Brothels, balls and bridges: Ten unsung Arkansas museums

Arkansas has oodles of museums, from the typical county museum to state-of-the-art shiny pieces like the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and the inbetween, unsung important places that keep history alive more than a century later. With so many options and mortality a constant reminder that people don’t have time for everything, some great Arkansas museums get pushed to the back burner. Here’s a collection of some of the state’s underappreciated treasures.

The Sultana Disaster Museum

104 Washington St., Marion

Nearly 160 years ago, following the end of the Civil War, the deadliest maritime disaster in the country’s history occurred on the Mississippi River. Transporting nearly 2,000 more passengers than it was made for, the Sultana steamboat’s broilers suddenly burst into flames and the wreckage sank near the Arkansas bank in Marion. The Sultana Disaster Museum is currently in a modest 1,000-square-foot center, but a $6 million expansion will revamp the museum in a 17,000-square-foot space, set to open by 2025.

Ozark Ball Museum 

Email still@stillonthehill.com for appointment details. Fayetteville

Folk musician duo Donna and Kelly Mulhollan needed a retirement plan, thought having a roadside attraction would be cool and birthed the Ozark Ball Museum right in their living room in Fayetteville. When they’re not jamming together as Still On The Hill, they act as curators for their unique and charming collection of spheres, which even includes a compact ball of cat hair. You can check out the Ozark Ball Museum with your own eyes by appointment only. 

U.S. Marshals Museums

789 Riverfront Drive, Fort Smith

After 16 years and $50 million of development, the U.S. Marshals Museum is expected to open its doors in Fort Smith on July 1. The museum is shaped like a giant star, and it offers 53,000 square feet of storytelling space. Several interactive exhibits will help visitors along the journey of the U.S. Marshals’ history. The museum also has a space dedicated to those who have lost their lives while on duty.

The Gangster Museum of America

510 Central Ave., Hot Springs

Hot Springs, once a vacation destination for such mobsters as Al Capone, is home to The Gangster Museum of America. Capone is perhaps the country’s most famous gangster, as he dominated organized crime in Chicago a century ago and was among the first group of prisoners who served time in Alcatraz. Museum visitors can learn more about his story as well as other riveting tales from the 1920s-1940s.

Delta Cultural Center 

141 Cherry St., Helena

Just off the banks of the Mississippi River in Helena, the Delta Cultural Center offers a collection that highlights the culture of the Arkansas Delta through legendary blues musicians and historic dialogue. One permanent exhibit takes visitors on a walk through “A Heritage of Determination” to explore the hardships and triumphs of residents, while a temporary exhibit takes an immersive dive into the role of the Baptist Church in the lives of African Americans during the Jim Crow era and the prominence of Reverend Elias Camp Morris.

Clinton Natural Bridge Museum

1120 Natural Bridge Road, Clinton

From March to November, visitors can check out Clinton’s natural bridge and cabin museum. Tucked away in the Ozark Mountains, the 100-foot natural sandstone bridge took millions of years to form and now makes for a quaint afternoon destination. A small cabin museum also sheds a light onto what life was like many moons ago. Moonshine, wagon wheels, Arkansas-shaped rocks and more open a window to a time when a family of six could live in a single room together and depend on their fireplace for warmth.

Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo

847 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs

Is this a museum or a zoo? A zooseum? What’s more clear is that the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo is exactly what it sounds like. Visitors can get up close with baby gators, watch live feedings, hang out with miniature goats and feast their eyes on wolves, mountain lions, monkeys and more.

Miss Laura’s Visitor Center

2 North B St., Fort Smith

If you’re looking for a museum experience that transports you into an early 1900s brothel, Miss Laura’s Visitor Center is the place to be. The building was once part of a row of similar pleasure houses in Fort Smith’s old booming red light district, and Miss Laura’s operated as a house of prostitution until 1948. Decades later, the mansion was saved from demolition, remodeled and turned into something of a time capsule with walls covered in extravagant wallpaper and rooms jazzed up with antique furniture.

Southern Tenant Farmers Museum

117 S. Main St., Tyronza

Tyronza is a small Arkansas town that doesn’t have much outside of a few churches, a bank, a school, public library and the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum. The museum sits humbly on the town’s main street, neighboring a railroad track. Inside a historic building that once acted as the unofficial headquarters of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, exhibits focus on the farm labor movement in the South, including the history of sharecropping.

Plum Bayou Mounds Archaeological State Park and Museum

490 Toltec Mounds Road, Scott

Stomping around the grounds of the Plum Bayou Mounds State Park is really great — it takes visitors through places that Native Americans once used as a ceremonial space and along the cypress trees growing in the Mound Pond. Even better, the park also includes a wonderfully air conditioned, indoor museum that is just as awesome. Stories of the area and the history of prehistoric tools line the walls, while interactive animal pelts and equipment quizzes are available for those who love to touch things.