WILLOW BEACH CAMPGROUND, SCOTT, ARKANSAS - FEB 10-16, 2025

We spent 6 nights at Willow Beach Campground, in Scott, Arkansas.  We arrived on Monday 2/10.  Willow Beach Campground is located on the Arkansas River near the David D.Terry Lock and Dam.  We love staying in Corps of Engineers (COE) campgrounds as they are always along a waterway.  We find the sound and sights of the waters to be so relaxing.  Although it was cold, we were able to get out to see some sights.  Willow Beach is a small campground with only 20 campsites.  It wasn't too busy, and certainly not full of campers.  It was quiet and the camp hosts were friendly.  

We took a drive just outside of Little Rock to do some grocery shopping, fill our small propane tank.  It's been raining off and on, which does put a damper on outside activities.  

Finally, on Thursday, the rains stopped!  The sun shone, but the winds made it feel colder than it was.  We took a long walk through the park along the river's edge.  

This part of the Arkansas River was part of the "Trail of Tears."  The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (TOTNHT) in Arkansas includes routes that were used to force the Cherokee people from their homes in the East to Indian Territory in the 1830s.  The trail includes both land and water routes.  The water routes began in Tennessee and ended in Oklahoma.  It followed the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers.  The journey was 1,300 miles on steamboats and the keel boats they towed.

© NPS Michael Haynes

On Friday we had a full day of sunshine, but again, the wind made it very cold.  We needed our winter jackets.  We drove to the Plum Creek Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park. (see footnote).  The Park was just a few miles down the road from Willow Beach.  This park is the largest and most complex mound site in the State of Arkansas.  It offers opportunities to see archeological research at work. The site was a ceremonial ground for prehistoric Native Americans and stands today as an important and fascinating piece of history. 

Many mysteries still remain about the people who flourished here and the ceremonies they held.  The mounds continue to provide clues with ongoing archeological studies.  These clues allow us into the fascinating past of the mysterious Plum Bayou Culture and the indigenous peoples who lived on this land long before other countries came to claim it as their own. 

Footnote:  Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park was renamed Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park to reflect the culture of the people who built the mounds. The name change was officially made in November 2022.   During the 1800s, many mound sites in the southeastern United States were thought to have been built by the Toltecs of Mexico. An archeological study of mound sites in the 1880s proved that the mounds were not built by people from Mexico, but by ancestors of the Natives who lived in the southeastern United States.  They were renamed for a nearby stream, the Plum Bayou culture has been identified by archeologists as the builders of the mounds.