Editor’s Note: This post is written by a member of LTV’s sponsored content team, The Leisure Explorers. Do you own a Leisure Travel Van and enjoy writing? Learn more about joining the team.
Southeastern Arkansas offers unique visual and culinary experiences for the curious traveler away from the Interstate highways. This state region presents a blend of historic and cultural notables, down-home country cookin’, and unexplainable oddities central to this area of America.
Interstate highways surround much of southern Arkansas.
- I-20 runs along the north flank of bordering States.
- I-30 runs from I-20 along the western flank to Little Rock.
- I-40 runs from Little Rock along the northeastern flank to Memphis.
- I-55 runs on a North-South track along the Eastern border through Mississippi.
If you find yourself driving along an Interstate in Southern Arkansas and your GPS suggests you stay on course, ignore it unless you are beelining to a destination.
Get off the Beaten Path
The real treasures of this region lie along winding county roads and forgotten highways, where cypress swamps meet cotton fields, and small-town eateries still serve meals based on family recipes that remain unchanged for decades. You’ll find these folksy, rural treasures off the roads that run through the center of the State, like US 82 or 278, that will get you away from the Interstates and route you through the real Arkansas you need to see.
Imagine dining at authentic barbecue joints housed in converted plantation commissaries, exploring little-known museums that tell unique stories, and savoring hand-breaded catfish and family pie recipes passed down for three generations at family-owned eateries.
To see these lesser-known areas of Arkansas, you need to meander a lot around the State’s Southeast region. There are many routes you can take to get there. We’ll start on the southern flank of the State and highlight some sights to see and places to eat that you may enjoy.
See and Do
History: Visit The Rohwer Museum and Camp at McGehee
If you drive on I-20 between Monroe, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi, set your course north to McGehee, Arkansas. You’ll find a National Historic Site and a great place to eat here.
The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II prison camp that held Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945 in the swamps of southeastern Arkansas, about 13 miles northeast of McGehee. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an order forcing over 8,000 Japanese Americans from California to live behind barbed wire with armed guards surrounding this 500-acre camp.
The Rohwer camp had 36 blocks of wooden barracks where families lived in single rooms, slept on canvas cots, used small stoves for heat, and shared bathrooms and dining halls with other families. Many of the people locked up here were American citizens who had not violated federal laws of the United States. 581 men from this camp joined the US Army to fight for America during the war.
Today, very little of the original camp remains except for a tall smokestack from the old hospital and the cemetery where people who died at the camp are buried. The cemetery is now a National Historic Landmark with monuments honoring the 31 Japanese American soldiers from Rohwer who died fighting for America in World War II. You can take a self-guided walking tour with audio stations narrated by actor George Takei, who was imprisoned at Rohwer as a child.
The World War II Japanese American Internment Museum, located in downtown McGehee, tells the whole story of this camp through photographs, personal items, artwork created by prisoners, oral histories, and a one-hour film. The museum is housed in the restored railroad depot at 100 South Railroad Street and features the main exhibit Against Their Will: The Japanese American Experience in World War II.
Eat: Hoots BBQ in McGehee
After you visit the camp and the museum, you might be hungry. Fortunately, there is an excellent restaurant nearby.
Hoots BBQ sits right on Highway 65 in McGehee and serves some of the best barbecue in the Arkansas Delta. The restaurant began when owners Susie and David Powell sat on a Texas beach in 2010, dreaming up their next adventure. They bought an old gas station building and spent 18 months fixing it up themselves.
The name “Hoots” originates from the McGehee High School mascot, the Owls, and reflects the couple’s desire for a place where people could “have a hoot” together. The menu features barbecue pork, beef, chicken, burgers, steaks, seafood, and fresh-baked desserts.
Hoots ranks as number one among McGehee eateries. Yes, it’s a small town with few restaurants in McGehee. But people drive from 100 miles around, including from Mississippi and Louisiana, to eat there. The ribs are tender and meaty, with a hint of sweetness from the rub, and some visitors say their sliced brisket is the best they have ever tasted.
The restaurant won “best dessert” in Arkansas from AY Magazine readers, serving homemade Italian cream cake, carrot cake, and strawberry cake made from family recipes. If you want dinner on weekends, you’ll need reservations because this place fills up quickly.
Street Art in McGehee
As you drive around McGehee, you’ll notice two notable murals. One stands as a visual center point for the town, and the second is a tribute to fallen fighters. Both were created by Erin Ashcraft, an increasingly well-known and popular muralist from Rogers, Arkansas.
