One of the southern states of the United States is Arkansas in the southern United States. The state of Arkansas covers an area of 137,732 km², in which Arkansas’ capital Little Rock is located in a park-like environment, directly on the banks of the Arkansas River.
Arkansas is bordered by the US state of Missouri to the north, the Mississippi River separates Arkansas from the states of Mississippi and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas borders to the south with Louisiana and to the west with Texas and Oklahoma.
The name Arkansas comes from the French pronunciation of the Native American word quapaw, meaning “land of the people down the river.” The official pronunciation was established by a state ordinance in 1881.
Arkansas nicknames are “ The Natural State ” and “ Land of Opportunity ”. This is due to the vast expanse of forests, more than 60% of Arkansas is forested, and the abundance of water resources (more than 600,000 acres of lakes, 9,700 miles of streams and rivers, and numerous natural springs) in Arkansas.
However, Arkansas is located in what is known as Tornado Alley, an area in the American Midwest that is particularly prone to tornadoes. Tormado season is always in spring, so keep that in mind when planning a vacation to Arkansas.
History of Arkansas
Originally, the Quapaw, Caddo and Osage Indians ruled the country. The first French settlement was established in 1686 at Arkansas Post. Arkansas belonged to the French colony of Louisiana in the 18th century. In 1803 Arkansas was separated from Louisiana and returned to the United States. On June 15, 1836, it became the 25th state of the United States.
In 1978, at the age of 32, Bill Clinton was elected Arkansas’ youngest governor, and in 1992 he became the first Arkansas-born President of the United States.
Arkansas attractions
Visit the Hot Springs National Park and the Blanchard Springs Caverns, a cave of national importance, while vacationing in Arkansas. Or go diamond hunting, near Murfreesboro is the only naturally occurring diamond in the United States
Climate & Weather in the State of Arkansas
Arkansas is blessed with a comfortable to warm climate, usually without extremes of heat or cold. With mild temperatures, spring is bright and cheerful with wildflowers and flowering trees and shrubs. Summer is warm with long daylight hours. Autumn is vibrant with bright colors. Winters are generally mild.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
There are no UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Arkansas.
national parks
Hot Springs National Park
Historically interesting places
MacArthur Park Historic District in Little Rock
cities and larger towns
Little Rock
Fort Smith
Fayetteville
Springdale
Jonesboro
Rivers in Arkansas
Mississippi
Arkansas River
Red River
Buffalo National River
Little River
Ouachita River
St. Francis River
White River
Mountains in Arkansas
Ouachita Mountains
Ozark Mountains
Mount Magazine
Lakes and reservoirs in Arkansas
Bull Shoals Lake
Lake Ouachita
Lake Hamilton
President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace – Bill Clinton Birthplace
Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was born in the city of Hope, Arkansas. His first four years from 1946 to 1950, William Jefferson Blythe III – Bill Clinton grew up in the President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home with his grandparents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy.
Clinton’s father died in a traffic accident shortly before he was born. His widowed mother learned nursing in New Orleans while Bill Clinton was growing up with his grandparents.
When Bill Clinton was four years old, his mother returned to Hope and remarried.
Bill later took the Clinton surname from his stepfather, with whom he lived in another house in Hope in 1950 and moved to Hot Springs in 1953. Grandparents owned the William Jefferson Clinton Birthplac home until 1956.
History of the Bill Clinton Birthplace Home
The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home was constructed in 1917 as a two and a half story building. It was owned by Clinton’s grandparents Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, who had lived there since 1938 and bought it in 1946.
With 4 rooms per floor, it is very square. From the outside, the William J. Clinton Birthplace Home is a white, two-story wooden house with a porch that stretches the width of the front of the house.
In 1994, after Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States, the Clinton Birthplace Foundation purchased and restored the home. First the foundation and the roof of the house were repaired. Furniture and accessories were purchased to recreate the interior of the home as faithfully as possible to how it was when Clinton was a child.
A visitor center was built and a rose garden created after Clinton’s mother, Virginia Kelley.
Three years later, the Bill Clinton House opened to the public as a museum.
In 2009, Barack Obama ‘s President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Unit 394.
A year later, on December 14, 2010, the home was declared a National Historic Site by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Museum President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace
The Bill Clinton Museum features original restored details such as the living room staircase, small kitchen, floors and original paneling in the second floor rooms.
Adjacent to the President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace is a visitor center with exhibits about Bill Clinton’s childhood, personal and political life, family history with family pictures, and friends. A museum shop with Clinton’s favorite books and crafts is available at the end of the exhibit.
Clinton’s Birth Home is open to the public and offers regular tours, usually every 30 minutes.
“In this house I learned to walk and talk I learned to pray I learned to read and I learned to count by number cards my grandparents tacked on the kitchen window”. – President Clinton, Dedication Speech at the Birthplace Home in 1999.
Opening times & admission to the President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace
The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Bill Clinton Birth Home is closed on Thanksgiving Day, December 25 and January 1. Admission to Clinton’s birthplace and tours are free.
Directions & Getting to President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home
The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home is in Hope, Arkansas. It is 30 miles from Texarkana (TX, AR) and 110 miles from Little Rock.
From I-30, take exit 30 and go south on Highway 278 (Hervey Street) for approximately 2 miles. The park is located at 2nd and S Hervey St.
Address of attraction William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace
President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home
117 South Hervey Street
Hope
AR 71801, United States
//www.nps.gov/wicl
