Category: Arkansas
The Place Where the Diamond Rush Started
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/30Jun25-Crater-of-Diamonds-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When you think of state where you can find volcanoes you probably aren’t thinking of this spot. However, it’s this…
The Worst Disaster in U.S. Maritime History
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/27Jun25-Sultana-Museum-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It remains the worth disaster in U.S. maritime history. Add to the tragedy the fact that many of the dead…
The Tragedy of the Steamboat Sultana
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/26Jun25-Sultana-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It was the early morning hours of April 27th, 1865. The steamboat Sultana was overcrowded, bearing a load of souls…
Returning Civil War Prisoners to Home
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/25Jun25-Sultana-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)As the Civil War drew to a close in April of 1865, there was a massive job to return prisoners…
Sawdust City, Arkansas
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/13Jun25-Sawdust-City-Arkansas.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)This town was founded on sawdust – in some cases quite literally. While the mill and the homes are gone,…
The Parkin Archeological Park
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/12Jun25-Parkin-Archeological-State-Park-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)At the Parkin Archeological Park in Arkansas you can see a piece of wood that is believed to be a…
A Preserved Community Near Memphis
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/11Jun25-Parkin-Archeological-State-Park-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Long before European explorers first arrived in North America, Native American villages dotted the landscape of present day Arkansas. One…
Making Our Own Weapons
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/01/04Feb25-Springfield-Armory-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When the colonies declared there independence from England, they had to fight a war using guns mostly made in other…
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/01/03Feb25-Eureka-Springs-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine a seven story hotel in which each floor is a ground floor. We’ll take you to the town where…
A Place Where Water is More Than Water
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/01/31Jan25-Eureka-Springs-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)If you think water is just water, then don’t tell the folks in this small town, because it’s the water…
Home of the Bowie Knife
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/04/10Apr24-Bowie-Knife.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Sometimes people will travel a long way to get exactly the item they desire. That was the case for this…
Historic Washington, Arkansas
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/04/09Apr24-Historic-Washington-Arkansas.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)As the city of Washington, D.C. was growing into its role as the nation’s capital, another city of Washington was…
The Haircut Heard Around the World
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/03/27Mar24-Elvis-Barbershop-Ft-Smith-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Next to Delilah’s shearing of strongman Samson, it’s perhaps the most famous haircut in history. Many young ladies wondered if…
Elvis Joins the Army
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/03/26Mar24-Elvis-Barbershop-Ft-Smith-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)From 1958 to 1960, Elvis Pressley was part of the active military. He spent time at Ft. Hood, Texas and…
Antarctic Scientists and Fort Smith, Arkansas
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/02/09Feb23-US-Marshal-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Who makes sure that the scientists of Antarctica are accountable to the law? It may sound like a strange question,…
A Museum Dedicated to Federal Law Enforcement
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/02/08Feb23-US-Marshal-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)They are the longest tenured federal law enforcement group in the United States. Their important work has played a critical…
One Historic Place
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/12/19Dec23-Miss-Lauras-Brothel-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It may be one of the most unique businesses to ever be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. …
Laura’s Little Business in Ft. Smith
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/12/18Dec23-Miss-Lauras-Brothel-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Laura Ziegler came to Ft. Smith, Arkansas from Vermont. She was only in this city for about a decade, then…
Same Old Sam
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/01/18Jan23-Sam-Walton-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)He was one of the wealthiest men in America. Yet almost everyone that ever worked with him would tell you…
Sam’s Mismatched Floor Tiles
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/01/17Jan23-Sam-Walton-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It you walked into a business that had just remodeled its space and noticed the floor tiles did not match,…
