Natural state

Daytripping in Northwest Arkansas

There are no shortage of great day trip destinations in Oklahoma, but when was the last time you paid a visit to our neighbors to the east? 

The northwest Arkansas metro area stretches from Fayetteville in the south to Bentonville in the north. The cities are connected by four-lane highways lined with name-brand hotels, restaurants and retail offerings, which makes it easy for visitors to get around town and shop for whatever they forgot to pack.

But the fun starts at the exit signs, with each city offering a scenic downtown and attractions that cover everything from the Civil War to modern art.

Daisy Airgun Museum — Rogers

Ralphie yearned for only one thing for Christmas: the “official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.”

Visitors to the Daisy Airgun Museum in Rogers, learn that the popular BB gun did not actually have a compass or sundial in its stock. But Daisy saved the day and made several prop versions
of such a rifle for the 1983 movie, A Christmas Story.

The nonprofit museum, housed in an 1896 building in Rogers’ downtown historic district, opened in 2000 and is staffed primarily by Daisy retirees. It offers a history of air guns in general, with examples dating back to the 1600s, as well as the rather amazing story of how a metal air rifle given as a premium to Michigan windmill customers grew into the market-dominating Daisy Manufacturing Company. The factory moved to Rogers
in 1958.

The Inn at Carnall Hall — Fayetteville 

Arguably the best place to stay in Fayetteville is the Inn at Carnall Hall, a boutique hotel on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The spacious brick building was the state’s first women’s dormitory when it opened in 1905. It later became a fraternity house, then housed university offices and classrooms. In 2001 it was spared from demolition through a public-private partnership, and the hotel opened in 2003 after a $6.3 million renovation.

There’s a wrap-around porch with access from the lounge, a fabulous restaurant and well-appointed shared spaces throughout. The Inn is popular with Razorback fans and visiting parents, so early booking is recommended.

Not far from campus is the Clinton House Museum, where Bill and Hillary were married and set up housekeeping while they taught at the University of Arkansas. Ever the scholars, they devoted one room of their small home to a library and another to an office. There’s a replica of Hillary’s Gunne Sax wedding gown, purchased at a department store after her mother insisted she at least make an effort to look like a traditional bride. Take the guided tour to hear the wallpaper story.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art — Bentonville

Walton philanthropy is evident all across the town of Bentonville, but the high point is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Even people who don’t consider themselves great students of art recognize such names as Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, John Singer Sargent and Georgia O’Keeffe, and their paintings hang in the galleries that surround two spring-fed ponds on the 120-acre campus.

The excellent restaurant, Eleven, is in a glass-enclosed bridge overlooking the ponds, and the gift shop features pottery and other creations by regional artists including several Oklahomans.

Admission is free except to temporary exhibits. Check the website, as the museum is closed on Tuesdays and hours vary with the seasons.

Call ahead to reserve a spot on a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright house, as capacity is limited. Known as the Bachman-Wilson House, it was built in 1956 near the Millstone River in New Jersey and moved to Crystal Bridges in 2015 as the house was in danger of flooding.

The house is an example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, a word derived from “United States of North America” for the architecture he developed during the Great Depression to create homes within the financial reach of middle-class families.

Pea Ridge National Military Park

Ten miles northeast of Bentonville is the Pea Ridge National Military Park, where more than 23,000 soldiers fought on March 7–8, 1862, a turning point of the war in the West.

The 4,300-acre park is one of the most intact Civil War battlefields, and the east overlook offers an unobstructed view of the level ground where the Union Army faced Confederate troops, including two regiments of Cherokee Indians, as well as the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard.

A film at the visitor center provides an overview of the battle, which dashed Confederate hopes of occupying Missouri and secured Missouri for the Union. Information markers are found at 11 stops along the seven-mile driving tour of the battlefield area.  Federal trenches can still be seen on the bluff above Little Sugar Creek, the final stop on the driving tour.