Arkansas State Parks Trip Ideas

Waymon Cox

Greetings from Crater of Diamonds State Park! We have all seen changes this year due to COVID-19, and many of us are still adjusting. Guidelines and restrictions—detailed on the park’s website at https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park--have been put in place to help protect our visitors and staff. With the many disruptions we have faced this...

Crater of Diamonds State Park Search Field with family searching for diamonds in the background

Photo Essay: Alligator Antics

Ivory Detter

Alligators can be observed during the warm months of the year at Millwood State Park in the southwestern region of Arkansas, and they are an important part of the aquatic habitat here. Follow along as we go on a virtual alligator spotting adventure! All of the alligators in the following pictures have made Millwood State Park their home.

Two Visitors Find Large Diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Waymon Cox

Confirmation of two large diamonds found at Crater of Diamonds State Park made for a busy week last week at the park, one of the only places in the world where the public can search for diamonds in their original volcanic source.

Serendipity diamond next to quarter for scale

Photo Essay: Branches in Time

Leita Spears

Historic Washington State Park in southwest Arkansas is well known as a historic village filled with preserved 19th-century homes and buildings. Besides these structures, you can also walk through town and explore a unique collection of living witnesses to the history of Washington: its many historic and champion trees.

Giant magnolia tree at Historic Washington State Park

Video: Reading of the Declaration of Independence

Josh Williams

In the 19th century, in many towns across the U.S., one of the common things done on the 4th of July was to hold a reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was a regular tradition here in Washington, Arkansas. We continue that same tradition today at Historic Washington State Park by reading the declaration and remembering the founding of our nation, the United...

Mayflies: Nuisance or Nutrient?

Sasha Bowles

Fishing is a favored pastime at Lake Dardanelle State Park, making people the top of this food chain. We love to catch fish, but often don’t think of all the creatures it took to build that strong healthy fish on the end of our fishing line. Mayflies are an essential part of the food chain that keeps the fishery at Lake Dardanelle State Park healthy. In this photo essay...

Visitor Finds 2.23-Carat Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Waymon Cox

The summer of 2020 started with a sparkling surprise for one western Arkansas woman. Fifty-six-year-old Beatrice Watkins, of Mena, visited Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park, in Murfreesboro, on Saturday, June 20, with her daughter and granddaughters. Within 30 minutes of arriving, she had unknowingly picked up the largest diamond found there, so far this year.

Lady Beatrice brown diamond next to a quarter to show scale

Connecting to a Prehistoric People

Amy Griffin

Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park in Scott, Arkansas is a unique American Indian mound complex that was the cultural center of the Plum Bayou people, who interacted with their environment and each other much as we do today. The Plum Bayou people are a group of prehistoric American Indian mound builders who lived here between 650 – 1050 AD. They built one of the...

Sun setting over a mound at Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park

Photo Essay: DeGray in Bloom