Louisiana Purchase State Park

The Louisiana Purchase State Park is located in the U.S. state of Arkansas at the intersection of County boundaries of Lee County, Monroe County and Phillips County. The State Park is accessible via Interstate 40 from Brinkley, U.S. Highway 49 and then the Arkansas State Route 362.

In 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, the former French colony of Louisiana, acquired by the United States for 15 million dollars. The then U.S. territory between East Coast and Mississippi River was thereby extended to the Rocky Mountains around 2,144,476 km ² of land, which is almost doubled. The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 to explore the Missouri River upstream. President James Monroe ordered in 1815 during the survey of the new areas. As a starting point for surveying a point has been established, at which cross the longitude of the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi River and the latitude of the Federation of Saint Francis River with the Mississippi River.

At this intersection, the surveys in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and parts of South Dakota -related. Over time, got the exact point in oblivion and was only rediscovered in 1921 during survey work of the County 's borders. In place of the rubber trees that had been planted in 1815 to mark 1926 a 2 m high granite monument was set and accessed 1961, the Louisiana Purchase State Park furnished.

Due to the swampy forest in the headwaters of Little Cypress Creek, a boardwalk was built, which passes the memorial stone and is equipped with panels on the history and ecology. The way were renovated on the occasion of the 200 anniversary celebrations in 2002 and the panels adds. The Louisiana Purchase State Park was recognized on April 19, 1993 as a National Historic Landmark and is listed with the number 72,000,206 in the National Register of Historic Places.

The 15 -acre State Park is located in the bogs of an intact source region so that a rare habitat type. There are few areas of deep water and rarely dried sections in it. With the exception of the 300 m-long boardwalk is the wetland still largely in the same condition as at the beginning of the early 1800s. Among other things, there are growing bald cypress (Taxodium distichum ), water tupelo, ( Nyssa aquatica ), American Black willow ( Salix nigra) and American persimmon ( Diospyros virginiana). Basket Oak ( Quercus michauxii ) and Populus heterophylla complement the trees.

Beaver, raccoon, American mink, opossums and marsh rabbit inhabit water and trees as well as the Bird -voiced Treefrog (Hyla avivoca ), while lemon Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, Pileated Woodpecker, Barred Owl can also be found in the air. Before snapping turtle and American alligator should beware as well as from the toxic diamond swimming snakes ( Nerodia rhombifer ) and Wassermokassinottern.