Boxley Valley: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Buffalo National River, National Park Service

Boxley Valley is located in the western portion of the Buffalo National River park unit in northern Arkansas. The valley extends southward from the community of Ponca along the banks of the upper Buffalo River, and it is characterized by rolling terrain of agricultural fields interspersed with homesteads and surrounded by steep forested hills. Boundaries include the valley floor and the surrounding mountain sides, creating both a natural and culturally defined area. Sub-divided, similar-sized farm plots form a linear pattern following the twin currents of the Buffalo River and Highway 43, bounded by the river and the road on one side and mountain slopes on the other. The entire period of significance for the Boxley Valley Historic District (Prehistoric-1972) begins with earliest known uses of the valley, extends through the peak of settlement and agricultural development, and ends with the establishment of the Buffalo National River when the park was authorized to acquire privately owned land within park boundaries. The Boxley Valley may provide prehistoric resources about the earliest settlers in the area, associated with periods of significance spanning 7000 B.P. to 300 B.P. Additionally, the district is significant to the Buffalo River area's history and as a cultural landscape of the Arkansas Ozarks for the period 1840-1972, reflective of settlement patterns, vernacular architecture, and landscape architecture of that time. Beginning around the 1840s, Euro-American settlers relocated to the valley from surrounding states, with the majority of settlement occurring between the 1870s and the 1930s. The valley remains one of the most significant cultural resources along the Buffalo River, a well-preserved example of a rural agricultural Ozark mountain valley. The history is reflected in the landscape through the existing farmsteads, field patterns, and transportation networks. Most developed land use occurs on the valley floor with scattered clusters of building sites, generally comprised of single family dwellings, barns, and outbuildings. The dwellings and self-sufficient farms, as well as several smaller features of the landscape such as fence rows and fields, represent the relationship between the inhabitants and the land over time. In 1980, Boxley Valley was used to develop a manual for identifying and evaluating cultural landscapes, becoming a case study in NPS planning and management. This approach included cooperation with the community, incorporation of commercial and agricultural use into the landscape, allowances for new construction, and the general principle that a cultural landscape should continue to evolve in order to remain viable. The Boxley Land Use Plan, approved April 1985, provided for the return of federal land to private ownership. There are use and occupancy tracts for residential purposes, with the majority being for agricultural purposes only. Twenty residential structures in the valley remain occupied. In addition, there are about 200 related structures, a church, a former schoolhouse, two community buildings, a former store, and two mills. While the valley remains an area of small family-operated farms, several changes have occurred to the landscape over the years: updated buildings and roads, a decrease in population, and the loss of many structures due to a combination of removal, vandalism, and the effect of natural elements. Overall, however, the landscape valley remains much as it did during its period of significance. Historic land use continues, and the natural systems, spatial organization, cluster arrangement, and structures retain integrity. The landscape reflects a continuity of use and development; it is these processes of change, along with the significant historical, architectural, cultural, and scenic resources, that make the valley significant to the Buffalo River area.

Boxley Valley: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Buffalo National River, National Park Service

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