Eureka Springs Arkansas to Howe Texas

Coming out of Eureka Springs we found ourselves north on 62, a windy mountain road that had a special fall feel to it. Fog rising over rivers added to a mystique that lingered over sleepy homes dotting the valley below us. We got off to an early start, partly due to the lack of internet at the hotel the night before, but mainly because we had 300+ miles to cover, and a lot of stops along the way.

First on the agenda was Pea Ridge National Military Park. Touted as the battle that saved Missouri for the Union, this is one of the most intact Civil War battlefields today, and is the only battle in which Native American troops participated. 1000 Cherokees fought for the Confederate army and routed two companies of Union cavalry before being forced into the woods by cannon fire.

Pea Ridge Park also has a very visible portion of the Trail of Tears, also known as Telegraph Road, which thousands of Cherokee and other American Indians traveled in the winter of 1838-39 after being forced to move from their homelands. It also served as the Butterfield Overland Stage Route from 1857-61, and during this key battle in March of 1862, both Federals and Confederates would use it as well.

The auto tour is great, and includes a fantastic view from a hill of the entire battle field. You can almost imagine being there as interpretive signs show positions of various troops and tell the story of how Pea Ridge was the last push of the Confederates to take Missouri, and with their failure how many of the troops, both Union and Confederate, moved on east of the Mississippi to fight in other campaigns.

From Pea Ridge, we continued on highway 62, now heading southwest skirting Fayetteville, Arkansas to Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. This smaller Civil War battlefield site is also an auto tour, but unlike Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge, this one lacked a bit. In fact, part of the auto tour took you out of the park, back on 62 and then into a residential area. It's still a great place for history though and I'm glad we had the chance to see it.

We stayed on highway 62, winding our way to Oklahoma and Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation Capitol. Just outside of Tahlequah is the W.W. Keeler complex, the seat of the tribal government, and we made brief stops at the Cherokee Heritage Center, The Murrell Home built in 1844, and a fairly new Cherokee Warriors Memorial, dedicated in 2005 to those who have fought in the United States Military.

Still on 62, just outside of Muskogee, we reach Fort Gibson, one of the most important posts on the "permanent Indian frontier." Established in 1824, this Fort was a key transportation point and testing hub for the newly activated Ranger units and Dragoon Regiments. It played roles in the Civil War, Mexican-American and Indian Wars, and was long gone by the time it was reconstructed in 1936 under the WPA. Be sure to tour the stockade and other reconstructed outlying buildings, it's worth the stop.

By this time we were running out of daylight. Shorter days mean less sightseeing, so we boogied on down highway 69 from Muskogee to Howe Texas, just south of Sherman, where we would bunk with family for a couple of nights in "Fort Bertoldo" (Thanks Jimmy and Deb!) Be sure to watch the "What's New" page for expanded articles on our adventures. Next blog we travel the Texas Forts Trail from Howe to Abilene.

Warsaw to Eureka Springs

One thing about traveling in November is the lack of color in the scenery. You miss the Spring or Fall colors, and the Summer greens. All the leaves have browned weeks ago, leaving the baron branches of thick forests dormant til next year. But despite that, it's still a beautiful drive in southern Missouri and northwest Arkansas.

We headed out south on Highway 65 toward Springfield and found our first detour just outside of there in Ozark. A quick drive through Ozark's historic downtown, then back across 65 several miles to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. It's the site of the second battle of the Civil War, and so far off the beaten track I imagined a spot in the road with a sign.

We were pleasantly surprised with the nice Visitors Center, exhibits and even a short movie on the history of the area. The Battle of Wilson's Creek, called Oak Hills by Confederates, was fought August 10, 1861, and was a bitter struggle for control of Missouri in the Civil War's first year. In fact it was only the second battle of the war.

There were heavy losses on both sides, but Missouri stayed in Union control. The easy to follow auto-tour of the battlefield took us through the various aspects of the Battle, and we learned plenty about the state and how it became the third most fought-over in the nation. Be looking for the complete story of this historic battle on our What's New page soon.

Our minds swimming with visions of the Civil War, we headed out of the battlefield and decided to take roads less traveled on to Eureka Springs. After going through portions of the Mark Twain National Forest, we wound up coming into the Springs via Highway 23 and were greeted with the Eureka Springs North American Railway. We're coming into town during the off season, so the railway was closed to tourists, but there was still plenty for the history lover to see, including the Round House Inn across the street that is currently up for sale.

On into town we started to get a better feel for Eureka Springs, with its historic hotels and businesses. That includes two supposedly haunted hotels, The Basin Park Hotel and The Crescent Hotel, both of which offer haunted tours in the evenings. We didn't have time to take the tours, but did visit both hotels and took in the atmosphere of a town already decked out for the holidays. If you plan to visit Eureka Springs be ready to park and walk as the streets of downtown are narrow and there's lots of others taking in the sights with you.

Eureka Springs is also home to The Passion Play, which seemed to be a religious theme park complete with a giant statue of Jesus called Christ of the Ozarks, erected back in 1966. The park even had a piece of the Berlin Wall on display outside of an old Church building on the grounds.

There would be enough to see in Eureka Springs to keep us busy for a couple of days, but our focus on this trip is mainly battlegrounds and forts, so we spent our quiet evening resting up for the next days adventure all the way through the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to Howe Texas, with another key Civil War battlefield in-between. We'll tell you more about Pea Ridge in our next blog.