On September 20, 1975, on what was thought to be a “routine” fire call in McGehee, three firefighters lost their lives and several others were injured. Each year, members of the McGehee Fire Department gather at the site of the tragedy to honor these fallen firefighters. The town hired muralist Erin Ashcraft to create a mural about the incident.
Stopover: Monticello
From McGehee, you can take 278 due west to Monticello to see the town’s public mural near the downtown square. Erin Ashcraft also created this mural.
Monticello is a great spot to stop and shop for supplies. A Walmart Supercenter is in town, not far from the intersection of 278 and 425. There are also plenty of fuel stations, fast food joints, car washes, and auto supply stores.
Eateries in Monticello vary in quality. The Bella Luna restaurant at the town square gets 3-star ratings on TripAdvisor. We’ve eaten there several times and can report that the offerings are worthy of this rating.
If you visit Monticello early in the day and are looking for a late breakfast or early lunch, consider a backtrack due East through the countryside to try some country cookin’ at R.A. Pickens Country Store.
Eat: R.A. Pickens Country Store in Pickens
About a 43-minute drive northwest of Monticello, you’ll find The R.A. Pickens & Son Company Store and Restaurant just south of Dumas. This business sits on what was once one of Arkansas’s most significant plantations, dating back to 1881 when Reuben Adolphus Pickens first settled in the Walnut Lake community near Dumas. This historic building began as a plantation commissary, where up to 500 farm workers and their families would gather to purchase supplies, trade crops, and exchange news.
The original R.A. Pickens store burned down circa 1948 but was rebuilt and still serves as a working country store and popular restaurant along the Great River Road. Today, you can experience what locals call “the commissary” just like workers and residents did over 140 years ago — ordering food at the counter, finding a table, and eating in the middle of a room that still functions as a grocery store, post office, and community gathering place.
You’ll probably enjoy this eatery if you’re looking for authentic, straightforward Southern comfort food. On offer is country-fried steak with white gravy, baked chicken covered in herbs and spices, meatloaf, and traditional sides like turnip greens, squash casserole, and rice and gravy. When you eat at this place, you’ll enjoy what Arkansas Delta farmers have loved for generations—an authentic taste of rural life in a spot that feeds locals and visitors alike for over a century.
The R.A. Pickens eatery is renowned for its homemade pies, including gooey pecan pie. It also serves fresh vegetables cooked and seasoned the old-fashioned way. Entrees are large enough to share, and while you might wait a bit for your food, the experience of eating fresh food in this piece of living history makes it worth the trip off Highway 65.
The First European Settlement West of the Mississippi
The Pendleton Bend Recreation Area, Northeast of Dumas, sits near the site of the first village established west of the Mississippi River in 1685 by Henri de Tonti. This makes it a site of unique historical significance for early European exploration of Arkansas.
The Pendleton Bend Recreation Area is also a spot where you can stretch out and stay awhile. You can register your stay at recreation.gov while you explore the area.
Camp: Cane Creek State Park near Star City
If you want to try another campsite, check out Cane Creek State Park. This park is Star City’s premier attraction, located where the Coastal Plain meets the Mississippi Delta. This 5-star park is on Cane Creek Lake between Dumas and Star City and offers a chance to experience both ecosystems in one visit.
The park offers 29 campsites, fishing on Cane Creek Lake, a trail system with three suspension bridges, boat and bicycle rentals, and access to nearby Bayou Bartholomew—the world’s longest bayou.
You’ll find multiple trails, including the Cane Creek Lake Trail (6 miles long with camping shelter), the Delta View Trail (2.3-mile loop), and excellent fishing for bass, crappie, catfish, and bream. You can paddle through timber-filled waters and lily pads on the 1,675-acre lake, but swimming is not allowed.
Noteworthy sites south of Monticello
If you hop back on Route 425 south from Star City, you’ll pass through Monticello and encounter several notable landmarks along the route toward Crossett.
Fountain Hill
The Jackson Family Birthplace
Fountain Hill is the birthplace of Joseph Jackson, father of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and the other members of the Jackson Five musical group. This small town of 108 residents (2020 census) has an unexpected connection to one of history’s most famous musical families, making it a unique pilgrimage site for pop culture enthusiasts.
The town was named for two springs and was historically centered around James Norris’s cotton gin and grist mill.
