Cotton Plant

The rain continued to fall as I headed further east. The farms and fields seem to have mostly been harvested, and the grasses and vegetation had already started turning an autumn-like golden hue. Along the way I passed by this old tractor, collecting rust beside a field.







And then down the road was this old farm building, surrounded by a wall of overgrown grass.





And then I made it to the small town of Cotton Plant. The town dates back to the 1840s, and there was even a small Civil War skirmish fought nearby. And as the town's name suggests, the town grew and prospered due to cotton. By the 1900s, Cotton Plant was home to several cotton gins, sawmills and factories. It was considered to be the "cultural center" of the area, with the town even having an opera house. Cotton Plant is best known now as the birthplace of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the "Godmother of Rock and Roll."

Like many Delta cities, Cotton Plant's population began to decline after the mechanization of farming meant fewer workers were needed to pick cotton. And in the 1960s, many white families left the town to avoid desegregating the schools. Cotton Plant peaked with a population of about 2,000 people in the 1950s. Today the population is around 500 people. And also like many other Delta cities, the town has struggled. Most of the old buildings on Main Street are abandoned and falling apart. The roof of one building, which used to be a store, has finally collapsed.



Here's the same spot, taken on a previous visit in 2019:



I wonder whatever happened to that dust-covered merchandise that had been sitting there on display?





And then a few other buildings in Cotton Plant:







It was time to start heading home, so I turned south towards the interstate. But before joining the slow traffic on I-40, I stopped by this old sharecroppers cabin. There must have been thousands of these old cabins across the Delta, but not too many of them are still standing.



I tried to get a few pictures while wiping raindrops off the lens.

A Rainy Day In The Delta

I have finally reached that part of being in your 40s where (and sorry if this is too much personal information) I hit the recommended age to have a colonoscopy. And so I did, and luckily all went well. But to make up for the indignity of the "prep," I treated myself to an extra day off from work. And since it was raining, I headed out to get a few pictures.

I headed east into the Delta, and soon stopped at the old Johnson Chapel Methodist Church, which was built in 1871. Services were held there for nearly 100 years, and the old building still looks nicely maintained.



It had rained heavily overnight, which gave the drought-parched landscape a good soaking.







The road headed further east into the small town of Des Arc, which is the home to the Lower White River Museum State Park. Next to the museum is this historic dogtrot cabin.





There were a few other old building scattered around the grounds:



Des Arc is an old city, established in the 1850s along the White River. And the oldest building in Des Arc is the old Frith-Plunkett House, which was built in 1858.



Due to its strategic location along the White River, Des Arc was a busy spot during the Civil War. Which meant that over the course of the war, most of the buildings in town were burned or destroyed. But the Frith-Plunkett House was spared, since it served as a hospital for Union troops.





The old house is empty and quiet, its windows and doors hidden behind plywood boards. There is a faded sign in the yard asking for donations to help restore the old home.



A few blocks down the road is the Prairie County Courthouse, which sits on a low hill above the river. The courthouse was built in 1913.



And just a few blocks away was this old home, which also seemed to look empty and disused. The yard was covered with a carpet of pine needles. I got a few pictures before heading out, crossing the bridge over the river and heading further east into the Delta.



*** So my apologies to anyone from Des Arc who might be stumble upon this blog while doing something innocent like looking for pictures of their hometown. Sorry you had to first read about a colonoscopy **

Milky Way

Recently I headed back out to the Delta with Deepak to try to get some pictures of the Milky Way. It turned out kinda like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first place we went to had a good foreground subject, but there was too much light pollution to see the Milky Way. The second place we went to was dark enough to see the Milky Way, but the foreground was too overgrown. But the third place was just right.

We went by a set of silos which were surrounded by cropland. The conditions were great for taking pictures - it wasn't too hot, and there was a nice breeze that seemed to keep some of the mosquitoes away. We didn't even need to do any light painting on the silos, they were illuminated by the distant glow of the city lights from Little Rock. We stayed out there for awhile taking pictures as a loud chorus of bugs and frogs sang out across the darkness.

A Few More Stops

After spending the day driving through the Delta, it was finally time to turn around and start heading back home. But along the way I made a few more stops. Like at this one spot near Clarendon, which had some little silos and water tanks and other assorted farm things lying around.



Off in the distance, a few storm clouds were starting to build over the horizon.



Then I drove by the old Idlewild schoolhouse, which was built in 1921.



And then I drove through the little town of DeVall's Bluff, and had to stop at the old St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church. The church was built in 1912, but was abandoned in 1986 after the church's last parishioner passed away.







I made one last stop - at this old farmhouse that seems to have been abandoned for awhile.



Although it looks like someone is nice enough to be cutting the grass around the house, the building itself has continued to slowly deteriorate and crumble away.







And one last shot, taken before I got back in the car and finally drove home:

Clarendon

There is one easy way to tell how important a town was in the past - just look to see how impressive its courthouse is. And one of the most impressive courthouses in Arkansas is the Monroe County Courthouse in Clarendon. It was built in 1911, back when the Delta was the major economic center of Arkansas.



But times have changed, and the Delta has faced a steady decline. And that, unfortunately, is reflected by the buildings around the old courthouse. Almost all of them are empty and abandoned, and a few of them are crumbling away in the heat and humidity.



Clarendon is an old and historic town. French settlers moved into the area that would become Clarendon in 1799, building cabins near the spot where the Cache River flows into the White. The town grew in the 1820s when the Military Road (which was built to connect Little Rock and Memphis) was built through Clarendon. In 1828 a ferry crossing was established, along with the first post office. The town was officially incorporated in 1859, just in time for it to be an important location during the Civil War. The White River was a significant transportation artery during the war, and there were several fights and skirmishes that took place around the town. The fighting ultimately resulted in most of the town being burned in 1864, destroying most the buildings in the city.

It's an interesting place to drive through, with lots of things to stop and point the camera at. The old rail bridge (built in 1935) is still in use.



And the old train station, which was built in 1912. It hasn't been used in decades, and was covered by overgrown weeds and brush. I got this shot from the back of the station, with an old rusted Goodyear (or Goody?) sign.



Besides the courthouse, one of the most prominent buildings in Clarendon is the old Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It was built in 1869, and was one of the first churches to be rebuilt after the town was burned during the Civil War.



The building was used as a church until the 1920s, when it then became a Masonic Lodge. It was used for meetings and as a community meeting center and as a library.



The old church was nearly torn down in the 1960s, but the building was saved and was donated to the Boy Scouts.



Not sure if the Scouts are still looking after the building. All the histories of the building that I could find ended with that note, which happened many decades ago. Not sure who owns the building now or who is out there keeping an eye on it.