I'll STICK WITH
LITTLE ROCK

The practical folk who followed the early settlers, rather that preserve the rock as a monument blasted most of it away to prepare foundations for a railway bridge.

All airline terminals might look the same, but I had no doubt that I was in America: where else would you see a granny with a Texan hat wearing boots and have the stock market prices from the TV relayed into the loo, sorry, ‘rest room’?

After the transatlantic flight, a small commuter plane with propellers flew us North over a patchwork of fields and forests on the short hop from Houston to Little Rock.

I knew little about ‘Little Rock, Ark’ apart from a line is a song from the musical South Pacific, the civil rights struggle of ’57 and the fact that Bill Clinton had been Governor there.

The ‘little rock,’ after which it was named, marked its early location at the bend of the Arkansas River.

The practical folk who followed the early settlers, rather than preserve the rock as a monument, blasted most of it away to prepare foundations for a railway bridge.

They then developed a city that has a no nonsense commercial feel about it.

Initially it was the sternwheeler paddleboats that brought people to the then frontier town.

‘The Eagle’ was the first steamboat to arrive there in 1822 but by the 1830’s the boat traffic was a weekly occurrence and the plantations began a boom period.

It was a time when the visitor looking for lodging would be given space in a bed, rather than a room.

Costumed actors at the ‘Arkansas Territorial Restoration’ recreate the atmosphere of the fledgling town. In this museum the wooden houses of the 1800’s are set in tree shaded grounds in the heart of downtown Little Rock.

We enjoyed the pleasant to smell of the warm timbers in the old buildings as we examined quilts and watched butter being churned and wool carded and spun.

A couple of blocks away sits the ‘Old Statehouse.’ Constructed in 1836 it is the oldest standing state capitol west of the Mississippi River (it is open for free visits).
It provided the impressive background for President Bill Clinton’s election night victory speeches.

Nowadays, the business of the state is carried out in the imposing new Capitol that stands, gleaming white, across a huge, neatly trimmed lawn, from a statue to the American Soldiers lost in Vietnam.

Joining a guided tour of the bustling building I noted that while it might look traditional on the outside, the inside workings are high-tech.

The hundred senators in the House chamber each had a lap top computer on his desk and voted electronically.

You can follow their work world wide, by logging on to their web page.

The other noteworthy thing is that amid of the mature portraits of past governors hung in one of the chambers, Bill Clinton’s face certainly stands out as being the youngest.

Before becoming the 42nd president of The United States in 1993 he was the Governor for Arkansas for most of the 80’s and early 90’s.

Interest in the Clintons has certainly boosted tourism and the ‘Clinton trail’ can take you from his boyhood home in the nearby town of Hot Springs to the Governor's mansion where an imposing statue amid the azaleas is guarded by squawking peahens.

In Markham Street you can catch a trolly ride that can take you to other attractions.

Using it we visited the ‘Farmers Market’ and ‘Museum of Discovery.’ The latter was quite an exciting place and full of the happy laughter of American kids.

One of he reasons for their laughter was my hair standing on end when I was persuaded to put my hand on a massive globe that had been charged with static electricity.

There were lots of fun things to play with and an automated television studio gave you the chance of presenting a weather forecast as pictures of tornadoes and weather maps combined with your image.

In reality the weather was fair and we explored the older parts of the city and the pleasant homes and gardens in the Macarthur Park Historic District.

Many of the houses dated back to the 1840’s. There are a series of walking tours that also include the Governor’s Mansion District and the Downtown Riverfront District.

Other attractions in the city included the Decorative Arts Museum set in a fine Colonial revival style house, The Aerospace Education Centre with its Imax Cinema, The Children’s Museum, and The Arkansas Arts Centre where we had lunch at the restaurant called ‘The Vineyard in The Park. ’

Volunteer grey haired ladies served at the tables and we were made as though we were at our grannie's so we behaved and ate up our greens before heading out to North Little Rock to visit The Old Mill.

It’s a place that was seen by millions when it featured in the opening scenes of ‘Gone With The Wind. ’

It’s a perfect place for a picnic and pouring over the map while you plan just how you are going to conquer the rest of the South.

Fact File:
Little Rock C&Visitors Bureau PO Box 3232 Little Rock, AR 72203. USA.
Tel: (001) 501 376 4781

http://www.littlerock.com
http://www.arkansas.com