Links

The Dyess Colony

Arkansas State University Heritage Sites

  • Arkansas Heritage Sites
    This office at Arkansas State University develops and operates historic properties of regional and national significance in the Arkansas Delta. These sites provide educational resources for formal and informal learning, including serving as living laboratories for students in the University’s Heritage Studies Ph.D. program. In addition, they serve as economic catalysts in communities where they are located by attracting heritage tourists from around the world.
  • Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center
    This site features the home belonging to Paul and Mary Pfeiffer, whose daughter Pauline was married to Ernest Hemingway, and the Barn Studio behind the home where Ernest did his writing when visiting.  Portions of A Farewell to Arms were written in the barn, along with various short stories.  The house and barn have been restored to the way they appeared during the Hemingway-Pfeiffer marriage, between 1927 and 1940. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
  • Lakeport Plantation
    The Lakeport Plantation house is the only remaining Arkansas plantation home on the Mississippi River and still retains many of its original finishes and architectural details. Today you can tour it, thanks to a gift in 2001 to Arkansas State University from the Sam Epstein Angel family.  Restored as a museum, the site researches and interprets the people and cultures that shaped plantation life in the Mississippi River Delta, focusing on the Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction periods.
  • Southern Tenant Farmers Museum
    During the 1930s, this building housed the dry cleaning business of H. L. Mitchell and the service station of Clay East, two organizers of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in 1934. Their building served as the unofficial headquarters for the union until offices were moved to Memphis for safety. The Museum also includes the adjacent historic Tyronza Bank building.  The restored site focuses on the farm labor movement in the South and the tenant farming and sharecropping system of agriculture.
  • Rohwer Japanese American Internment Center
    Between 1942 and 1945, up to 8,000 Japanese Americans were interned at Rohwer—a 500-acre camp surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. Today all that remains is a cemetery and the smokestack from the camp’s hospital. Though most physical evidence has been wiped from the landscape, important stories remain to be shared. The Arkansas Heritage Sites office has installed interpretive exhibits along the gravel road adjacent to the cemetery.
  • Historic V. C. Kays House

    This 1936 Tudor-style residence on the Arkansas State University campus was the home of the institution’s first president, Victor Cicero Kays. The school thrived during his 33-year tenure — from 1910 through 1943– despite challenging circumstances that included two world wars, the Great Depression, and a 1931 fire that destroyed the school’s main building. The house has been restored and serves as offices for the Arkansas State University Heritage Sites staff.

Arkansas Resources

  • Arkansas Delta Byways
    This website provides information on attractions, restaurants, lodging, and shopping in the 15-county Eastern Arkansas region known as Arkansas Delta Byways. The region features two National Scenic Byways: Crowley’s Ridge Parkway and the Arkansas segment of the ten-state Great River Road.
  • Arkansas–The Natural State
    Information on attractions, festivals and events throughout Arkansas can be found on this official website of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
  • Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
    Hunting and fishing enthusiasts will find information here on licenses and permits, hunting seasons, and boating information.  The Game and Fish Commission also operates education and nature centers around the state.
  • Department of Arkansas Heritage
    This department’s mission is to identify Arkansas’s heritage and enhance the quality of life by discovering, preserving, and presenting the state’s cultural, historic and natural resources. Programs include the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Main Street Arkansas, Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center, Historic Arkansas Museum, Old Statehouse Museum, and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.
  • Preserve Arkansas
    This is the only statewide nonprofit organization focused on preserving Arkansas’s architectural and cultural resources. The Alliance’s mission is to educate, advocate and assist preservation efforts across the state.
  • I Drive Arkansas
    This Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department website provides information for travelers related to construction areas, live traffic conditions, and weather conditions, along with locations of Welcome Centers and rest areas.

Other Preservation Resources

  • National Trust for Historic Preservation
    The National Trust provides preservation information, education, and technical support to help people protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them.

Other Tourism Resources

  • The Great River Road
    This ten-state route along both sides of the Mississippi River, from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico, provides an opportunity for motorists to experience the natural and cultural heritage shaped by the nation’s mightiest river. Designated a National Scenic Byway, this collection of roads and highways is considered one of the best scenic drives in America.
  • National Scenic Byways
    America’s Byways® is the umbrella term used for the collection of 150 distinct and diverse National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Eastern Arkansas contains two of these National Scenic Byways:  the Crowley’s Ridge Parkway and the Arkansas portion of The Great River Road.