Arkansas Post Museum State Park in Gillett stands out for many reasons, including being the first county museum in the state. 

“Here at Arkansas Post Museum State Park we like to look at two types of lifestyles starting in 1877,” said Maria Jackson, facility manager II at Arkansas Post Museum State Park. “The reason we start with 1877 is because that is when our log cabin was built. This was the last year of reconstruction after the Civil War, which was a turning point for this area as far as settlement goes for the Arkansas Grand Prairie. It is when people began to spread out from the river areas and began to farm and settle this part of Arkansas. It is also when the railroad began to be built and people had the ability to explore further out into the grasslands.”

The Arkansas Grand Prairie is an unusual natural feature of eastern Arkansas as typically prairies are found in climates that are drier. It is now known for its rice production and waterfowl hunting. 

 “We are on a naturally occuring prairie, which is very flat and at the time it was very treeless,” said Jackson. “That created a perfect place to create agricultural landscapes. And it turns out that our soil is very rich in clay which holds water and so they figured out they could plant rice and so it created the rice boom, which is why everyone came here and settled and started farms.” 

 There are multiple exhibit spaces that are part of the museum grounds, including a Main House, which houses the park’s visitor center as well as items from the era such as handmade dresses, button hooks, hand painted fans, hand beaded purses, a handmade wool suit, corn cob pipes, pocket watches, a parlor room area and more. 

"Everything that is here in the museum were donated by citizens who were descendants of people who settled this area,” said Jackson.  

The Refeld-Hinman Log House, a dog-trot cabin built in 1877  less than a mile away from where it is now at the park, is a showpiece part of the park. The log cabin has a strong connection to the area and Arkansas State Park history. As the name of the park suggests, there is a connection to the Arkansas Post, known as the first European settlement in Arkansas.

Interpretive signs at the park help explain the history of the museum and log house. In 1929, Arkansas Post State Park became the state’s third state park and also its first historical park. The log house was moved from its original site and became the headquarters for this state park and eventually a county museum, the Arkansas Post Museum, was also housed in the log house too. In 1960, the park site became a national memorial, Arkansas Post National Memorial, and is now part of the National Park Service. 

When the state park became a national memorial, efforts began to relocate the Arkansas Post Museum. Land was purchased at the current museum site, a few miles away from the Arkansas Post National Memorial. In the mid-1960s the Arkansas Post County Museum opened and the log house was moved there from the national memorial site. Other exhibit buildings were added to the county museum site over the years to house its growing collection. This county museum eventually became a state park, Arkansas Post Museum State Park, in the mid 1990s, making it Arkansas’ 51st state park.

Another exhibit space at the park is the Peterson Building, which was built in the 1970s and named for the judge who helped establish the museum. It is the largest exhibit building at the park and has a wide range of history inside it, including military items from World War I through the Korean conflict. Highlights of that section include a rare and fully intact WAC (Women's Army Corps) uniform of a World War II army nurse. 

An interesting item to see in the Peterson Building is the 1933 Carnes-Bonner Playhouse, which was built for the daughter of a state representative. All of the materials for it were made to scale. Another item is a dugout canoe made from one Cypress log that was burned and scooped out. It was found stuck in the banks of the Arkansas River in 1890 by a farmer who pulled it out and took it home and turned it into a cattle trough. When he passed in the 1970s his family donated it to the museum. Other items in the building include an authentic copper moonshine still, agricultural tools, a wagon, a doctor’s office exhibit, a general store, and more. 

The museum also has the largest collection of clocks in Arkansas State Parks, the largest collection of toys in Arkansas State Parks and the most sewing items in Arkansas State Parks. 

“This started out as the first county museum in Arkansas in the 1960s,” said Jackson. “They took everything people would give them. They wanted it all. And that is how we got so much stuff.” The museum today has a narrower window of interpretation and though they still accept donations, they don’t take as many.

Also on the museum grounds are a Summer Kitchen exhibit as well as a gallows exhibit. Of note, the gallows were never used. They were located at the courthouse in DeWitt and back then just to see it was a deterrent.

“Arkansas Post Museum State Park tells the story of the spirit of Arkansas and her people,” said Jackson. “A story rich in history, culture and time-honored memories."

Arkansas Post Museum State Park is located at 5530 Hwy 165 South in Gillett. Other nearby spots to see include Arkansas Post National Memorial, a few miles east on Highway 169. While here one can learn more about the history of the Arkansas Post. To learn more about the Arkansas Grand Prairie, there is also the Museum of Arkansas Grand Prairie in Stuttgart.