Photo Tour of Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park

[Mith242]

Went to the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park after a short day at work. It's been quite a while since I've been there. I could still see that some of the damage done by a microburst in 2005, mainly from the trees. This site at Prairie Grove to the southwest of Fayetteville and Pea Ridge east of Bella Vista were the two major battle of the Civil War in northwest Arkansas. For that matter the state as well. I'll start off with a few pics and add some more when I have time. Took a few shots inside although some of them didn't come out too well.

[Mith242]

Should have added this pic too since it has some useful info for those of you not very familiar with the site or it's history.

[Mith242]

A few more pics of some of the structures closest to the visitor center area. Wish I had gotten some more shots of the wall extending around this area. You can see it a little in the last pic.

[Mith242]

Here's a few pics of the Morrow House. There are a number of historical buildings at the site. Although only one was original to the site. Unfortunately I guess I wasn't paying enough attention and seemed to have missed it. The rest of the historical buildings though seem to all be from the Washington County area.

All for tonight. I'll post some more pics tomorrow.

[mcheiss]

Great Work Mith!!

Did you get a short day at work today because of the new Harps opening?

I've never been to Prarie Grove, but it looks like a nice park and on a much smaller scale than the Pea Ridge Visitors Center.

[johnnydr87]

Very interesting. I've always been interested in Arkansas history sites.

[Mith242]

Great Work Mith!!

Did you get a short day at work today because of the new Harps opening?

I've never been to Prarie Grove, but it looks like a nice park and on a much smaller scale than the Pea Ridge Visitors Center.

Yeah I put in a lot of hours earlier in the week. I haven't been to Pea Ridge yet. But Pea Ridge is a national historical park. Prairie Grove is just a state park. It's an interesting site, although I think the state needs to spend a little money to upgrade a few things in the visitor center. Although adding a little more of the historical land might be better. Prairie Grove is a little out from the main metro area but there's growth going on out there too and it looks like houses are starting to encroach and cover some areas of the historical areas. But I guess it's just a question of do you try to preserve every little square foot of land. There does appear to be quite a bit of land already in the state park. I'll post some more pics soon.

Very interesting. I've always been interested in Arkansas history sites.

Yeah me too. I think I saw something saying this was the bloodiest Civil War battle in Arkansas.

[Mith242]

Here's a group of buildings from an old town called Vinyard. I think these may be some of the oldest if not the oldest structures in Washington County. The state park is a great place to see some of the oldest buildings in Washington County. A number of them have been brought here from different locations in the county and preserved here. I didn't take too many pics of the last structure, the barn. A recreational area had been put right next to it with picnic tables and such. There was even a Coke Machine that had fake wood panelling on it so try to get it to blend in. Okay now that I think about it maybe I should have taken a pic of it. It might have been somewhat humorous to see.

[Mith242]

Here's a few more historical structures. A dogtrot style home, a blacksmith shop, and a sorghum mill. Although in the first two pics are some of the Latta strcutures again and I found an interesting tree and took a shot of the chimney from Rhea's Mill through it's hole.

[Mith242]

Here's a couple more buildings near the main area of the park. A school and a church. It looks like I missed the sign for the church.

[Mith242]

The first shot is of a pretty massive oak tree. Then there's some shots off the ridgeline. Now you can see why the Confederacy picked this spot. Then there's a couple of my little buddy keeping an eye on me from the tree.

[Mith242]

Here's the last group of shots. Or the last I'll probably post. Here's some shots of the Broden House. It's the only one on this site that wasn't moved in from somewhere else in the county. I believe this one was built right after the Civil War. The first one was burned after the battle. I believe the fields to the north are a part of the state park and are maintained as fields as they were in the Civil War times. I believe they were wheat fields. While cotton was king in most of the state corn and wheat were the big crops here in northwest Arkansas back then. Then the last two pics are just showing off my zoom on my new camera.

[Mith242]

I take it not a whole lot of history buffs here.

[mcheiss]

[Mith242]

I do enjoy history Mith, It's just I'm not that familiar with the Prarie Grove Battlefield. I know quite a bit more about the Pea Ridge Battle.

Yeah I need to get up to Pea Ridge sometime. I still haven't been there. But I'm slowly trying to do some things I hadn't gotten around to yet.

