Fall is finally in the air and it is time to go geocaching. There are 52 state parks with geocaches and on this trip to northeast Arkansas we will get a few. On the way to Jonesboro we stopped for our first cache at Jacksonport State Park.
I love these old county courthouses. This one was built in 1869. We started to take the small tour inside but the folks were ready to go home. Jacksonport was once a thriving river port in the 1800s but it declined when the railroad bypassed them. The county seat was moved to Newport in 1891. They have a nice little campground here where we stayed once before but this time we were headed to Jonesboro.
In Jonesboro we were delighted with Craighead Forest City Park. The $10 fee was suitable and the people were really friendly. Within ten minutes the host pulled up with a load of wood for us. Now that is a first! The large park has nice jogging trails, bike trails, fishing on the lake and so much more!
The next morning we began another state park loop. Leon stepped on a weak branch and nearly did a roll into the lake at Lake Charles State Park. The picture doesn't show what a steep incline he was on. He did find the cache but not right there! A nice hike along the Mockernut Trail was our first in quite some time!
Not far down the road we arrived at Powhatan State Park. There were several old buildings around the courthouse. John Randolph came to Arkansas from Virginia and the town Pocahontas was named such because he was a descendant. Well if we check our history we learn that Chief Powhatan was Pocahontas' father. This restored 1873 courthouse was the center of a busy port on the Black River, a major shipping and distribution point for northern Arkansas.
The displays inside tell about the history and culture of early Lawrence county and this steamboat and ferry landing. I never really thought much about making buttons from mussel shells.
We stopped by the Black River for our peanut butter and jelly picnic before venturing to more parks on the list.
