8 Eclectic Small Towns In Arkansas
Arkansas (AR) may seem like a homogeneous state in backwoods America, but that is more a stereotype than reality. To find a diversified Arkansas, you need only to visit small towns. Those notches in the sticks were carved by everything from sardonic lumbermen to medieval reenactors to Ozark baristas to British moptops to dulcimer-strumming folk musicians. Rather than one note, such Arkansas communities have notes that stimulate the ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and fingers. You need all five senses for these eclectic eight towns.
Gurdon
It seems as if a witch cast a spell on Gurdon, Arkansas. Black cat logos affix a government-built log cabin that now serves as the headquarters and museum for the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo. Founded by traveling lumbermen stranded in town in 1892, it is a fraternal organization within the forest industry—but one rooted in irony. The founders subverted "secret society" norms by picking the most superstitious mascot, a black cat, and nonsense names like "Hoo-Hoo," "Concatenated," and "Snark," the last of which was borrowed from Lewis Carroll. Decades later, they erected an Egyptian-style bronze granite monument topped by two stone cats. It stands about a block away from the museum.
After learning about the Hoo-Hoo, bathe in the woo-woo of the Gurdon Light. This unexplained luminance follows abandoned train tracks just outside of town. Adding further strangeness, Gurdon's school mascot is the Go-Devil, but that refers more to an old-school logging sled than it does a demon.
Mountain View
Few things are more eclectic than music, and few small towns have more eclectic music than Mountain View. This Ozark enclave hosts at least 10 music festivals and a similar number of music stores/venues. In the former camp are the Arkansas Folk Festival (April), Mountains, Music & Motorcycles (August), and the Mountain View Bluegrass Festival (March and November). In the latter camp are the Dulcimer Shoppe, Ozark Folk Center, and Stone County Courthouse, whose hallowed grounds are open for guitar, banjo, and dulcimer "pickin'." Is it any wonder why Mountain View is called the "Folk Music Capital of the World"?
Lead Hill
Of all places to find a medieval castle, Lead Hill, AR, might be the most surprising. Sure, "medieval" and "castle" are both exaggerations for the Ozark Medieval Fortress since it was built in the 2010s and abandoned for lack of funding, but enough of its 13th-century aesthetic remains to amaze sightseers. Not only was it designed like a medieval castle, it was made with medieval methods and materials like hand-quarrying and horse-hauling ancient stones. The fortress was supposed to span 40,000 square feet.
Its ruins are located just west of town and surrounded by ye-olde-sounding attractions. These include Tucker Hollow, Curtis Hollow, Clinton Hollow, and the dragon-shaped Bull Shoals Lake.
Walnut Ridge
Walnut Ridge was perhaps the weirdest target for the British Invasion. In September 1964, The Beatles made two appearances in this northeastern AR settlement. They stopped at the airport on the way to and from their friend's Missouri ranch. Although that might sound anticlimactic, those brief stops were the only times all the Beatles visited Arkansas.
Walnut Ridge honors that unique history with its own Abbey Road, which is lined with Beatles cutouts and a mural/monument marking an area called Beatles Park. Beatlemania peaks in Walnut Ridge during September's Beatles at the Ridge music festival.
Ozone
Nature can be more eclectic than man. Ozone is proof of that. Sharing its name with a high-altitude layer, this petite community is domineered by high-altitude oddities of the Ozark National Forest. North of town is Glory Hole Falls, a waterfall that drops 30 feet through, rather than over, a rock, evoking a spotlight from heaven. East of town is the Arkansas Sphinx, a rocky, rugged, natural counterpart to the Great Sphinx of Giza. Inside town is Grumpy's Burger Barn, which, despite its name, should make you happy after trudging through Ozone's weird wilderness.
Murfreesboro
Diamonds of all colors, shapes, and sizes can be mined by any person for a small fee near Murfreesboro, AR. Finders are keepers, which means that regular Joes become rich Joes at Crater of Diamonds State Park. This is no publicity stunt. Though Arkansas owns Crater of Diamonds, it routinely parts with valuable gems, including a 7.46-carat diamond found by a French tourist in 2024 and a 9.07-carat diamond found by a local Arkansan in 2020. Before it became a state park, this volcanic crater spat out "Uncle Sam," the largest diamond discovered in the United States. It weighed 40.23 carats and sold for over a million dollars, adjusted for inflation.
While trying your luck at Crater of Diamonds, stay at the sparkling Diamond Oaks Inn and shop at the eclectic Hawkins Variety Store.
Jasper
Despite its small size and remote location, Jasper's attractions are known across America. The Ozark Cafe crowds downtown with three buildings full of food, drinks, live music, and unique architecture dating to 1909. As one of the oldest and liveliest cafés in the US, it has been profiled in media ranging from New York Magazine to Travel Channel's Man v. Food.
Just south of downtown is a decidedly uncrowded attraction that has been profiled far less than its namesake. It is called the Arkansas Grand Canyon and is more like a lush valley than an arid chasm. Spanning 1.3 million acres and skirted by the Buffalo National River, the Arkansas Grand Canyon is a gateway to elk viewing. Long extirpated, Arkansas' elk stem from a successful reintroduction program.
Eureka Springs
If you look up "eclectic" in the dictionary, "Eureka Springs" might be underneath. A municipal mix of postmodern art, Victorian architecture, flamboyant Christianity, exotic animals, hipster bars, and ghost tours against a rugged Ozark backdrop, Eureka Springs is deeply entrenched in Arkansas while feeling a thousand miles away.
It is easy to lose one's Arkansenses while looking through the 425 cross-crossed windows of Thorncrown Chapel, walking the "haunted" halls of the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, viewing tigers at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, or going down the rabbit hole at Missy's White Rabbit Lounge. The craziest part? Such sites are patronized by about 2,200 year-round residents. Lucky bunch.
Though diamond mining, elk viewing, and ghost hunting are wonderfully strange excursions, those are just the tip of the iceberg for an eclectic Arkansas vacation. Use Gurdon, Mountain View, Lead Hill, Walnut Ridge, Ozone, Murfreesboro, Jasper, and Eureka Springs as launch pads to the multifaceted side of Arkansas. In doing so, you will probably shatter stereotypes about the rural south. Big coastal cities are not the only strongholds of diversity.