[DickSonstreetDFW]

Yeah I need to get up to Pea Ridge sometime. I still haven't been there. But I'm slowly trying to do some things I hadn't gotten around to yet.

Whats odd to me is that I enjoy the Depression Era Public Works buildings I saw in the photos (I'm assuming) as much as the old Civil War era stuff. 1930s art deco-influence is tres-cool.

[Mith242]

Whats odd to me is that I enjoy the Depression Era Public Works buildings I saw in the photos (I'm assuming) as much as the old Civil War era stuff. 1930s art deco-influence is tres-cool.

Are you referring to the visitor center behind the canon? I don't that was built till later. This didn't become a state park till the late 50's. As far as I know it wasn't built before it was a state park.

[DickSonstreetDFW]

Are you referring to the visitor center behind the canon? I don't that was built till later. This didn't become a state park till the late 50's. As far as I know it wasn't built before it was a state park.

The 1950s work for me as well.

My favorite architecture is generally post civil war to 1950s, American.

Anything later is crap. (just my opinion)

[Mith242]

The 1950s work for me as well.

My favorite architecture is generally post civil war to 1950s, American.

Anything later is crap. (just my opinion)

I admit I haven't been a big fan of the styles between the 50's to 70's. But I'm trying to be more openminded. As more time goes on more people will probably appreciate them more than we do now. I think a lot of architecture works that way. Think of all the buildings lost over time because they were 'outdated' and not appreciated at the time.

[masons_dad1]

Yeah I need to get up to Pea Ridge sometime. I still haven't been there. But I'm slowly trying to do some things I hadn't gotten around to yet.

I've just been to Pea Ridge a couple times so far this year. There aren't nearly as many structures at Pea Ridge as there at Prairie Grove... in fact there's only two historic buildings at the site if you count the foundation which is all that's left of a command post. There is a 7-mile driving tour with scenic walking trails and a horse trail. The most impressive feature is the scenic overlook where the culmination of the Battle of Pea Ridge took place. They are doing some remodeling though and I was a bit dissappointed to find they removed the audio components at each of the site markers.

Be sure and get there early enough to watch the 30-minute movie about the Battle of Pea Ridge and take another few minutes to walk through the small museum inside the vistor's center. They also have a great book shop and souvenirs. The park is usually open until 5:00PM but the gate to the driving tour closes at 4:00PM. The visitor's center is closing about an hour earlier until Spring.

Also, on the way to Pea Ridge there's a Vietnam Memorial with a Huey Gunship and an F-101 Voodoo fighter on display. It's on the left at the Rogers Municipal Aiport. You can't miss it!

BTW... thanks for the pics of Prairie Grove... I'm putting that at the top of my list of places to take my family this year.

[Mith242]

I've just been to Pea Ridge a couple times so far this year. There aren't nearly as many structures at Pea Ridge as there at Prairie Grove... in fact there's only two historic buildings at the site if you count the foundation which is all that's left of a command post. There is a 7-mile driving tour with scenic walking trails and a horse trail. The most impressive feature is the scenic overlook where the culmination of the Battle of Pea Ridge took place. They are doing some remodeling though and I was a bit dissappointed to find they removed the audio components at each of the site markers.

Be sure and get there early enough to watch the 30-minute movie about the Battle of Pea Ridge and take another few minutes to walk through the small museum inside the vistor's center. They also have a great book shop and souvenirs. The park is usually open until 5:00PM but the gate to the driving tour closes at 4:00PM. The visitor's center is closing about an hour earlier until Spring.

Also, on the way to Pea Ridge there's a Vietnam Memorial with a Huey Gunship and an F-101 Voodoo fighter on display. It's on the left at the Rogers Municipal Aiport. You can't miss it!

BTW... thanks for the pics of Prairie Grove... I'm putting that at the top of my list of places to take my family this year.

Yeah a lot of the structures at Prairie Grove were brought in from other areas of Washington County. But it's a nice idea moving them here to help preserve them at a site talking a lot about history. Just keep in mind this is a state site and not a National site like Pea Ridge. I'm not sure if it offers everything that a National site like Pea Ridge does, but I still think it's worth a visit.