Where it all started

Just a short drive from my hometown is a National Historic State Park and monument that preserves a very significant piece of history. It's the Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park that marks the point from which all surveys of the Louisiana Purchase Territory originated.

At first glance it is a natural preserve, a rare headwater swamp punctuated by towering tupelos and all manner of wildlife. A walk down a 950-foot bridge, though, leads you to a stone monument that declares that spot as the base from which the lands of the Louisiana Purchase were surveyed.

The land purchase, made in 1803, more than doubled the size of the United States; these lands were to be distributed among veterans of the War of 1812 as payment. In 1815 the government ordered an initial point for the surveys to be established. The survey party of Prospect K. Robbins set a north-south line and the party of Joseph C. Robbins surveyed an east-west line or baseline. Their paths crossed in what is now Monroe County in Eastern Arkansas on Nov. 10, 1815.

The surveyers marked two trees at their crossing point but until 1927 that was the only record of this important spot. The L'Anguille Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution believed this spot needed to be permanently marked and preserved. In 1927 the women donated the stone monument that sits in the swamp today. Another big day came on April 19, 1993 when this spot was designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase was celebrated in 2003 with much fanfare. My hometown and home county became the focus of the country for a while since Brinkley is the closest town to the park.

A wealth of information about the park can be found at The Encyclopedia of Arkansas or better yet, by making a trip down Highway 49 South to the park. That's the only way to truly appreciate the towering swamp trees, the sounds of the wildlife, and the magnitude of history that took place in this remote area.

My little ones soaked it all up on a trip there in November 2005. In this photo I took, they are dwarfed by the tall trees of this swampy area.