Editor’s note: in the earliest days of The Royal Tour, I went to Arkansas to see Hot Springs National Park. I spent a single night in Little Rock, saw Central High School, wrote nothing about it, and moved on. I am so glad that writer Sam Spector spent a weekend there now to right this wrong on my part, because it seems like a cool place. For more of Sam’s writing, click here to visit his index page.

I recently went to Little Rock, Arkansas for a work trip. Arkansas was a state that I had never been to, and so I figured that while I was there, it would be great to explore its capital and largest city. In Little Rock, I found a city full of some of the warmest, friendliest people I have experienced anywhere in America. While other American cities that I have visited may not be on the mind of a tourist which offer so much to see and do, like Cincinnati, Little Rock is a town with some sites and charm, but not necessarily enough to fill an entire weekend of sightseeing or a family vacation destination. However, that is not a knock on it, as if you happen to end up there for work, as I did, or if you are visiting the Natural State, as Arkansas is known, for its well known beautiful places of Hot Springs National Park (a resort, spa town with hiking only an hour from Little Rock) or northern Arkansas’s Ozarks or the town of Bentonville, which has had a giant boost as the headquarters of Walmart, stopping in Little Rock for a day or two will give you a fun adventure.

When I flew into Little Rock, I landed at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. Despite Arkansas becoming a solid red Republican state in the past couple decades, people forget that not only is Little Rock a liberal city, but that the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, was born in Hope, Arkansas, and served as Arkansas’ attorney general in the 1970s, before serving as governor for all but 2 years between 1979 and 1992. As a result, there is much in Little Rock named for the Clintons, and it is also the home of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, where President Clinton has an apartment on top that he until recently stayed in monthly while overseeing his center. The library is surrounded by a beautiful 17-acre park that goes alongside the Arkansas River, which cuts through the town. On the grounds was a tree that was produced as a sapling from the tree outside the attic where Anne Frank hid during World War II and that she wrote about in her journal. Sadly, the tree died but it is likely that a statue of it will be put in its place, and the spot is surrounded with stories of the history of racism and injustice that took place in Arkansas throughout history to make locals think about how we prevent history from repeating itself and how we must fight for justice everywhere. The exterior of the building is modernist, and was built to be environmentally friendly as it juts out over the Arkansas River, designed to look like a bridge, as President Clinton made a tagline of his presidency “building a bridge to the 21^st century”.

Next to the library is the old Rock Island Railroad Bridge, a red railroad bridge that pedestrians can now use to walk across the river. A red brick train station next to the library is now the home of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, the Clinton Public Policy Institute, and the Clinton Foundation.

Inside the library there are replica and original items from the Clinton presidency, such as his actual Cadillac One limousine and replicas of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, as well as a movie theater to watch a biographical film on the president. The Clinton Library is the largest presidential library in terms of square footage, with a 68,698 square-foot floor plan containing millions of documents and emails that you can look through. It is particularly fun to see the binders of President Clinton’s daily agenda, where you can look at what was on his schedule any of day of his presidency (with some caveats I will mention). The museum’s main hall is designed to look like the famous Long Hall in the library of Dublin’s Trinity College. It highlights President Clinton’s achievements, especially economically, as president. The upper floor shows many of the president’s personal items, such as gifts he received during his presidency. I have mixed feelings when it comes to presidential libraries; on one hand, they are interesting to see what presidents accomplished, what was going on in the world during their presidencies, and also how presidents wish for their legacies to be remembered. Yet, the challenge I have is that last part, they are often designed on how that president wishes his legacy to be remembered and are propaganda museums that promote the president’s image. This was certainly true of the Clinton Library as well, which largely glossed over his impeachment and the Lewinsky scandal, with brief mentions of the impeachment and greater focus on how he was acquitted and apologized for a “mistake he made in his personal life”. The impeachment is depicted as a partisan political attack to try to ruin Clinton’s presidency, since Republicans knew they could not beat him in the polls. The caveat that I was referring to above was that on the days where President Clinton was giving his depositions to Ken Starr’s investigation as simply an “off day” for the president. I also did not see references to President Clinton’s controversial pardons that were seen as corrupt on his last day in office. While the library highlights Clinton’s extraordinary achievements, the scandals are glaringly minimized.

