Arkansas

Arkansas is part of the Bible Belt: 86% of residents designate themselves Christian, with Southern Baptists outnumbering all other denominations combined.

In 1863, when the Union army captured Little Rock during the Civil War, Arkansas's Confederate government moved to Washington, AR; from then until the end of the war, Arkansas had 2 capitals and 2 governors.

Thanks to onerous Reconstruction policies, by 1868 the Ku Klux Klan was well-established in AR. By about 1900 more than 200 African-Americans had been lynched.

1957 military integration escort

Despite the 1954 Supreme Court school desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, most of Arkansas stayed segregated.  When a federal court ordered Little Rock schools to integrate in 1957, Gov. Orval Faubus sent the AR National Guard to stop 9 black students from entering Central High School.  A few weeks later, the black students tried again to enter, a white mob gathered, and the Little Rock police removed the black students to stop a riot.  Two days later, Pres. Eisenhower sent US Army troops in, removed the National Guard from Faubus's control, and patrolled the school hallways to stop white students from abusing the black students.  The next year, Little Rock closed all public schools, but a new school board reopened them the following year.  Still, some schools didn't integrate until the 1970s.

The Ouachita Mountains are the only US mountains to run east to west.

an Arkansas oxbow lake

Most of AR's natural lakes - including the largest, Lake Chicot - are oxbows.

One of the oldest Native-American cemeteries in North America is the Sloan Site in Arkansas, dating to about 8000 BC.


AR produces more rice and more broiler chickens than any other state.

Tyson Foods, headquartered in AR, is the world's largest poultry packaging company.  AR's Riceland Foods is the world's largest rice packager and exporter.

AR is #1 among US states in bauxite production, and it produces 1/2 the world's bromine supply.

Yellville, AR, hosts the National Wild Turkey Calling Contest.

Texarkana Post Office

Magazine Mountain has 80 of the 127 known species of butterflies.

The US Post Office in Texarkana is the only post office located in 2 states - AR and TX.  (My guess is that a long-ago bureaucrat aimed to avoid controversy by refusing to choose between the 2 states.) 

The White River National Wildlife Refuge is one the the US's most important habitats for migratory waterfowl.

The official state fruit/vegetable is the South Arkansas vine-ripe pink tomato.

St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Eureka Springs is the only North American church where the street-level entrance is through the bell tower at the top of the building.

St. Elizabeth's Church