WALKING TOUR OF FAYETTEVILLE
We have lived in Fayetteville for about 7 years now and we finally took the time to do the historical walking tour around downtown Fayetteville, AR.
The tour starts at "The Square" and was quite a fun and educational outing!
Finishing up a scout merit badge helped us push to take this outing!
Rachel stands outside the "Old Post Office" that was built in 1909. The first government building to occupy this land was a courthouse that was built in 1837 at the cost of $49.75.
This is the Old Washington County Courthouse that was built in 1904 of native stone that was hand-cut and hauled to this site by ox wagons.
Daniel stands by a marker that marks the location of the original Butterfield State Line Depot. It ran between St. Louis and San Francisco from 1858 to 1861. The cost to ride that stage was $200 in gold.
David stands by a plaque honoring Archibald Yell, one of the best known men of this area. Yell came to Fayettevile in 1833 after being appointed a judgeship by President Andrew Jackson. He was then the first congressman from Arkansas and the 2nd governor of Arkansas.
This painting is one of Fayetteville's largest and most important and it is located in the Old Washington County Courthouse. It depicts uniformed soldiers from WWI, preceding wars and some key historical events. The mural was paid for by 10 cent contributions from school children and was sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
We had an unexpected treat as we explored. The kids found the door to the "Archives" unlocked and we went in and there were a few wonderful ladies there who were thrilled to give us a tour!!! They took us back into room after room that are sealed behind sets of double vault doors. These rooms contain wall after wall of old documents from our communities history! It is absolutely amazing! It was like something you see if a movie! It was "jaw dropping" for me as I thought of the family history extraction that could be done!!!
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| Bethany, Rachel, Mason, David, Chase, and Daniel |
What is this???? I went through a description with
Rachel of how a typewriter works!!
This is an old "Jury Selector" box that was used to randomly select folks for jury duty. It was used up until about the mid 1900's is I remember correctly. Longer than I expected it would be used.
Benjamin really thought the huge double vault doors were impressive!
This is the oldest book of records that they county owns and it dates back to 1834. The first item logged was a passing of ownership of slaves from a father to his children.
The nice ladies in the archives room found a security guard who let us in to see the original courtroom that has fairly recently been redone. They still hold court hearings there today, though it wasn't in session on this specific day.
Mason is the judge!!!
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| Daniel takes a turn saying "Order in the Court!" |
What a jury!!! They look tough to me!
The location of the First Christian Church was built in 1913 on the site of the original site of "Arkansas College" which was chartered in December of 1852 and awarded the first collegiate degrees in the state of Arkansas. The college was burned to the ground during the Civil War.
The intersection of College and Dickson is the site of "The Battle of Fayetteville."
The Headquarters House was a family home that was also used as the Headquarters for first the Union and then the Confederate Armies
during the Civil War.
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| Though it is mid-January, the bulbs think it is spring because it has been so warm. |
After our walking tour, we ended up back at the square and
we had a picnic lunch!
What a treat to be able to have a picnic lunch in January!
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