A good place to begin a tour of Little Rock is Riverfront Park, located directly on the riverfront in the center of the city. The park is the site of numerous fairs and festivals during the year, and it also offers the visitor a place to relax or stroll along the promenade and read about the area's early history in an open-air pavilion. The "little rock," or Le Petite Roche, that gave the city its name is visible at the north end of Rock Street, which is adjacent to Riverfront Park.
Within walking distance of Riverfront Park is the Old State House, the original Arkansas state capitol building. This antebellum Greek Revival structure now houses a museum of Arkansas history that features changing exhibits of Victorian decorative arts and costumes, six period rooms, and items of state historical interest.
Also within walking distance of the park is the Arkansas Territorial Restoration, a complex of more than a dozen antebellum buildings, some of which are on their original sites. Five homes (now museums) are of particular interest: Noland House, Woodruff House, Conway House, Hinderliter Tavern, and a log house.
Many fine examples of antebellum and Victorian architecture are also on display in the Quapaw Quarter, the oldest part of Little Rock. A number of the homes have been restored and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Some were built prior to the Civil War. The Villa Marre, a nineteenth century Italianate Victorian home decorated with period furnishings, was featured in the television series Designing Women (1986-1993). Visitors can drive or walk through this nine-square-mile area.
West of the downtown area is the Arkansas State Capitol, begun in 1899 and finished sixteen years later. The nation's only scaled replica of the National Capitol in Washington, D.C., it is made of white limestone and marble, and features a chandelier and six solid brass doors purchased from Tiffany's in New York City in 1908. South of downtown is the Governor's Mansion, a brick Georgian building completed in 1950 from materials gathered from older state properties. A double iron filigree gate taken from the Confederate Soldiers' Home opens onto a circular drive fronting the mansion, which is surrounded by eight acres of lawn and gardens.
The Little Rock Zoo offers visitors the opportunity to observe more than 725 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The zoo's Children's Farm offers visitors a hands-on opportunity to interact with and learn about animals. The zoo participates in a variety of conservation efforts around the globe.
The Aerospace Education Center features aviation and aerospace exhibits, the state's only IMAX theater, and exhibits of American and Russian space exploration.
Little Rock Central High School was designated a National Historic Site in 1998. Located at the intersection of Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive and Park Street, the school commemorates the desegregation movement in the United States, particularly the nine African American students, known as the "Little Rock Nine," who were escorted into the school by federal troops in 1957. Across the street, a visitor's center is located in a former Mobil gasoline station.
Sightseeing Information: Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Markham and Broadway, PO Box 3232, Little Rock, AR 72203; telephone (501)376-4781; toll-free 1-800-844-4781
Robinson Center, located in the downtown area in Statehouse Plaza, is Little Rock's major performing arts facility. For more than forty years, major Broadway shows, musical events, and ballets have been staged at Robinson Center. It is also the home of Ballet Arkansas, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and Celebrity Attractions, a professional organization that offers a subscription season from September through May.
The Arkansas Arts Center is also an important location on the Little Rock arts scene. Based at the center is the Children's Theatre, where live performances are staged and where young people can receive theater training. The Arts Center houses six permanent galleries, a museum gift shop, and a restaurant. Classes in painting, drawing, photography, and dance are also offered.
Other theatrical organizations in Little Rock are the Arkansas Repertory Theater, which brings eight professional shows to town from September through June; Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, which offers opera, cabaret, chamber performances and festivals throughout the year; and Murry's Dinner Playhouse, presenting popular plays year-round.
Little Rock's museums and galleries offer visitors a view of Arkansas history and native crafts. At the Museum of Discovery, an interactive children's museum, visitors can learn about the region's first inhabitants, the Arkansas Indians; they can also explore the Worlds of the Forests, take a journey through science, or even build a robot. This museum is located in the River Market District's Museum Center, which was redesigned in 1998 to include several restaurants.
The Historic Arkansas Museum is the state's largest historic museum, and houses paintings, textiles, glassware, and other objects created by Arkansas artists over the past 200 years. Other historical museums are the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History; the Old State House Museum; and Ernie's Museum of Black Arkansans, the state's first African American history museum.
