Southwest | Arkansas State Parks

You are welcome at Arkansas State Parks. We have one of the most pristine state park systems in the nation to enjoy. In order to protect and make sure your state parks are available for generations to come, it’s important to stay on designated trails, pick up after yourself and don’t litter (cigarette butts are litter), and recreate responsibly. Recreating responsibly has...

Family picking up trash at Pinnacle Mountain State Park

Spend Green Friday Outside

Oct 2021

Green Friday is a day to choose to be outside. Let us know how you spent Green Friday on social media — tag us and use the hashtags #ARStateParks, #GreenFriday, and #OptOutside.

Family hiking at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area in the fall. Mom has baby in front carrying backpack and the dad is carrying another small child.

Photo Essay: Black Gold In 1920s South Arkansas

The oil-rich town of Smackover is in the heart of the Arkansas oil fields. The 1920s south Arkansas oil boom brought danger and destruction, but also a sense of opportunity and change that has lasted through the generations. Today, one mile south of town is the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources, which aims to connect people to the lasting cultural and economic impacts...

In a big, open field a wooden derrick spewing oil that covers a large flooded cotton field and a cloud of oil in the air to the right of the derrick.

Self-Guided Tour of Historic Washington State Park

Click below to download a self-guided walking tour of Historic Washington State Park, which lets you explore Washington, Arkansas, and its history at your own pace. This historic park makes up the largest collection of 19th-century buildings in the state. You can walk on the same ground and see many of the same sights as people in 19th-century Washington, Arkansas.

Visitor Finds 4.49-Carat Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Monika Rued

It was all treat, no trick this Halloween for Steven McCool of Fayetteville, Ark., at Crater of Diamonds State Park. The 34-year-old found the third-largest diamond of the year. He found a 4.49-carat yellow diamond.

Steven McCool's 4.40-carat yellow diamond

Sifting Gravel for Diamonds

Oct 2020

Greetings from Crater of Diamonds State Park! Visitors at the Crater of Diamonds get to do something here they can’t do at most other state parks – take the rocks and minerals they find home with them. There are specific rules regarding the type and amount of materials that can be removed from the park. They not only benefit the park but also the thousands of people who...

Sifted gravel from Crater of Diamonds State Park

The Most Colorful Time of the Year

Oct 2020

Greetings from Crater of Diamonds State Park! Over the next few weeks, visitors will travel to Arkansas to enjoy cooler weather and beautiful fall foliage. Though the colors of autumn are fleeting, you can collect many colorful minerals at Crater of Diamonds State Park to enjoy all year long!

Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast at Historic Washington State Park

Sep 2020

Monika Rued

Want to stay in a unique historic place? Historic Washington State Park has the perfect place. The Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast is a jailhouse that has been renovated with all the modern amenities. The original jail was completed in 1873. It was a brick, one-story building with four jail cells. It housed criminals for offenses such as burglary, forgery, assault, assault...

Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast at Historic Washington State Park

Visitor Finds 9-Carat Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Sep 2020

Kevin Kinard from Maumelle, Ark., first visited Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park on a school field trip in second grade. Kinard has visited the Crater of Diamonds fairly regularly over the past several years, despite having never found a diamond. That changed Labor Day 2020 when he found a 9.07-carat diamond.

Kindard Friendship Diamond next to a quarter for scale

The One-Hour Diamond Search

Sep 2020