identifies her grave. (Her original stone also notes that she was a massacre survivor.)
- BOONE COUNTY
Alpena Chainsaw Art
U.S. 412 in downtown Alpena
870-437-5001 or 417-230-7314
Life-sized bears and soaring eagles are just a few of the creatures arranged outside the stone building where Roy and Kay Jackson ply their chain saws. Kay Jackson, the fi rst female chain saw artist to qualify for the Echo carving championships, is the lead carver. The two turn immense logs into realistic wooden animals, freestanding or incorporated into rustic furniture. Though there is an outdoor work area to one side of their shop, the two also work where visitors can watch them.
- NEWTON COUNTY
Mystic Caverns & Crystal Dome
Scenic Arkansas 7 south between Jasper and Harrison Hours: 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m Monday-Saturday 888-743-1739 Separate caverns, 400 feet apart, were discovered at different times. Guided cave tours are offered. If continuing on to Harrison, you’ll pass Dogpatch, the former Lil’ Abner-themed amusement park, now defunct and returned to its original name of Marble Falls.
- NEWTON COUNTY
Ozarks Vernacular
Architecture
Jasper, the county seat, has an unspoiled downtown centered around the courthouse square. Of special interest are the numerous stone buildings, including the Church of Christ (notice what was used to create an “oriel window”), Emma’s Museum of Junk, Arkansas House (complete with a map of the state, set in stone) and the local jail.
- NEWTON COUNTY
Elk
Arkansas 21 south from Kingston to Arkansas 43 in Boxley Valley
While there’s no guarantee that visitors will see any of the many elk herds that roam Boxley Valley and environs, there’s almost always wildlife there to be photographed. (Hint: Look for a stopped car and a person with a telephoto lens who has already spotted an elk or a swan.)
Continue on Arkansas 43 to Ponca to the Ponca Elk Education Center for exhibits on elk ecology. Open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call 870-861-2432.
- BENTON COUNTY
Goddess of Liberty statue
Pea Ridge National Military Park On U.S. 62 Summer hours: 6 a.m.-6 p.m. every day; visitors’ center 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission charge to drive around battlefi eld 451-8122 Unveiled in 1889 at a battlefi eld reunion of Union and Confederate veterans, the “Goddess of Liberty” statue was the creation of Lucy J. Daniel, a Springdale tombstone carver. Isom Daniel, Lucy’s father, served in the Kentucky Infantry on the Union side, and the statue was her gift to the veterans. At its unveiling, the statue was hailed as the first monument in the country created to honor the “perpetual friendship” between both sides.
- CARROLL COUNTY
Christ of the Ozarks statue
The Great Passion Play North of U.S. 62 on Passion Play Road, Eureka Springs Statue: Free, open to the public during business hours No tour of Ozarks Oddities would be complete without a visit to the seven-story statue of Jesus, sculpted in 1966 by Emmet Sullivan, one of the artists who worked on Mount Rushmore. Restored in 2007, repairs to one finger of the statue cost $6,000, making this the most expensive manicure in the world.
- CARROLL COUNTY
Town of Beaver & Beaver
Suspension Bridge
Arkansas 23 heading out of Eureka Springs toward Holiday Island, turn right onto Arkansas 187 at Gaskins Switch.
While there are no facilities in this town, the 6-mile drive is worth the trip. Winding beneath a leafy canopy, the road allows drivers to practice bridge-crossing etiquette on a short, one-lane bridge before attempting the onelane wooden suspension bridge leading to the town of Beaver. The bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
- CARROLL COUNTY
Celestial Windz
381 Arkansas 23, 1.2 miles south of U.S. 62, Eureka Springs $5 donation requested
Certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the world’s largest tuned wind chimes, these 36-foot tubes are suspended from a tall tree, and visitors are encouraged to ring them.
- CARROLL COUNTY
Eureka Springs Cemetery
U.S. 62, just east of Eureka Springs
Gates unlocked during daylight hours.
Established by the International Order of Odd Fellows in 1889, the 40-plus acre grounds hold an assortment of rare Woodmen of the World tree trunk tombstones, eccentric contemporary burial markers, a potters field, towering trees and, in the spring, an impressive peony display. Contact the Chamber of Commerce for information on the living history walks held on the last two Fridays and Saturdays in October.
- WASHINGTON
COUNTY
Spoofer’s Stone
In front of Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus
Open to the public
During the early history of the University of Arkansas, the UA website explains, male and female students were not allowed to mingle. With such strict social policies in place, students sought ways to let their infatuations be known. To the students’ fortune, workers had blundered many years earlier by breaking a piece of limestone intended for the construction of Old Main and leaving it on the university’s front lawn. Here tucked into the crevices of Spoofer’s Stone, admirers left love notes for their would-be suitors.
As time wore on, Spoofer’s Stone became a popular site for marriage proposals during which couples would often remove a portion of the stone as a memento. Over the years, the campus produced many couples: so many, in fact, that the stone started to show wear from the many pieces taken from it. In 1933, the students repaired the stone and placed it on a foundation to preserve it for the many admirers to come.
- BENTON COUNTY
Monte Ne Concrete Chairs
Frisco Park in Rogers
One of the visible reminders of Coin Harvey’s failed resort, Monte Ne, can be seen in Frisco Park in Rogers — two concrete chairs.
The chairs and a concrete couch sat on stage at Harvey’s amphitheater, a “foyer” for a giant stone obelisk where he intended to leave a message for future generations. The obelisk was never fi nished, but the 1,000-seat amphitheater was dedicated in 1928, and Harvey charged admission to tour it.
The rest of the amphitheater is now covered by Beaver Lake, including the couch, which was also purchased by Ulis and Jerry Rose, then owners of the Town & Country Motel in Rogers. It was too heavy to be moved. The chairs have been in Frisco Park since the 1990s.
Also, “Buried Dreams: ‘Coin’ Harvey and Monte Ne” is open through Sept. 22 at the Rogers Historical Museum.
- CARROLL COUNTY
Carrollton Lodge
U.S. 412 in Carrollton The lodge is kept locked, but the monument and adjacent cemetery may be visited
Whats Up, Pages 16 on 07/13/2012