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Arkansas:
Lake Chicot State Park Insider
Information.
By Jim Taylor, Travel Writer
 Lake
Village in the southeast corner of Arkansas lies a prominent –
though under appreciated – natural wonder: North America’s
largest ox-bow lake. Shaped like a “C,” it is 20 miles long
and at some places just shy of a mile wide. The park has lately
been undergoing a face-lift of substantial proportions and the
result is ideal for families.
An
expanded Visitor Information Center and abundance of information
about both the natural and social history of the area. Four
renovated, lakefront cabin duplexes are now suitable for use by
persons with physical handicaps and offer fireplaces. The marina
store has been spruced up and a fuel dock added. And, a
barrier-free fishing pier, a courtesy dock, and a barrier-free
restroom have been constructed.
Within the
next few years, a complete renovation of the park swimming pool
and its bathhouse, remodeling of the park’s three wood-side
cabin duplexes to include fireplaces and whirlpool baths,
campground improvements, and road and drainage work are expected
to be completed. On the distant horizon, Hunter said, is the
construction of a 60-room lodge.
The beauty of
Arkansas’s largest natural lake continues to serve as one of the
park’s main attractions. Sunsets often blaze dazzling colors
across the open water and the big sky afforded by the area’s
flat terrain. In late summer, small cypresses across from the park
sometimes appear as if covered with snow as hundreds of wading
birds, including great and snowy egrets, fly in to roost.
Warm-season, evening barge tours of a swampy area at the lake’s
north end reveal alligators, owls, raccoons and other wildlife.
Hunter said
the lake’s fishing and birding opportunities draw many visitors
to the park. “Fishing is what made Lake Chicot what it is,” he
said. For birdwatchers, the area produces late summer sightings of
wood storks and other species rarely seen in Arkansas, while
winter draws bald eagles and abundant waterfowl to the area.
The park’s
annual interpretive activities capitalize on the area’s
wildlife, as well as its historical and musical legacies. Lake
barge tours and van tours to area birding hotspots are offered at
various times throughout the year.
A Father/Son
Civil War Campout is scheduled for June 15-16 and the Civil War
Weekend on October 5-6 will observe the 138th
anniversary of the nearby Battle of Ditch Bayou. Arkansas’s last
major Civil War engagement was fought on June 6, 1864 as federal
troops fought to dislodge Confederate forces that had been
harassing traffic on the Mississippi. The battlefield is one of
several sites listed in a self-guided Civil War tour detailed in a
brochure available at the visitor center.
The area’s
blues and gospel music heritage will be celebrated during the
park’s Jammin’ in the Delta Blues Festival on June 22 and
Gospelfest on September 21.
“We try to
cater to just about everybody’s needs who come here,” John
Morrow, the park interpreter, said of the park’s programs.
Also
available at the visitors center is a brochure for a self-guided
“Levee Tour,” much of which runs atop the embankments that now
protect nearby Lake Village and the surrounding area from the
Mississippi’s floods. Tour highlights include waterfowl and
wading birds in the water-filled borrow pits from which dirt for
the levees was taken, the remains of a Native American mound, a
site called Whiskey Chute where river pirates once roamed and a
visit to the Lake Chicot Pumping Plant. Housed in a building eight
stories tall and one-and-a-half times the size of a football
field, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plant prevents muddy
farmland runoff from befouling the lake.
Hunter said
Lake Chicot State Park is popular for reunions. “We like to
say,” he added, “we’re just a country park but we’re going
to treat you right. Once we get visitors here, we generally have
no problem getting them to come back.”
At Arkansas’s 11th
state park, Lake Chicot, stately cypresses and willows frame
scenic vistas of broad water unexpected in the flat terrain of the
Delta. Cabins, campsites, a store and marina with boat and other
watercraft rentals, fishing piers, a swimming pool, pavilions and
picnic areas, trails and interpretive programs are among the
park’s recreational assets. For additional information,
including other events at the park, call 1(870) 265-5480, lakechicot@arkansas.com
or www.ArkansasStateParks.com.
Condensed from
a feature provided by the Arkansas Department of Parks &
Tourism info@arkansas.com
Additional
ideas for families include a visit to Norfolk National Fish
Hatchery where families can learn how millions of trout are grown.
Tours allow visitors to see the various stages of trout life, from
the egg to the “big ol’ fish.” Kids are welcome to fish for
rainbow trout at the hatchery’s Dry Run Creek throughout the
year. This hatchery is located along Ark. 177, at the base of
Norfork Dam at Salesville. 1(870) 499-5255 or http://southeast.fws.gov/norfork
Related
Articles:
Arkansas- A New Place for Kids.
Arkansas- Scott Valley Ranch.
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