Fort Roots

Fort Roots sits on the top of the "Big Rock," a few miles upstream from the site of the little rock that gave the city of Little Rock its name. And while it's no longer a fort, it provides one of the best views of downtown Little Rock around.



In the 1890s, the Army moved to the top of the hill along the Arkansas River and built a small base. It served as a base for a few decades, until the Army decided to move to a larger location during World War I. When they left, the barracks and buildings were transferred to the Public Health Service and converted into a veterans hospital. Today, the Fort Roots site is home to the VA Hospital.

It is a great view, although it was cold and windy the night this was taken.



I headed back out to Fort Roots a few nights later when it was a little bit warmer and clearer. I wanted to try to take star trail pictures from there, which might be a little tricky since you apparently want to avoid city lights in any star pictures. But I set up the camera, and waited for the camera to take over two hundred exposures of the skyline. After stacking all of the images together, I had to do a few extra steps in Photoshop (due to photographer error), and ended up with this. I was surprised that there were a few more stars out then what I expected: