Our 2010 tour took us to Arkansas, “The Natural State.”
The conference gave attendees the opportunity to explore how the area’s natural environment has affected tourism and the roadside’s built environment throughout the late 19th and 20th Centuries. The conference was headquartered in Fayetteville, a vibrant college town that is home to the University of Arkansas and the area’s cultural center.
Tour #1 crossed U.S. 62, nicknamed the Ozark Skyway, through the Ozark Mountains from Fayetteville to Eureka Springs, Arkansas’ premier 19th Century resort community with fascinating roadside architecture that was built as the community adapted to auto tourism in the first part of the 20th Century. Passing tourist courts and motels of the 1950s and ’60s on U.S. 71B and then following U.S. 62 as it winds through the Ozarks, we stopped at Dinosaur World, Christ of the Ozarks, and Thorncrown Chapel, architect Fay Jones’s masterpiece, and Eureka Springs. Lunch at the historic 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa in Eureka Springs Hotel was in
cluded.
Tour #2 traversed U.S. 71 through the Boston Mountains between Fayetteville and Alma in the Arkansas River Valley and a short section of U.S. 64 into Van Buren. We stopped at Our Lady of the Ozarks Shrine, Vista Courts, Sky Vue Cabins, Artist Point, and Kopper Kettle Candies. Tour book is included. Lunch was held at Big Jake’s Cattle Co. near Van Buren.
Limited edition commemorative t-shirts are still available in our store!
Download our awesome tour guides for Tour 1 and Tour 2 to relive the experience for yourself!