Second oldest city in Arkansas

Batesville is the second oldest settlement in Arkansas and the oldest surviving city. Arkansas Post, the first settlement and first capitol of the Arkansas Territory, is no longer inhabited.

The Independence County town along the White River was named for Judge James Woodson Bates, the first delegate to Congress from the Territory of Arkansas.

For centuries a place of importance because of its location on the White River, Batesville and the surrounding area was Native American land until the first few years of the 19th century. Europeans settled along Poke Bayou in the very early 1800s and called their settlement Poke Bayou. Later the name was changed to Batesville. Bates lived there and practiced law for a time after his Congressional service was up. Today the town of a little less than 10,000 is thriving and alive with history.