Arkansas Post National Memorial: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Arkansas Post National Memorial
Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2013. Arkansas Post National Memorial: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Arkansas Post National Memorial. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 500002. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska / CRIS-CL Database
The Arkansas Post National Memorial encompasses 389.2 acres along the southern portion of a riparian peninsula located approximately eight miles south-southeast of Gillett, Arkansas. The landform is positioned along the northern bank of the Arkansas River at the southern-most section of Arkansas County and was created by the confluence of the Little Post Bayou, the Moore Bayou, and the larger river drainage area. Historically, the peninsula was marked by highly defined river bluffs, delineating a clear line between the river and elevated surrounding terraces. Today, the area around the site is primarily rural and consists of agricultural fields with wooded marshes and swampland near and within the Memorial Unit boundaries. Due to the rich riparian landscape and slightly elevated topography, the landscape within and around the Memorial Unit boundary functioned as a strategic settlement zone supporting government, and commercial activities associated with the early-colonial period, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. The site’s prominence as the first zone of higher ground encountered when ascending the Arkansas River from the Mississippi River created a cultural landscape defined over time by a dynamic relationship with the Arkansas River basin, which is characterized by fluvial terrace treads and highly defined river bluffs. Five significant periods of development are associated with the Memorial. These periods are defined by events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of history at the national level under the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) criterion A. These periods are: 1686-1803 for colonial history; 1804-1855 for association with early-American history; 1855 -1865 for association with the Civil War period; 1866-1929 for association with reconstruction and resettlement; and, 1929-1963 for association with the state park era.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2013-09-06
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- ARPO , MWR
- Keywords
- American Revolution, Archeology, Arkansas, Arkansas Post Canal, Civil War, Colonial Exploration and Settlement, colonial history, Conservation, Early Military Landscapes, earthworks, Ecores Rouges, Establishing Intercultural Relations, Expansion and Imperialism, Exploration-Settlement, Fort Desha, fur trade, Indigenous American Populations, Landscape Architecture, master planning, Military, New Deal, Politics-Government, Post of Arkansas, Reconstruction, Recreation, Revolutionary War, rife pits, riparian, river bluff, state park, Transportation