Hamburg
Hometown of Notable Persons
Hamburg is the birthplace of NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, a former Chicago Bulls Basketball star. The Arkansas legislature recognizes Pippen as the “single greatest basketball player to ever come out of Arkansas”.
You can see Hamburg High School, where Pippen played basketball before his remarkable transformation at the University of Central Arkansas. Also in town is the home Pippen bought for his parents. His mother lived in this home until she died in 2016.
Charles Portis, author of the widely acclaimed novel True Grit, is also a native of Hamburg.
The Armadillo Festival
Hamburg’s annual Armadillo Festival, held every first weekend in May since 1970, attracts thousands to this town of just 2,500 residents. The festival features armadillo races and weigh-ins, making it one of Arkansas’s most unusual community celebrations. Though the festival no longer serves Armadillo, the quirky theme continues as a beloved tradition.
Author’s Note: Armadillos are abundant and tough in the Delta. We hit one with our car, and we never could get rid of a squeak in the suspension thereafter.
Eat: The Johnsville Country Store
Suppose you find yourself hungry while in the area, consider a side trip to Hermitage. The Johnsville’s Country Store and Restaurant sits on Highway 160 just outside of town.
This no-frills country store has been serving hearty Southern comfort food since 2017. The country store atmosphere feels like it’s been around for generations. It presents the nostalgia of an old-fashioned country store with the appeal of a family-friendly dining spot.
The restaurant takes pride in serving American pond-raised catfish (not imported fish) and chicken-fried steaks, hamburger steaks, ribeyes, and hand-cut, battered chicken strips. The menu also features classic burgers and fries, with even the Double Jumbo staying under $7, plus surf and turf options like steak and grilled shrimp served with jacket potatoes, salad, and toast. For dessert, you can take out homemade pies and cakes or try the fried pies for a sweet finish to a meal.
Regional Campsites
Areas south and due west of Monticello present several Arkansas State Parks and some commercial campsites. All are highly rated and offer a place to stay, a notable fact, since most of the land in Southeast Arkansas is private or corporate farmland.
Crossett Harbor RV Park
The Crossett Harbor RV Park stands on the lower Ouachita River and is surrounded by the 65,000-acre Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge, just 6 miles west of Crossett off US Highway 82. The park offers paved roads throughout, level paved pads, concrete picnic tables, shaded sites spaced for maximum privacy, and full hookups with pull-through sites. It’s considered one of the best places in the State for fishing and boating on the Ouachita and Saline rivers, with hiking trails and easy access to a public boat ramp.
If you visit Felsenthal, you’ll see ancient Native American sites. The refuge is home to at least 200 archaeological sites with remains of Caddo tribe villages, towns, and ceremonial structures dating back 5,000 years, including temple mounds, ceremonial plazas, seasonal fishing camps, and large villages. These historic sites provide a glimpse into the pre-Columbian era of Arkansas.
Grand Marais Campground
The Grand Marais Campground at 150 Newlock 6 Rd, Huttig, AR 71747, is 12 miles from Strong, Arkansas. The campground is next to the Felsenthal Lock and Dam and offers paved roads and sites with 30-amp power, water, and sewer available (most sites have water and electric). Rates are approximately $10-$11 for water and electric, and $13 for water, sewer, and electric hookups. The campground is renowned for its cleanliness and well-maintained grounds, offering numerous shady areas and excellent fishing opportunities.
Moro Bay State Park
The Moro Bay State Park features 23 Class AAA campsites alongside a marina with boat rentals, a gas pump, and a screened pavilion with a playground. This park is popular for fishing and water sports in south-central Arkansas.
Pecan Grove RV Park
Located in Lake Village, Arkansas, the Pecan Grove RV Park provides full access to Lake Chicot with a fishing dock and boat ramp, plus full hookups, pull-throughs, showers, and laundry facilities. You’ll also find diesel fuel and a dump site at the Love’s in town.
The RV camping options along the Highway 425 corridor offer excellent access to the natural attractions of Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge and the small-town charm of communities like Hamburg and Crossett, making this region an ideal destination for RV travelers seeking a blend of outdoor recreation and cultural experiences.
Author’s Note: We cite these RV parks given their high ratings. We parked our LTV on a private farm throughout our stay in Arkansas. If you park on a farm, buy slip-on covers for your footwear to limit tracking animal dung into your LTV. We purchased our slip-on disposable foot covers from Amazon.com.