Further down President Clinton Avenue you hit Little Rock’s River Market district alongside the Arkansas River. This is the primary entertainment area of the town with restaurants, bars, parks, and museums. Trolleys go through the streets and there is definitely a charm to the district, and you get also get some calm by going to the Julius Breckling Riverfront Park or the ATA Martial Arts International Headquarters’ Chinese garden. In the district there is a large public hall that in the morning and early afternoon has a farmer’s market and restaurant stalls. The highlight for me was a Cajun seafood restaurant called Flying Fish. These types of restaurants are always a highlight for me when visiting the South. The casual place has a large array of fish to choose from that they will fry up in different styles for you, as well as other Southern classics like po’ boy sandwiches and hush puppies. Aside from the food, there is a quirky highlight to the restaurant and that is that it is the self-proclaimed home of the world’s only “Big Mouth Billy Bass Adoption Center.” Like many families twenty years ago, my parents bought the trendy and tacky mounted bass that sang and flapped its tail when you pushed a button. And, like most families who purchased the Big Mouth Billy Bass, the novelty and humor of it rubbed off after about 20 minutes, and it became a nuisance. Flying Fish has provided a home for these unwanted disturbances by hanging hundreds of the bass that were “given up for adoption” on their walls with the name and date of the person who donated them beneath.

Driving through Little Rock, make sure you go past the state capitol and also the city’s oldest neighborhood, the Quapaw Quarter, with historic estates. Aside from the Clinton Presidential Library, the main attraction in Little Rock is likely the Little Rock Central High School Museum and National Historic Site. Central High School is still in existence and is a massive high school with over 2000 students, so you cannot go into the school itself; however, across the street is a small museum run by the National Park Service about the Little Rock Crisis and the Little Rock Nine. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in its historic Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. In 1957, nine African American students enrolled at Little Rock Central High School, despite facing harassment and attacks (including one who had acid thrown in her face) from the white students and locals there. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the nine from entering the school leading to a standoff with the federal government, which eventually caused President Dwight Eisenhower to intervene and send federalized Arkansas National Guard troops as well as the 101^st Airborne Division to protect the nine students and allow them to attend class. The museum, while not large, educates about the standoff, the incredible bravery and resilience of the nine, and how this effected change. A gift shop on site sells t-shirts with pictures of Minnijean Brown-Trickey, who was expelled after dropping a bowl of chili that splattered on white students harassing her, that proudly says “I was expelled.” The notoriety and response of the incident led to schools everywhere implementing desegregation. A couple of years ago in Selma, Alabama, I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Brown-Trickey and I shook her hand and thanked her for what she had done to change our country; she looked at me with a furrowed brow and responded, “Changed the country? Honey, I changed the world.” She is right.

When asking locals what else I should see in Little Rock, I was given two surprising answers: a purse museum and the “Big Dam Bridge”. With the former, Little Rock is home to what is now the only purse museum in the world. The ESSE Museum has a gift shop full of fun and unique purses, which make great gifts, but also has a museum that displays purses by decade in the 20th century. While you may, as I was, be thinking, “Do I want to see a bunch of purses? Why is this a museum?”, it is actually a quirky take on history. Not only do you see the evolution of purses, but also the history of American women in the 20th century based on the contents of what would be in them and the styles. For example, in the 1980s, you started to see women’s handbags be designed more for working women, economical options during the Depression and World War II, and items that show the social issues women faced during each decade. It was fascinating and entertaining.

The Big Dam Bridge was originally going to be called the Murray Bridge, but while it was debated being built, a judge stated “We’re going to build that dam bridge”, leading to locals calling it the “Big Dam Bridge” as a pun on the mild expletive. It is just north of Little Rock and at 90 feet in height and 4,226 feet in length, it serves as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. The bridge goes over the Arkansas River and also a dam and locks, where you can still watch cargo riverboats, something we more associate with the past, going through them. The bridge is also surrounded by luxury large homes, forest, and beautiful views of both the river and mountains including the state’s iconic Pinnacle Mountain.

While Little Rock might not be one of those cities that tourists flock to, combining it with Hot Springs National Park will lead to a long weekend full of good food, good people, beautiful nature, and some interesting historical attractions and will definitely be an enjoyable 3 to 4 days. I am glad that I went, and next time I go, I am bringing my Big Mouth Billy Bass with me to start a new life with its brethren.

Like it? Pin it!