The Calico Rock Museum & Visitor Center will host a special Arkansas Heritage Month activity on Saturday, May 9, 2015, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event is entitled, “Through the Captain’s Eyes.”
The program will include landscape painting demonstrations, an opportunity to paint your own landscape, the portrayal of life around Calico Rock by a steamboat captain and a trading post owner, and a special program about how Calico Rock developed because of the landforms and geography in the area. The program will be presented at 12:00 noon.
As settlers traveled up the White River aboard steamboats, they encountered difficult terrain that improved at the mouth of Calico Creek. The area became a steamboat landing and allowed for good passage into countryside. They found virgin Pine timber forests and land teeming with opportunity for growing cotton.
The harvesting of timber, growing cotton, and beautiful natural resources made Calico Rock a perfect location for economic growth. By the 1940’s, Calico Rock was the largest town in Izard County and was thriving.
The heritage month activity will include a new interactive exhibit on steam boating and the development of the area. This program is sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Department of Arkansas Heritage to celebrate Arkansas Heritage Month.
For more information on this program or the Calico Rock Museum, visit the museum website at www.calicorockmuseum.com or call 870-297-6100.
