Trail: Village Trail
Hike Location: Parkin Archeological State Park
Geographic Location: west of Earle ,
AR (35.27678, -90.55519)
Length: 0.8 miles
Difficulty: 0/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: March 2017
Overview: A short concrete loop through a former
Mississippian village site.
Park Information: https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/parkin-archeological-state-park
Directions to the trailhead: Northwest of Memphis ,
take I-55 to US 64 (exit 10). Exit and
go west on US 64. Drive US 64 west 22
miles to SR 184 in the town of Parkin . Turn right on SR 184. The state park entrance is 0.1 miles ahead on
the left. Park in the only parking lot.
The hike: The date was June 1541 when Hernando de
Soto ’s Spanish expedition first set foot in Casqui, as
this site was called in the Mississippian tongue. When de Soto
arrived, the Mississippians had lived in Casqui for over 500 years, and de
Soto found a thriving moat-protected village that
served as the political center for its tribe.
The village got its name from its Chieftain Casqui, who ruled the tribe
from a house built atop a mound that towered over the village.
At the time
of de Soto ’s arrival, the village
was suffering from an extended seasonal drought, and Chieftain Casqui asked de
Soto to pray to his God for rain. De Soto ’s
journals state that his expedition raised a massive cross atop the chief’s
mound, and a drought-breaking rain came the very next day. Fragments of bald cypress wood probably from
that cross can be seen in the park’s museum today.
Although Casqui was abandoned about
100 years after de Soto ’s visit, Casqui
was not the most recent village to exist on this site. In the early 1900’s, an African-American
community called Sawdust Hill housed workers of a nearby lumber mill owned by
the Northern Ohio Cooperage and Lumber Company.
The mill closed in 1945, and in 1964 the site became a National Historic
Landmark. Today the site is explored by
a single 0.8 mile concrete lollipop loop trail, which is the subject of this
blog entry.
 |
| Trailhead behind Visitor Center |
Before you hit the trail, take a
few minutes to tour the small museum, which features some nice pottery
unearthed from the site, and pick up a self-guided tour brochure. After touring the museum, walk out the Visitor
Center St. Francis River ) in the 1500’s
when de Soto came here.
After crossing the bridge, the
Village Trail splits to form its loop.
To follow the trail in the direction described in the self-guided tour
brochure, turn right to hike the loop counterclockwise. The next segment of trail heads down what
used to be the main street of the aforementioned Sawdust Hill community. Several houses and the Shady
Grove Missionary
Baptist Church
 |
| Sawdust Hill cemetery |
At 0.25 miles, turn right to walk a
short spur trail back across the old moat (which is much deeper and steeper
here) to reach the restored Northern Ohio
School
 |
| Northern Ohio School |
Back on the main trail, you soon
come to the chieftain’s mound, no doubt the site’s main attraction. Most archaeologists believe this mound used
to be pyramidal in shape with a flat top, but centuries of erosion have left
the more lumpy round structure you see today.
Imagine being surrounded by hundreds of houses, a moat, and looking up
at the chieftain’s house atop this mound.
 |
| Chieftain's mound |
 |
| St. Francis River |
Continuing around the loop, just
past 0.5 miles you reach an overlook of the St. Francis River . Although de Soto ’s
journals state that the river’s water was clear enough to see the bottom, the
river stays very muddy today due to runoff from surrounding farm fields. The river was especially muddy on the
seasonally cold 40-degree spring afternoon that I came here. Two more left curves bring you to the close
of the loop, where a right turn will take you back to the Visitor Center and
complete the hike.
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