Saturday, March 14, 2009

Devil's Den State Park - West Fork, Arkansas


Located in the Boston Mountains, a rugged and picturesque area of the Ozarks south of the Arkansas city of Fayetteville, Devil's Den State Park preserves an array of historic sites and natural wonders.

Built by C.C.C. (Civilian Conservation Corps) workers during the Great Depression, the park includes the largest sandstone crevice area in the United States. Accessible via a 1 1/2 mile nature trail, the area includes fracture caves, bluffs, rock formations and wet weather waterfalls. One of the caves, Devil's Den Cave, is more than 500 feet long and is one of the largest fracture caves in the United States.

The park also preserves a section of the historic Butterfield Stage Line route that connected St. Louis with San Francisco from 1858 to 1861. Stagecoaches once ran along the old road, which is now followed by a nature trail, carrying mail and passengers on the more than 2,000 mile journey to California.

Union and Confederate forces marched along the same road during the Civil War and guerrilla bands hid out in the surrounding mountains throughout the brutal war and Reconstruction years.

Considered one of the best preserved C.C.C. projects in the nation, Devil's Den State Park also offers cabins, picnic areas, hiking trails, overlooks, a visitor center, mountain lake, waterfalls, butterfly garden, swimming pool and numerous other features. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ardevils1.

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