Historic Washington State Park (formerly Old Washington Historic State Park) is a Arkansas state park in

Hempstead County, Arkansas Hempstead County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,609. As of the 2020 census, the population decreased to 20,065. The county seat is Hope. Hempstead County is Arkansas's fourth co ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The museum village contains a collection of pioneer artifacts from the town of

Washington, Arkansas Washington is a city in Ozan Township, Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 180 at the 2010 census, up from 148 in 2000. It is part of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city is home to Historic Washington S ...

, which is a former pioneer settlement along the

Southwest Trail The Southwest Trail was a 19th-century pioneer route that was the primary passageway for American settlers bound for Texas. History The Southwest Trail, also known as the Old Military Road, replaced the older Natchitoches Trace, which ran from t ...

. Walking interpretive tours are available throughout the 54 buildings. Washington served as a major trading point along the Southwest Trail, evolving into the Hempstead

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

and later the capital of Arkansas from 1863 to 1865 when

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

was threatened during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. The original plat of Washington was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1972 as the Washington Historic District. During the 1820s and 1830s, Washington was a stopover for travelers going to Texas. It was originally the

of Hempstead County until a new courthouse was completed in Hope, which was designated the seat of government in 1939. The park emphasizes regional 19th century history from 1824 to 1889.Brochure entitled "Programs, Tours, and Activities, Historic Washington State Park, August 7, 2008 It is located in southwestern Arkansas east of Texarkana and near the entrance to

Interstate 30 Interstate 30 (I-30) is a Interstate Highway in the southern states of Texas and Arkansas in the United States. I-30 travels from I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, and Texarkana, Texas, to I-40 in North Little Rock, A ...

History of Old Washington

The Southwest Trail ran from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Red River port of Fulton in Hempstead County some twelve miles from Washington. At the time, the Red River was the border between the United States and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. The trail was a route taken by people headed to

Mexican Texas Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially ...

. William B. Travis,

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

, and

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of ...

each separately traveled through Washington on their way to Texas. On February 14, 1820, Washington was authorized for a post office. That facility remains the oldest continuous postal operation west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

. A new postal building was dedicated on May 29, 1988, by then U.S. Senator

David Hampton Pryor David Hampton Pryor (born August 29, 1934) is an American politician and former Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. Pryor also served as the 39th Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979 ...

.''Hope Star'', Hope, Arkansas, May 30, 1988 Washington became a town on

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

's birthday, February 22, 1824. From 1863-1865, Old Washington was the site of the Confederate capitol of Arkansas after the fall of

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

to Union forces. The original Arkansas Confederate capital, where the refugee government fled, still exists in the park. It is a part of the

Camden Expedition Sites The Camden Expedition Sites is a national historic landmark consisting of nine nationally significant historic places in southwest Arkansas where events of the Union army's disastrous Camden Expedition of 1864 occurred during the American Civ ...

, named in part for the town of

Camden, Arkansas Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city is located about 100 miles south of Little Rock. Situated on bluffs overlooking the Ouachita River, the city developed ...

, in southern Arkansas. In 1958, the ''Pioneer Washington Restoration Foundation'' began preserving the unique buildings and sites that currently lie within the park. The park was established in 1965 and opened eight years later. The Southwest Regional Archives was established there in 1978. Since that time, more than 200,000 artifacts related to 19th century life have been recovered in the park and is the site of ongoing archaeological research on small-town life. The historic buildings provide excellent examples of the architectural styles popular in the 19th century

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Examples on display are Southern Greek Revival,

Federal architecture Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

, and the rough-hewn timber or brace-frame construction of the frontier. Visitors follow plank board sidewalks along streets that have never been paved. The largest

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

tree in Arkansas, planted in 1839, also graces the town. Everything within the original 1824 boundaries of the town are listed on the

Collections

Historic Washington houses the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives which is the primary center for historical and genealogical research in the region. The archives contain rare books, court documents, newspapers, census information, photographs, scrapbooks, sheet music, and assorted family histories.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entryHistoric Washington State Park
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Historic Washington State Park 1973 establishments in Arkansas Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Arkansas Heritage Trails System Arkansas in the American Civil War Museums in Hempstead County, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Hempstead County, Arkansas Open-air museums in Arkansas Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Pre-statehood history of Arkansas Protected areas established in 1973 Protected areas of Hempstead County, Arkansas State parks of Arkansas Tourist attractions in Hempstead County, Arkansas Works Progress Administration in Arkansas

History of Old Washington

Collections

See also

References

Further reading

External links