Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park

About the Park:

Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park, a National Historic Landmark, preserves theinitial point from which land surveys of most of the Louisiana Purchase Territory were made. This 37.5-acre park also protects a headwater swamp - a vanishing natural environment once common in the mid-South.A 950-foot barrier-free boardwalk, with wayside exhibits, provides access to the granite monument marking the initial point of the survey of what became 13 states.Along the boardwalk you will see a variety of animal and plant life. The bright yellow and gray prothonotary warbler is likely to be the most visible bird. Others you might see or hear are: pileated woodpecker,green heron, and wood duck. Swamp cottonwood is found at several points along the boardwalk; it is rarely found elsewhere in Arkansas. Two of the most common trees, indicators of a true swamp, are bald cypress and water tupelo. Several species of reptiles can sometimes be spotted from the boardwalk and the rare bird-voiced treefrog might be heard from high in the treetops.