Lake Chicot ( ) is a lake adjacent to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. The lake is located on the east side of Lake Village,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

in Chicot County. It is not only the largest

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, but the largest

natural lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, formed 300 years ago by the meandering of the

. The name ''Chicot'', French for "stumpy," refers to the many

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

stumps and trees along the lake banks. The lake is approximately wide and long from end to end, forming a traditional "C" shape (when viewed from overhead, with top being north and bottom being south and the open end of the "C" facing east). The

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism (ADPHT) is an executive department of the government of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is responsible for promoting, protecting, interpreting, and managing the state's natural and cultural ...

operates

Lake Chicot State Park Lake Chicot State Park is a Arkansas state park in Chicot County, Arkansas within the Arkansas delta. The park is located along Lake Chicot, a oxbow lake that was formerly the main channel of the Mississippi River. The lake, formerly a pollu ...

on the northern end of the lake, Chicot County also operates a county park on the eastern side of the lake across from Lake Village. Located at the State Park are a bait shop, fish cleaning station, and pier. The bait shop also has boat rentals. At the state park visitors' center, there are cabins for rent and camping spots. There is also a wildlife museum, featuring creatures found in and around Lake Chicot.

Activities

Fishing In 1968 the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission,

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, and Chicot County Rural Development Authority began to restore Lake Chicot to its original state. When the dam at Cornerly Bayou was destroyed in a flood in 1927, silt and mud came pouring into the southern end of the lake. The pollution of the southern part of the lake eventually killed off the bass population. The upper part of the lake was protected by a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

, so it remained clean and protected. The groups decided to drain the water off the polluted section of the lake to compress sediment on the bottom, and plant

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

that would provide a stable environment for fish species. The southern part of Lake Chicot was restocked, and has become a flourishing ecosystem. Fish species that can be caught in the lake include: Bluegills, channel catfish, largemouth bass, hybrid striper bass, crappie, redear sunfish, and bream. Boating Lake Chicot State Park provides a very good marina for people to launch their boats. The park, which is located on the northern part of the lake, also provides boat rentals. If you do not own a boat, you can rent a 15-foot bass boat with a 9.9 HP motor. Fishing and Camping gear can easily be found at the State Park's store. A couple other popular boat launches include: Jack R. Rhodes Lake Front Park in downtown Lake Village and the Chicot County Park. Lake Chicot State Park There are 122 campsites and 14 cabins located in Lake Chicot State Park. They meet the needs of large gatherings with indoor pavilions. This park is positioned right in the path of the Mississippi Flyway, so it naturally provides an amazing bird watching opportunity. A fun activity to do at the park is hiking. The Delta Woodlands Trail is 1 mile long and classified as easy. It is surrounded by bottomland hardwoods, and squirrels love to play in the pecan trees around the trail. Birds and colorful flowers thrive throughout the bountiful area.

Physical geography

In the 1820s the land around Lake Chicot(also known as "Old River Lake") began to be filled with American settlers. Cotton farms worked by slaves were very common in the land surrounding the lake. A cotton plantation, on the shores on Lake Chicot, was named

Sunnyside Plantation The Sunnyside Plantation was a former cotton plantation and is a historic site, located near Lake Village in Chicot County, Arkansas, in the Arkansas Delta region. Built as a cotton plantation in the Antebellum South, it was farmed using the f ...

. It was created in the 1830s, and became the home of an Italian immigrant colony. In the mid 1800s Chicot County's population was 9,234, and of that number 7,512 were slaves. The biggest Civil War battle in Chicot County was fought on June 6, 1864 on the shores of Lake Chicot. In the

Battle of Old River Lake The Battle of Old River Lake, also known as Ditch Bayou, Furlough, and Fish Bayou, was a small skirmish between U.S. Army troops and Confederate troops from June 5 to June 6, 1864, during the American Civil War. A Union Army force marched into C ...

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

soldiers engaged in battle on the southern shore of the lake. The Union eventually won the battle. By moving the Confederates out of the

, travel became much safer and easier. This was considered one of Arkansas' final

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 policies ...

battles.

References

{{authority control Chicot Bodies of water of Chicot County, Arkansas Chicot Tourist attractions in Chicot County, Arkansas