Booger Hollow

The ruins of the Booger Hollow Trading Post sit amongst the rolling Ozark Mountains. The wackily-named store opened back in 1961 and served tourists driving up Hwy. 7 between Russellville and Jasper. For several decades it was a popular spot. The store sold all sorts of Ozark hillbilly themed souvenirs and tchotchkes like the "hillbilly weather vane," which was a rope attached to a wooden sign that said if the rope was wet, it was raining. If the rope was moving, it was windy. If the rope was white, it was snowing. If the rope was gone, it was tornader. Or there was the "Hillbilly Chicken Dinner," which was a wooden box with a piece of corn inside (for the chicken to eat).



Booger Hollow was one of those places that would have fit right in along Route 66. Motorists driving along Hwy. 7 were treated to sign after sign promoting Booger Hollow and counting down the miles to the store. And when you arrived, there was a large sign proclaiming "Booger Hollow Arkansas - Population 7 Countin' One Coon Dog." At one point, Booger Hollow also had a restaurant, which served the "boogerburger" and the "boogerdog."

The Booger Hollow Trading Post operated until 2004, when the owner sold the property. But for some reason, the new owners never reopened the store, and the buildings have been left empty and abandoned ever since. Time has not been kind to the buildings since then. The old two-story outhouse (where the upstairs was always closed "until we git the plummin' figgered out") has completely collapsed into a pile of rubble. The remaining buildings are fenced off and sit amongst weeds, silently watching the tourist traffic on Hwy. 7 pass them by.



For anyone wondering, the name Booger Hollow is actually based on the location of an actual community nearby. I've seen two explanations for the name - the first being that the valley had two cemeteries on each end that were haunted. So anyone passing through would need to be careful of any bogeyman, or boogermen. The other explanation was that after the Civil War, the rough road through the valley was a hospitable place for robbers and bandits. Which made this a "booger" of a place to travel through. Either way, it was an interesting name for people to have picked. Perhaps they should have dug deeper to find something better instead.