Historic Fort Smith, Arkansas

While staying in Oklahoma, we drove about 60 miles to visit the historic site of Fort Smith.  It is located in the city of Fort Smith on the Arkansas River that borders Oklahoma and Arkansas.

We crossed the Arkansas River traveling on Hwy 40 through Oklahoma to Arkansas.

Fort Smith National Historic Site includes the remains of two frontier forts and the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas. 

The first Fort Smith was established to maintain peace between the local Osage Indians and the emigrating Cherokees and non-Indian settlers moving west.  The pistols and badges were some of the deputy's tools of the trade.  Deputies also carried rifles and employed guards, possemen and a cook. 

The brass key and padlock are reported to have been used in the 1870's at the federal jail at Fort Smith.  The bars are the original bars from the windows of the jail.

The restored courtroom and original desk and chair of Judge Isaac Parker.  Judge Parker who served in the late 1800's was a strong defender of justice and a supporter of Indian rights.

Pieces of dishes, cups, etc. are part of the collection of the earliest settlers at Fort Smith.

This building is the second fort's commissary and is the oldest building in the city of Fort Smith being constructed in 1838.  It was originally constructed as a bastion (a firing area of a fort) but was soon converted into a supply warehouse.

The supplies stored in the commissary were transported to troops stationed further west.  The replicas of the supplies made you feel as though you were taken back in time. 

The first Fort Smith was established in 1817 and was only 132 feet on each side.  It had blockhouses on alternate corners.  The first fort was never maintained and soon fell to ruins.  Its exact location was unknown until the foundations seen here were discovered in 1963 by archeologists.

The first Fort Smith was located on a bluff above the junction of the Poteau and Arkansas rivers as seen here.  It's always intriguing to think of the people who have stood in this same location and are part of the history of this area.

This flagpole is a replica of the flagpole that would have flown over the second Fort Smith including the 37-star flag.  Nearby an outline of stones indicate the original location of the second fort.

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail was established by Congress in 1987 to commemorate the removal of the five Eastern Tribes by the forced move to Oklahoma.  The historic trail (which is on the grounds of this national historic site) and exhibits in the museum interpret the impact of the removal on the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole.

Other historic buildings of the city of Fort Smith.  The buildings may not be from the era of both of the forts but are still quite old.  We enjoyed our day of exploration of this site and city.

A Week in Oklahoma (before tornadoes)

Whoa!!  We need to catch up.  We left Oklahoma on 4/8/11 about a week before there were tornadoes in the area we traveled.  Our next stop was at Proctor Lake in Texas where we did not have internet access and then we traveled for almost a week to reach Baker City, Oregon, where we are currently visiting family.  So now I need to catch up with our blog and will be doing that in the next few weeks so stay tuned.  We really enjoyed exploring Oklahoma and Arkansas while staying in Elk City and Checotah.  The state of Oklahoma has a side (west) that is desert and a side (east) that has lots of green fields and trees.  It the opposite of our home state of Washington.

We saw these old, deserted buildings which appeared to be a small town at one time and this large cross as we traveled on Hwy 40 to Elk City where we stayed several days.  The RV park where we stayed had a storm shelter and that was our first clue that tornadoes were common in OK.

The wind farms and railroad tracks are very common along Hwy 40 in OK.  We saw more of the desert mountains with mesas.  Hwy 40 often times travels along the route of Historic Route 66.

We visited the Historic Route 66 Museum that had vehicles from that era.  The travel trailer is like a bedroom for the RV's we see on the roads today.  This museum was one part of the National Route 66 Museum Complex in Elk City, OK.

The Farm and Ranch Museum had a huge collection of machinery that was used in early farm and ranch life in western Oklahoma.  The farm equipment of today has really progressed  from those we saw on display here.

Blacksmiths create many objects from iron or steel by forging the metal by using tools to hammer, bend and cut.  They produce things like wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agriculture implements, cooking utensils, horseshoes and weapons.  The Christmas tree was made of horseshoes.

The complex included many historic buildings.  The mercantile, church, opera house and corner gas station were just a few of them.

This mode of mail delivery was a little before Bill's time with the Post Office.

The Old Town Museum was housed in a two story Victorian house.  The lower floor was filled with memorabilia of early pioneer life. 

There was a Stars and Stripes Room and a Native American Gallery.

This decorated egg collection was amazing and we appreciated the picture and article about the woman who made these beautiful eggs.

The upper level of the museum was devoted to the early cowboy and rodeo way of life.  Many items on display were donated by the world famous Beutler Brothers Rodeo Stock Producers.  We were told that the Beutler Ranch that is just north of Elk City, OK, has been producing award winning rodeo stock since 1929.

The leather tooling articles on display were beautifully done.

We visited the Honey Springs Battlefield Historical Site near Checotah. 

During the Civil War, the Confederates established a supply depot 20 miles southwest of Fort Gibson at Honey Springs and made plans to drive the Federals from the area.  The footings of a bridge on Elk Creek and part of a building are still visible.

A major engagement was fought on July 17, 1863, by a combined total of 9,000 soldiers of Native Americans, African Americans and Anglo Americans.  The Federal victory led the way to occupation of Fort Smith in Arkansas and other Union victories in the Red River Valley.  The information boards at the historical site told of the encampments and battles areas.

Members of each of the five civilized tribes of American Indians were represented in the troops during the Civil War.  The five civilized tribes were the Chicasaw, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Seminole and the Muscogee Nations. 

Adjacent to one Civil War battlefield was a very old private cemetery.  Most of the gravesites had very crude and often unmarked stones. 

There was a new sign that gave information about people who were buried in one area of this cemetery.

Being country music fans and being in OK, we had to visit Muskogee, OK.  The lyrics of a Merle Haggard song "Okie from Muskogee" put Muskogee on the map.   We decided to visit the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame located in Muskogee.

Oklahomans have always had an impact on the world’s music culture. In 1995, recognizing the need to educate the public about the influence Oklahomans have in the music industry, the vision for the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame was born.  This effort was assisted in 1996 by the Oklahoma State Legislature’s passage of a concurrent resolution, authored by Representative Barbara Staggs and Senator Ben Robinson, which designated Muskogee as the site of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

So I might as well just put it out there, my favorite county singer is Vince Gill.  Also being an American Idol fan, Carrie Underwood is another favorite of mine.  They both happen to be from Oklahoma and are inductees at the OK Music Hall of Fame.

The museum had great displays of personal items of many singers from OK.

This is the display for Merle Haggard and here are the lyrics of the chorus of his famous song.

"And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all."

Many generations of musicians and singers were featured at the museum.  Gene Autry, Roy Clark and Patti Page were some of the older generation represented.

Garth Brooks, Reba, and Toby Keith were just a few of more recent singers represented at the Hall of Fame. 

Many donated items added interesting displays.

The African Americans and the Native Americans were honored for their contribution to the music of Oklahoma.

These pictures were taken on the green east side the state.  This side of the state had rolling green hills, lots of rivers and lakes and green pastures for cattle ranches.

We enjoy seeing the huge U.S. flags but it's disconcerting when they are being blown so hard they are straight out.  It takes a good amount of wind to do that.  As mentioned before, the RV parks had storm shelters but we aren't sure if that's reassuring or frightening.  The locals seem to take the storms at a much lesser degree of fear than those who are traveling in the area.