Elsewhere in the city is the Decorative Arts Museum, which houses exhibits of contemporary and historic objects, including ceramics, glass, textiles, crafts, and Oriental works of art.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock features a fine arts museum and a planetarium that are open to the public. The museum has changing exhibits of paintings, sculpture, graphics, arts and crafts, and photography, while the planetarium stages shows that cover astronomy, history, and science fiction.
The William J. Clinton Presidential Center opened its doors in November 2004. This $165-million center, the 11th in the Presidential Library system, is an archive, library, and museum housing millions of documents and artifacts relating to his administration. Sitting on 26 acres of park alongside the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock, the center is also Clinton's post-presidency office, and is expected to serve as a gathering place for world leaders.
Arts and Culture Information: Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Markham and Broadway, PO Box 3232, Little Rock, AR 72203; telephone (501)376-4781; toll-free 1-800-844-4781. William J. Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, AR 72201
Riverfest, celebrated in Riverfront Park every Memorial Day weekend, is Little Rock's biggest annual event. More than 225,000 people attended the festivities in 2004, walking through the park, sampling ethnic foods, and admiring the arts and crafts on display. There are also performances by musicians, including major stars, along with impromptu shows by jugglers, mimes, and magicians.
Also important to Little Rock is the Arkansas State Fair, held for eleven days in late September through early October. Attended by 400,000 visitors, it features typical state fair events such as livestock judging and auctions, home arts competitions, rodeos, musical performances, motor sports, talent contests, and carnival rides, games, and amusements.
Martin Luther King Jr. is honored every January with a parade, as is St. Patrick in March. The Quapaw Quarter Spring Tour of Historic Homes takes place each May, the same month that offers the Annual Territorial Fair at Historic Arkansas Museum, the Greek Food Festival, and the Annual Jamfest Heritage Festival. Music dominates the scene during June's Wildwood Festival of Music and Arts and the July 4th Pops on the River, an event of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Each year the Museum of Discovery sponsors the Dino Dash and Discovery Fest. The city hosts the Arkansas Arts Crafts & Design Fair in November. December features an annual Christmas Frolic and Open House at Historic Arkansas Museum.
Festivals Information: Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Markham and Broadway, PO Box 3232, Little Rock, AR 72203; telephone (501)376-4781; toll-free 1-800-844-4781
North Little Rock's ALLTEL Arena, an $80 million facility, opened with an Arkansas RiverBlades ice hockey game on October 28, 1999. ALLTEL Arena is also home to the University of Arkansas basketball team as well as the Arkansas Rim-Rockers, the state's first professional basketball team, which was born into the American Basketball Association in January 2004.
Also in North Little Rock, construction is expected to begin in 2005 on an 11-acre ballpark stadium and complex for the Arkansas Travelers, a farm club of baseball's St. Louis Cardinals, who play from April to August.
Located as it is on the Arkansas River, Little Rock offers anglers some of the best fishing of any city in America. Not far from the metropolitan area are many lakes, streams, and several state and national parks that also attract fans of sailing and other water sports.
For those who prefer to stay within the city, Little Rock has 56 public parks and nearly 200 recreation facilities, some featuring such amenities as swimming pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, golf courses, and softball fields. Little Rock's best-known park is Riverfront Park, which boasts an amphitheater on the riverbank and an open-air pavilion as well as fountains and tree-lined walkways. War Memorial Park, one of the city's oldest, features a zoo, a fitness center, the 8,000-seat Ray Winder Field, and the 53,000-seat War Memorial Stadium.
No single area in Little Rock is the main shopping district; centers are scattered throughout the city. The River Market District offers a Farmer's Market plus restaurants and groceries in a scenic setting on the Arkansas River. Two of the area's largest shopping centers, Park Plaza and University Mall, are located in trendy West Little Rock, where the area's newest shops and restaurants are springing up. McCain Mall, the largest shopping center in the state, is across the Arkansas River in neighboring North Little Rock.
The offerings of Little Rock's more than 300 restaurants range from down-home southern cooking (including ribs) to continental-style haute cuisine. Seafood and catfish abound at restaurants along the river, and ethnic specialties are available at a number of establishments in the metropolitan area.
Visitor Information: Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Markham and Broadway, PO Box 3232, Little Rock, AR 72203; telephone (501)376-4781; toll-free 1-800-844-4781