Clinton House Museum
Few people who attended the wedding in a small Arkansas home in 1975 would have anticipated that the bride and groom — Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton — would become the pre-eminent power couple of the 20th and 21st centuries. And nobody would have guessed that the home where the wedding took place would one day be a museum in their honor.
Fayetteville’s Clinton House Museum preserves the 1,800-square-foot home where the Clintons were married and lived briefly after the wedding 17 years before Bill Clinton became president of the United States. The museum contains a number of artifacts related to the Clintons’ time there and memorabilia from Bill’s first campaigns for Congress, along with copies of his political speeches.
The museum also has a timeline that documents the period that the Clintons spent in Fayetteville, plus a handmade replica of the wedding dress Hillary wore during the ceremony at the house.
“Since Hillary is now running for president, the buzz has been huge for us,” said Julie Pennington, group tour manager at the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau. “The museum has been very, very busy. We do a tour where you can have a barbecue lunch or dinner there, and then people show up in Bill and Hillary masks to greet them.”
Hip, Historic Eureka Springs
There’s no place quite like Eureka Springs, a delightfully distinctive town where the streets are laid out up and down the slopes of Ozark hills. The city’s entire downtown area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is full of local, independently owned restaurants and boutique shops.
Many groups enjoy free time to roam the streets of downtown and chat with local merchants. The area also has some signature attractions, as well as some new group experiences that are gaining ground.
The Great Passion Play, along with the accompanying Christ of the Ozarks statue, is a mainstay in Eureka Springs. The outdoor drama will celebrate its 48th anniversary this summer, and groups can experience the wonders of this large-scale production in a variety of ways.
“The Great Passion Play now has a new behind-the-scenes walking tour,” said Karen Pryor, director of sales at the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission. “It’s pretty interesting. I try to get my groups to see the play before they take the tour because if they take the tour first, they will see how some of the special effects work and then will be expecting them during the performance.”
Groups that enjoy shows also make time to take in a performance at Intrigue Theatre, where a couple performs optical illusions and brain-teasing tricks in an intimate setting.
New for groups in the area is a dinner experience at Castle Rogue’s Manor just outside the city.
“It’s a replica of a medieval castle on the banks of Table Rock Lake,” Pryor said. “You can do a tour of the castle and the gatekeeper’s cottage, and then have a catered dinner there. It’s a complete evening event.”
Frontier Fun in Fort Smith
At the southern end of the region, Fort Smith is known as a historic outpost of frontier justice. The city grew up around the fort of the same name that was established in 1817 as a government outpost in what was then the Wild West.
Today, groups can explore Fort Smith National Historic Site to see the barracks, courtroom and gallows that were used for some 80 years to govern the territory. Many also choose to experience the area’s colorful history firsthand with a performance by Miss Laura’s Players, a troupe of performers led by Carolyn Joyce, tour and travel sales director at the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau, who plays the titular role of the city’s historic madam.
“We’re in our 22nd year, and I have been portraying the character of Miss Laura for 24 years,” Joyce said. “Today, it’s a three-person skit, which is all comedy. The group has come to town for a hanging, and Miss Laura comes down to make sure that everyone knows about her business. And a huckster shows up selling a magical cure-all elixir.”
Though these experiences have been a core part of Fort Smith’s appeal for years, exciting new developments are taking place as well. Construction will begin this year on the U.S. Marshals Museum, which is set to open in Fort Smith in 2018. And a mural initiative called the Unexpected Project has brought new color to downtown buildings.
“They brought in international artists to do some unique paintings on our buildings,” Joyce said. “They’re gorgeous, and it has brought so many people downtown. There are 11 murals, and each artist has their own concept of what they wanted to paint on the buildings. It’s now included in our driving tour, and there will be more artists coming to paint murals this fall.”
For more information go to www.arkansas.com.
