Visit Historic Washington State Park in March and you will find jonquils in bloom on the grounds of vintage homes and buildings.
WEEKEND
ROAD TRIP
T
BY DAV ID NIL L E S
his month’s Weekend Road Trip takes travelers to southwest Arkansas to follow not just one highway, but three… Highways 278, 27 and 19. The short trip will wind through Hempstead, Sevier and Pike counties in order to visit numerous sites along the way.
This southwest Arkansas adventure
(Highway 278) was where Clinton lived
A visit to Hope should begin at the
built in 1917 by Dr. H.S. Garrett. The home
begins in Hempstead County where
motorists will exit Interstate 30 at Hope. Hope Visitor Center & Museum. The museum is housed in a restored 1912
railroad depot located at 100 E. Division Street. Inside, visitors will find railroad
memorabilia, historic area photographs
and exhibits on former U.S. President Bill Clinton, a Hope native. The depot also serves as an Amtrak stop.
Leaving the Visitor Center, a “must
stop” in Hope is the birthplace home of President Bill Clinton. The two-story,
white frame house at 117 S. Hervey Street
from his birth, in 1946, until age four. The house is a National Historic Site. It was was owned by Clinton’s grandparents,
Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and it is here that he and his mother,
Virginia, lived. Guided tours are offered
every 30 minutes and a Visitors Center is located in an historic home located next
to the birthplace home. Clinton continued
to visit his grandparents at the home until his grandfather’s death in 1956.
Watermelons have long been a calling
card for the City of Hope and if you visit
the city in the month of August, be sure to
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attend the Hope Watermelon Festival. The festival features numerous activities including arts & crafts, food vendors,
entertainment and other family-oriented
attractions. Nearly 300 arts & crafts booths are on display at the festival grounds.
The Watermelon Olympics are also part
of the fun and feature a watermelon toss; a watermelon eating contest; and most fun of all, a seed spitting contest.
Leaving Hope on Highway 278, the
journey heads northward for ten miles to the town of Washington.
A visit to Historic Washington State
Park is a must. Here visitors travel back in time to the 19th century and stroll
the plank board sidewalks as they tour
the historic public buildings and former residences. Established on George
Washington’s birthday in 1824, the town of Washington today is one of America’s