The Final Leg: Hermitage and Gurdon
Hermitage: Abe’s Ole Feedhouse
We meander west now from Southeast, Arkansas, to Old Abe’s Feedhouse in the small town of Lawson, just east of El Dorado. Abe’s has been serving families since 1986, creating meals from original recipes in a building that originally served as a general store in the 1920s.
This family-owned restaurant creates a home-away-from-home feeling where everyone is treated like family from the moment they walk through the door. The restaurant specializes in an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring old-fashioned Southern fare, Cajun dishes, and fresh seafood that’s cooked daily. The buffet features catfish fillets and steaks, frog legs, fried and boiled shrimp, BBQ ribs, fried chicken, Alaskan crab, homemade gumbo, chicken and dumplings, stuffed crab with cinnamon rolls, ice cream, and puddings as desserts.
People love the rustic atmosphere of this place. The restaurant offers great value with reasonable prices for families, and the portions are so generous that many people struggle to finish their meals. This is a must-stop place when traveling near the southern Arkansas border, offering stick-to-your-ribs country cookin’ that will make you feel like you’re eating at a relative’s house.
Gurdon: The Gurdon Lights Mystery
The region’s most famous oddity is the Gurdon Light – a mysterious floating orb that bobs up and down and around abandoned railroad tracks near I-30 just outside Gurdon. Witnesses describe the light as blue, green, white, or orange.
Facts, myths, and folklore surround the tale of the Gurdon Light. A consistent theme is that the light is a ghostly apparition of a deceased railroad brakeman swinging a lantern to search for his head after he was beheaded by a passing train. A variant of this theme is that the light is a lantern carried by the ghost of a railroad worker killed in a fight with another railroad employee on the tracks.
Facts, easily found in newspaper archives, exist about this story. In 1931, a Missouri-Pacific railroad foreman, William McClain, fired Louis McBride. McBride then killed McClain. Speculation about motives for the homicide varies and is too extensive to recount here. McBride was convicted, sentenced to death, and executed. After the execution, witnesses saw the light appear above the train tracks where the incident allegedly occurred.
The Gurdon Lights incident remains an unexplained phenomenon. It gained national attention in 1994 when NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries featured it. Scientists still debate whether piezoelectric effects from underground crystals or some cause other than supernatural are the source of the light.
Author’s Notes:
- An electromagnetic or telluric current runs through the Earth at an extremely low frequency (ELF) wavelength. This current stems from particle energy actions between the Sun and Earth that create electromagnetic hot spots across the Earth where conductive rocks like quartz and granite interact with the atmosphere and the saltwater seas, the mantle, and shifting plates on Earth.
- A 30-year investigation by French electrical engineer Pierre Mereaux at Carnac, France, home to the world’s largest human-made fields of stone alignments, proved that stones of resonant material pulsate when placed in certain formations over telluric hot spots. The current running through these stones rises at dawn and declines at dusk in direct correlation with sunrise and sunset. Similar findings at Stonehenge support conclusions drawn by Mereaux.
- A 2012 discovery by NASA reveals hidden energy or X-Portals that open and close dozens of times every day to create an uninterrupted channel of energy between the sun and electromagnetic hot spots on Earth. Solar storms produce particle winds that pass through these portals and trigger geomagnetic storms, auroras, and other unusual imagery in the sky above mountains of conductive material — imagery like we associate with UFOs.
- Some scientists now believe this phenomenon accounts for sightings of the ancient Greek gods on Mount Olympus, or the disappearances of humans into solid rock in the mountains of South America.
- The author views this electromagnetic or telluric current effect as explaining the Gurdon Light. The author describes this phenomenon in more depth in a story about Veria City, Greece.
You can find the Gurdon Light site by stopping at Gurdon to ask directions at a gas station or store. If you wish to hike to the site at dawn or dusk, you’ll find out it is outside town and several miles off the nearest highway. If you search Google Earth for the term Gurdon Spook Lights, you’ll understand where the lights occur along now-defunct train tracks outside Gurdon.
More On Arkansas
The Southeast corner of Arkansas offers a genuine slice of Delta culture that remains largely undiscovered by mainstream tourism. You’ll see much that we don’t cite here if you explore this area of the State. But there’s much more to see and do in Arkansas. Follow us on the LTV blog as we cite other places to visit and things to do in Arkansas.
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