Counties in Arkansas can have two county seats, just as counties in Mississippi can, and Prairie County, Arkansas is one of the counties in that state that has two county seats. One of them, De Valls Bluff, I have been to many times, as it is on Highway 70 between Memphis and Little Rock. It is also home to Craig’s Bar-B-Que, one of the most famous barbecue restaurants in the state. But the other county seat, Des Arc, is a town that I had never been to. So, when leaving North Little Rock after dinner, I decided to head back from Cabot along Highway 38 instead of the usual way from Little Rock. And it just so happened that I got to Des Arc right at sunset, a perfect time.
Des Arc, like its rival, De Valls Bluff, sits on the White River, but I had absolutely no idea how beautiful that river is. Highway 38 crosses it north of the downtown area, across an iconic bridge, and the Prairie County Courthouse is also directly adjacent to the river, showing how important the White River was for transportation and commerce in Arkansas’s earliest days. Although the Main Street of Des Arc shows some of the same tired desolation of many other Arkansas towns, it is hard for anything to look bad in the golden hour of sunset, and the river was truly glistening. Across from downtown is a wharf of some sort where a lot of large barges are tied up. It is unclear exactly why they are there, or what industry they were once used for. The waterfront itself is a park which includes a couple of gazebos, two boat ramps, and a biking and jogging trail. It ultimately leads down to a large restaurant, where I saw a lot of cars and trucks parked.
The restaurant, built to resemble a river boat, is called Dondie’s White River Princess, and is a beloved riverfront seafood place in Des Arc. It has both a menu and a buffet, and serves steaks as well as seafood options. On this particular evening, perhaps because of the cool breezes and beauty of the evening, people seemed reluctant to leave after their dinner, sitting on the open beds of pickup trucks and talking in small groups before going home.
I had intended, after leaving Des Arc, to shoot more photos in the historical town of Cotton Plant, Arkansas, but found when I got there that the sun had sunk too low in the sky for good shots. The town, like so many in the Arkansas Delta, has a number of old and historic buildings, some that are crumbling, and I will have to make another trip to that area.